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Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies:

Perspectives from Georgia

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DOI: 10.14738/abr.811.9313

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Archives of Business Review – Vol. 8, No.11
Publication Date: November 25, 2020

DOI: 10.14738/abr.811.9313.
Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of

Business Research, 8(11). 1-18.

Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming

Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia

Iza Gigauri
PhD, Business Administration, Affiliate Associate Professor
School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences,
St. Andrews Georgian University, Tbilisi, Georgia

ABSTRACT
Purpose - The paper aims to clarify the implications of COVID-19 on
organizations and Human Resource Management. The study proposes
organizational responses to the pandemic, and outlines how to adapt
HRM practices to the new normal. It aims to explore how human
resource managers support employees and whether top management
has a strategic focus on employee wellbeing during the crisis.
Design/methodology/approach - The paper opted for quantitative
research method using descriptive research design. The data was
collected with the survey. Questionnaires were distributed to the HR
managers through the Internet. The response rate is 32%. The
gathered data was analyzed through SPSS. Findings - The research
provides empirical insights on the challenges organizations are facing
due to the pandemic. It sheds light on the decisions Georgian managers
took in times of Covid-19. The paper suggests that changes in HR
policies will lead to successfully overcome emerged difficulties with
remote working, flexible schedule, and employee wellbeing. Research
limitations/implications The research results may lack
generalizability due to the small amount of participants in the survey.
Therefore, researchers are encouraged to conduct future larger-scale
research. Practical implications - The paper includes implications for
the development of HRM strategy to adapt to the new reality shaped by
the pandemic, and for managing remote working systems considering
the employee perspectives. Social implications - The paper contributes
to decisions of policymakers and governments regarding the
workforce, and to the society for responding the changes.
Originality/value - This paper studied the role of HR managers in
employee adaptation to the pandemic state, their perceptions towards
organizational response to the crisis, and supportive behavior.

Keywords: Coronavirus, Pandemic, Crisis, Work-life balance, Digitalization,
Georgia

INTRODUCTION
Today's unusual time, each business has its own challenges, but they also have one common
feature: their success depends on their employees. HR managers can play a key role in an
organization's efforts to operate through the COVID-19 crisis. The main goal around the world has

1


Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18

been to contain the spread of the virus, which is possible only through everyone's collective efforts.
Thus, HR managers can innovate with work schedules, assignments, and communication by
allowing flextime opportunities and creativity to their employees.

The covid-19 crisis facilitated the digitalization. Some companies have made digital transition
easily, but others were forced to make the transition in a brief space of time. Those companies that
were unable to respond readily and promptly may result in blockage.

Both employers and employees try to overcome the unexpected alteration to their lives and work.
The workforce needs to adapt to the changes caused by covid-19 crisis. Organizations adapted their
HR approaches over the past months. For example, they have allowed remote work, reduced work
hours, cancelled or postponed business trips, arranged online training and staff development
activities, reduced or ban recruitment. However, many organizations have intensified supporting
activities to keep up performance and foster communication or collaboration in the course of
remote work.

In the foreseen future, work will become more agile. More flexibility is expected with transition to
remote work. Teams will become more separate with distance work, so online connections with
other employees through collaboration tools are expected. Working from home can be convenient
but also difficult to separate home and work life. Hence, work-life balance is affected.

The purpose of this research is to investigate organizational responses to the pandemic crisis from
human resource management perspective. The main question for organizations around the world
is how to adapt HR management practices in this crisis times, which have great implications for
employees and managers. Specifically, this research aims at answering the following questions:
(1) How does covid-19 affect organizations and their employees in Georgia? (2) What are some
ways to support employees during the crisis? (3) How will the workforce adapt to the changes
brought on by the pandemic crisis? (4) What HR activities are in focus during the current crisis?
(5) If and how top management supports the HR managers efforts?

