Impacts of Covid-19
Unprecedented damage from the coronavirus has already been done, but the worst is still to come. Companies must take action immediately if they want to recover profitably in the post-Corona economy. Directors worldwide face huge corporate problems besides the severe health and humanitarian disaster brought on by the coronavirus pandemic: the breakdown of customer demand, substantial regulatory fluctuations, supply chain troubles, redundancy, economic downturn, and greater uncertainty. The economic sector also requires strategies for recovery, much like the medical and humanitarian aspects of the crisis. The coronavirus epidemic has unsettled enterprises and forced human resources managers to reevaluate their duties as workers adapt to socially awkward methods and a new work setting they may not have anticipated.
Recruiting in the Age of Covid-19
The hiring, management and development of employees in organizations are all topics covered by human resource management. It has been significantly affected by COVID-19, which presents substantial tests for managers and HR professionals (Rudolph & Zacher, 2020). This essay examines the effects and issues associated with strategic HRM, work environment, and HRM activities like hiring, performance appraisal, training & development, pay administration, safety and health administration, and employee relations. Even though every HRM function is deliberated separately, they are all connected. This implies that any alteration to one HRM function will impact the other.
Strategic HRM refers to horizontal coherence across Hr processes and the vertical association between HRM processes and organizational goals. Making the optimum use of human resources to achieve the business’s strategic objectives is its fundamental objective. To guarantee the accomplishment of company goals in a crisis, strategic agility is crucial. Companies are acquiring the ability to plan, assign, and direct the essential processes and efficiently utilize their resources and knowledge.
Another function that the pandemic has reshaped is staffing, which entails recruiting, selecting, and retaining competencies to meet corporate goals. The effects of COVID-19 on the industry were primarily unbalanced. While some industries experienced a sharp decline in revenue that forced them to close their doors temporarily, others experienced a boom in business during the pandemic (Rudolph & Zacher, 2020). As a result, each organization will experience COVID-19’s implications on staffing differently. To cut costs and maintain their operations, organizations fronting financial problems due to the pandemic have down skilled by restricting enrolment of high-skill occupations more than low-skill positions; discontinuing or curtailing all recruitment; or laying off personnel. Indeed, millions of individuals lost their employment due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Although firing employees is difficult for firms to make, it could be unavoidable during crises like COVID-19. The key test for HR personnel in this situation is to give directors and employees enough information and support throughout this process (Jallow, Renukappa & Suresh, 2020). However, it could be challenging if there is uncertainty. Nobody is confident of the pandemic’s end date or if its effects on organizations will be short-lived or long-lasting. On the other side, businesses that expanded during the epidemic ran into many staff problems. Numerous organizations have chosen more flexible occupation contracts and subcontracted labor, such as provisional agency work, freelancers, and the gig economy, due to the insecurity brought on by COVID-19.
Rewriting the Performance Evaluation process
Another critical function that has significantly changed is performance evaluation, career advancement, and training which is crucial during the pandemic. Creating a training plan customized to the organization’s and its workers’ new realities and choosing the best training techniques while considering physical spacing requirements and the necessity to have workers operate rapidly to keep the business moving may be the most challenging tasks for HRM practitioners. This means that when it comes to training, managers and HR specialists must think beyond the box. According to Choy (2022), HR professionals are helping and enlightening these managers on how to lead a virtual team, helping them to resolve these difficulties, and helping them to deal with the difficulties of remote work to support their team members better.
The Future of HR Jobs
Among the current top HR, priorities are crisis response. Schaffer et al. (2021) report that the three urgent areas addressed by ServiceNow’s reaction were reporting, remote work, and communication, as observed by Sally Sourbron, head of HR for ServiceNow Europe. The cloud computing corporation assembled a global response team, together with several communication channels, tools for remote work, and daily reporting capacities for infections, whereabouts, and information regarding at-home work. These strategies deal with some essential issues employees have when adjusting to a remote workplace. Employees concerned about their future are given daily, stable insights at crisis standups, expounding roles and tasks as they change in real-time. As productivity and absenteeism fluctuate erratically, new reporting tools enable the organization to change course to meet urgent needs. Employees’ lives are made more accessible and more productive when they work from home because of flexible travel and cost policies, safe remote-friendly equipment, and these factors. Responses from HR organizations have focused on four key areas: physical health and quality of life, remote work, challenges with jobs and work consistency, and lastly, the critical necessity for mental wellbeing, grit, family support, and managing ambiguity.
