The challenges for HRM post-Covid-19

The challenges for HRM post-Covid-19

Introduction

Covid-19 has had a major impact over all industries as well as on everyday life and it is important that this is identified. It has also helped to identify challenges within specific departments in industry such as Human Resource Management (HRM) which is a key factor in the delivery of a service. Covid-19 as defined by the WHO (2021) is ‘Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus…Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.’

In terms of infectious diseases, Covid-19 is highly contagious and to combat the infection it is important to be well-informed. On a globe scale, Covid-19 has had devastating effects on the world’s population, with continuous lockdowns and social distancing measures. To safeguard the well being of employees, many industries made decisions to close or engage intensive safety measures which in some cases are still in effect. According to Hamouche (2021) the result of Covid-19 is the creation of a complex and challenging environment within HRM practice, which has placed emphasis on management addressing issues and finding solutions which will allow the organisation to continue and to ensure that employees have the resources to cope with this extraordinary crisis.

Human Resource Management

Armstrong & Taylor (2020: 3) identify the concept of HRM as

‘how people are employed, managed and developed in organisations.’

Wilton (2016) describes HRM as the description of all of the activities within an organisation concerned with the recruitment and selection, designing work for, training and development, appraising and rewarding, directing, motivating and controlling the workforce. It is a framework of philosophies, procedures, practices and policies for managing the relationship between employer and employee. Marchington et al (2021) identifies that HRM is seen as a defining factor in the success of an organisation behind finance and technology. It is necessary for an organisation to realise the importance of the human resource as an asset. Human resources can be seen as a competitive advantage for an organisation (Storey et al, 2019; Wilkinson et al, 2020). Human resources are identified as a critical component in the production process in manufacturing organisations, according to Marchington et al (2021). Wilkinson et al (2020) state that HRM has a human focus, a resource focus, and a management focus. Gonçalves et al (2021) have identified that there is an unexpected need for change within the HRM department of organisations due to the pandemic. According to Gonçalves et al (2021) changes have occurred, particularly in the areas of the processes of work and safety, work organisation, communication, training, recruitment and selection and induction and onboarding.

The Challenges of Covid-19 to HRM

Covid-19 presented itself as an exceptional health crisis which has played out on the global stage and plummeted the modern world into uncertainty and fear. The first case was identified in December 2019, in Wuhan, China and presented as an outbreak of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and by March 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global pandemic. Measured which have been used to attempt to reduce the spread of Covid-19 include lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing, restriction of travel, schools, non-essential businesses and government offices to close leaving children and the workforce to work from home. Unemployment has risen in many countries due to furloughs and layoffs. Gourinchas (2020) has suggested that within a short period 50% or more of the workforce may not be able to work. According to Wang et al (2009) many organisations are not ready to deal with crises when they occur. It is also appropriate to note that there is a gap in research of the impact of Covid-19 on HRM and the challenges and potential opportunities are still unclear. In times of crisis, an organisation must prioritise its achieving of its strategic goals and to do this they must prepare and allocate the resources and to effectively use these resources to combat the challenges they may face. Covid-19 presented a challenge which could compromise the achievement of the organisational goals. One challenge has been employees working from home coupled with home learning has placed a burden on many.

Working Conditions

According to ILO (2020) the working conditions of an organisation are the c