Precautionary measures around COVID-19 have led to job losses and projections of high unemployment. And many of those still working are now part of a fully remote workforce pressured to maintain pre-coronavirus levels of productivity.

There is a lot of information and advice available to employers as they make the transition to entirely or mostly remote work. HR Dive has covered the remote work learning curve, impact on compensation and other issues related to the global pandemic. Numerous outlets have published advice on working from home.

However, a much deeper understanding of remote workforces may be necessary for front-line managers, HR business partners and other company leaders. During the coming months, performance cycles, quarterly reviews, internal summits and perhaps even previously scheduled training will need to go on in some capacity.

To that end, there are numerous free resources available to business leaders to help them manage remote work, upskilling and business continuity. This list is not exhaustive, but rather a sample of what HR Dive has found.
 

Business Continuity

Many tools are available to aid businesses hoping to maintain some level of normalcy during this time. 

LinkedIn, for example, is offering 16 courses focused on working with and leading remote workforces, including instruction on how to maintain an executive presence virtually and learning video conferencing tools. The business networking platform also made updates to its site that include resource centers to stay on top of the news and a feature called "LinkedIn Live" that may be helpful for companies during this time.

Coursera also launched a new free course on COVID-19 from the Imperial College London’s Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease Emergency Analytics and has an active online community sharing work from home tips and support in dealing with coronavirus measures and prevention.
 

HR management

For HR leaders thinking about creating new online training, Bridge Learning Tech, a managed learning services company, announced a suite of services, including digitalization of training materials, "at no cost to businesses affected by COVID-19 outbreak." HR solutions provider SHL has a talent management and talent acquisition virtual suite free of charge as well.

In the wellness space, Greater Good Magazine, a scientific publication from the University of California-Berkeley, created a guide to wellbeing during coronavirus that contains resources for handling mental health concerns or problems, including helpful videos and tip sheets for supporting people through a variety of circumstances.

For those looking to provide employees with fitness options, Blink Fitness is offering free daily virtual workout classes Monday through Friday. Many local gyms and exercise studios are also offering online classes for members and non-members while a number of fitness offerings from companies like Peloton are available nationwide. 

Law firms are also offering information around the potential liabilities and other compliance considerations during this time. Sidley’s COVID-19 resource center contains information for corporate leaders and boards of directors on topics such as handling ongoing M&A. Ogletree Deakins has compiled FAQs on federal labor and employment laws, as well as information on government activity relating to emergency employment measures. Baker McKenzie’s resource center covers the employers’ perspective as well, while also sharing legal information pertinent to global businesses.
 

The broader business

For those involved in broader business planning, ​McKinsey & Company has guidance addressing the outbreak's impact on specific functions and industries, as well as global response strategies and adapting learning for the fully remote work environment.

"Businesses can’t afford to put capability building on hold," the authors of the McKinsely article wrote. "Whether the effort is reskilling at the business-unit level or a company-wide aspirational transformation, companies can't simply push the pause button on critical workplace learning, even as they move rapidly to put employee safety first."

For those that were planning upskilling through in-person training, some of Coursera’s business offerings may offer a way to keep those trainings on schedule. LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda.com, also has a wide range of courses on different business topics that may be helpful in this situation, although only some are free.

ExecOnline, which is focused on enterprise training, also released a series of webinars around handling business uncertainty and a podcast addressing the second-wave legal omplications of COVID-19.

Additionally, marketing software company HubSpot recently published a list of 60 free online courses — some from their own library, and others from Google, Facebook, SkillShare and others — focused on building digital marketing skills