Assignment

-Sakshi Rastogi

1207

Q. You are required to submit Project on HRM and in

that you are supposed to cover impact of Covid-19 situation
on Different Aspects of HR in case of Indian corporate
sector.
Answer.
The Coronavirus pandemic has completely transformed different aspects
of HR in case of Indian Corporate Sectors. Agility, creativity, flexibility
- these are the attributes demonstrated by HR in the lockdown scenario.
Amid this rapidly unfolding health crisis, HR functions geared up to
provide some critical communication on the safety protocols, hygiene
practices, emergency numbers, list of hospitals, guidelines for
quarantining and isolating, and much more. This implies that pandemic
situation will impact HR practices like recruitment, on-boarding, and
learning and development. Recruitment will focus on tech-savvy talent
who can perform better in a predominantly digital workplace. Processes
for on-boarding new hires will have to change to become fully Digital.
Training and skilling will reconfigure for an online-only mode.

Apart from these changes, HR are now more focused on the well-being
of the employees as it also become an important aspect of HR functions.
Checking out on whether the employees are under any stress or facing
any other issues which is hampering their productivity will definitely be
a part of the priority list even after things return to a new normal. The
following are the impact of Covid-19 situation on the Different Aspects
of HR Practices in case of Indian corporate sector:

 Maintaining  the Culture of the Company

Culture of an organization defines the working environment of the
company. Culture is what binds the entire organizations together and
gives the employees a sense of a purpose in their work.It attracts the
employees and helps in choosing one organization over the other.
Leadership is one of the most important aspect of any business that
drives its culture.

But maintaining the organization’s culture in the time of crisis is a big

challenge. With the dispersed workforce, this becomes even more
challenging.

Leaders along with the HR is required to keep in touch with the

employees to boost their morale. Regular communication, engagement,
and commitment towards the culture is something that needs to be done
to deal effectively with the crisis situation.

Paying attention to the organization’s culture and instilling the same in

the employees will help the organization in the long run.

 Talent Acquisition and Retention

Laying off huge number of employees due to onset of pandemic and low
profits is a pain area in many organizations. Hiring will be resumed but
it would be mostly contract hiring and temporary workers because the
organizations will be continuing with remote working. HR needs to
figure out a way to attract more and more talented candidates who are
willing to work temporarily.

Another aspect that is important is way the employees are being treated
during the crisis. This can impact the image of the organization in the
society. For instance, many organizations laid-off a huge number of
employees over a short zoom call, which was very harsh on their part.
Now this will create uncertainty in the minds of existing employees as
well as the prospective candidates.

What HR can do in such a situation is to maintain a pool of talent, so

that when the situation is likely they can immediately start getting the
new employees onboard and push the performance of the organization.

 Engaging a Remote Workforce

 Workforce engagement is one of the crucial roles of HR where various
studies prove that a highly engaged workforce is necessary for the
survival and growth of the organization. Without that, the organization
will incur a huge cost that will eventually fall.

In the situation of remote working, it will become even more important

for the HR to take care of the well-being of the employees. HR can
devise new policies to take of the health, both mental and physical of the
employees.

Certain benefits that can be considered are the daily pays, subsidized
loans, and free access to financial education webinars to reduce the
financial stress of the employees.

Also, rewarding the employees for their consistent performance even

while working remotely can go a long way to keep them motivated and
engaged with the entire team and leaders.
  Managing Costs
55% of the organizations have foreseen medium to significant impact on
the employees cost, while others are still unclear. Thus, Hrs are expected
to manage the cost of the company by managing the employees and
optimizing the cost of the company. Many organizations have adopted
an employee centric view and trying to protect the junior management, a
few are also offering additional pay-outs, hazard pay to support their
workforce through these tough times.

Only 22% organizations are thinking about manpower optimization in

the short term while 35% organizations want to look at optimization in
the future basis business impact and in line with the newer ways of
working.

Cost efficiencies are an imperative for business sustenance and given

this, organizations should further focus on the following ways of
reducing cost – i.e. optimization of layers, span of control and bands;
career progression and driving discipline on promotions policy and
compensation management as well.

 Accommodation and Compliance

With the number of people working remotely exploding, employers face

new policy issues and, potentially, very real employment law concerns.
Potential compliance issues include: Permitted employer actions under
the ADA, FMLA, Title VII and other federal and state statutes and
regulations. The important ADA concepts of “disability-related
inquiries,” “medical examinations,” “direct threat,” “undue hardship and
other similar terms.
HR professionals roles and responsibilities have been impacted highly by
COVID-19. They are facilitating and offering a supporting role in this
transformation, but they also take responsibility to retain the employees
by upgrading their skills and abilities. Not only reskilling or upskilling of
the workforce is essential, but resilience should be equally prioritised
within a company’s strategy. Yet individual performance factors such as
work characteristic, satisfaction, and commitment should also be taken
into account when HRM coordinates are flexible or offering hybrid work.
Besides, employees’ wellbeing and health have implications on their
outcomes which HR Professionals are managing. Consequently, working
management, productivity management are the core challenge HRM is
facing during remote working during this pandemic.