Less than half of businesses had a remote work program before the crisis. Many financial firms, controlled sectors, and banks did not permit staff to work from home. According to Mukhtar (2021), today, businesses are scrambling to develop remote work techniques, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and others. According to Angin, Shehaj & Shin (2021), it is also worth noting the high businesses already concentrating on “job migration” and the preservation of jobs. For instance, the Food Industry Association has launched a significant effort to assist businesses in all facets of food service and delivery and reorient their personnel toward new positions and functions (Chebly, Schiano & Mehra, 2020). Accenture is creating such an initiative with the assistance of Verizon, Lincoln Financial, and ServiceNow.
Senior managers are concerned not only about the health and wellbeing of their staff during the pandemic but also about handling paperwork and providing consolation to the millions of staff who have been let go or given furloughs. While they are still employed, HR managers try to keep their staff members committed, motivated, and connected—all shifting goals in the era of the new reality.
The New of Next Normal
It’s challenging to predict what will happen during “abnormal times.” This can signify that making predictions about the company’s processes, such as resource distribution and planning, is puzzling. In reality, COVID-19 has raised questions. While many economists anticipate that the effects of the pandemic will not change, some academics have predicted that the COVID-19 endemic will occur (Maheshwari, Samal & Bhamoriya, 2020). Nobody knows when this virus will die out or whether its impacts on work patterns in companies will be temporary or permanent, even with the current development of numerous vaccine types. Because of this, strategic planning and putting the first one into action may be puzzling for managers and HR professionals. However, vibrant workplace guidelines during demanding times limit employee stress and boost morale and commitment. In this circumstance, several businesses seem unable to sufficiently tell their staff about their management framework or expected responses to the epidemic.
Agility is one of the most significant HR talents being assessed. In addition to implementing real-time data collection, listening, and communication systems, HR departments must develop their crisis response capabilities. The effects of the coronavirus have been unparalleled, and the worst is yet to come. If businesses want to recover in the future, they must take action now. As a result, the entire globe will be able to recuperate and, perhaps, grow more resilient.
References
Angin, M., Shehaj, A., & Shin, A. J. (2021). Inside job: Migration and distributive politics in the European Union. Economics & Politics, 33(2), 264-288.
Chebly, J., Schiano, A., & Mehra, D. (2020). The value of work: Rethinking labour productivity in times of COVID‐19 and automation. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 79(4), 1345-1365.
Choy, E. (2022). Remote Performance Evaluation During COVID: How To Stand Out. Forbes. Retrieved 18 July 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/estherchoy/2021/11/21/remote-performance-evaluation-during-covid-how-to-stand-out/?sh=3dc753b5e00a.
COVID-19: The Pulse of HR – What Is HR Doing Now?. JOSH BERSIN. (2020). Retrieved 18 July 2022, from https://joshbersin.com/2020/04/covid-19-the-pulse-of-hr-what-is-hr-doing-now/.
Jallow, H., Renukappa, S., & Suresh, S. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 outbreak on United Kingdom infrastructure sector. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment.
Maheshwari, M., Samal, A., & Bhamoriya, V. (2020). Role of employee relations and HRM in driving commitment to sustainability in MSME firms. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.
Mukhtar, N. (2021). Report on Human Resource rights and responsibilities execution during Covid-19 in United Commercial Bank.
Rudolph, C. W., & Zacher, H. (2020). “The COVID-19 generation”: A cautionary note. Work, Aging and Retirement, 6(3), 139-145.
Schaffer, N., Ritzenhoff, M., Engert, M., & Krcmar, H. (2021). From Specialization to platformization: Business Model Evolution in the Case of Servicenow. In ECIS.
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