In the following sections, we present an overview of the state of HRM during the current crisis,
especially in Georgia. Then, we explain the research methodology and approach to analysis. This is
followed by the presentation of research findings. In the final section, the discussion of results,
conclusions, research limitations, and avenues for future research are outlined.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A range of complex alteration in the interconnected world poses threat to survival of all kind of
organizations. Technological, economic and socio-demographic shifts create new demands for
organizations (Stone et al., 2015). Particularly, times of uncertainty emerged due to the recent
pandemic crisis. These significant problems encourage organizations to remain responsive and
adaptive as they organize and manage their workforce (Carnevale & Hatak, 2020). The pandemic
has already influenced on individual career experiences, and opportunities. Healthcare workers
provided support services continuously, whereas many employees have been working from home
adapted quickly to online work arrangements, and still others are facing job loss hand in hand with
customer demand decrease or increased operational costs (Akkermans, Richardson & Kraimer,
2020).
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 8, Issue 11, November-2020

HR professionals can play an important role to improve organizational performance in crisis with
supporting practices. But limited research investigates concrete practices, especially in terms of
Georgian context.

Since the pandemic has created a particularly challenging environment for HRM, managers now
have to help their workforce adapt to and cope with radical changes occurring in the work and
social environment (Carnevale & Hatak, 2020). Even employees who have been working from
home before are likely to encounter many challenges of working in the presence of their families
(Giurge & Bohns, 2020).

HRM policies and practices influence employees' behavior and performance, and organizational
decisions affect employees' wellbeing. Within the framework of health and safety management,
HRM needs to address workplace stressors, job burnout and other hazards. It should be pointed
out that an organization would be significantly affected by the new Coronavirus when its
productive employees become ill (Opatha, 2020). Consequently, the role of HR managers in
ensuring employee safety is of paramount importance.

Morover, employees’ time is now more fragmented as work and family boundaries being removed
(Giurge & Bohns, 2020). As a result, companies need to support employees in their struggle to
maintain adequate work-family roles. On the other hand, childless and single employees may face
another challenge and demands, which are loneliness and feelings of social isolation while working
from home when co-working spaces are closed. For them, HR managers can enhance relationship-
oriented systems in order to combat the high risk of isolation among them (Carnevale & Hatak,
2020). The research conducted by Ruiller et al. (2019) suggest that management challenges
regarding the teleworkers’ risk of isolation, coupled with the need to maintain cohesion for the
dispersed team can be overcome by the key role of the e-leader that influences the team members
in terms of communicational and organizational behaviors.

Furthermore, HRM has applied new technologies to implement their goals (Bondarouk, Parry, &
Furtmueller, 2017). A previous research by Bondarouk & Ruël (2012) has shown that strategic
advantage of e-HRM might arise under certain conditions, and by that time the frequency of e-HRM
practice was low. On the other hand, Lin (2011) demonstrated that information technologies and
virtual HR positively influence firm innovation. By the same token, organizations have proceeded
to virtual forms of recruitment, selection, and training instead of face-to-face interactions (Maurer,
2020).

Various researches have been carried out in telework that is another term for distance work,
telecommuting, remote work, and distance work. According to Felstead and Henseke (2017),
teleworking implies high levels of organizational commitment, job satisfaction and wellbeing, but
these positive outcomes arise from work intensification and increasing inability of employees to
disconnect.

Since employees need timely access to information and resources, managers should avoid
micromanaging and address employee anxiety with motivational tools (Mukhopadhyay &
Mukhopadhyay, 2020).

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Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18

Both researchers and practitioners have focused on the impact of automation on organizations, but
companies also need to consider how jobs should be developed to face future challenges
(Stoepfgeshoff, 2018). Santana and Cobo (2020) studied the Future of Work (FoW) themes such as
the impact of technological change on employment, vulnerable workers, organizational
commitment, e-HRM, telework, automation, and talent management. They suggested that HRM
should address social, economic and political concerns for an uncertain present and future
(Santana & Cobo, 2020).

Additionally, central to strategic agility is HRM policy and practice (Cumming et al., 2020). Yet agile
teams can be a real source of competitive advantage, as they traditionally excel when their
members are co-located (Comella-Dorda et al., 2020), but the Covid-19 crisis forced all teams to
work remotely. A large-scale survey demonstrated that team performance is worse when more co-
workers are working from home (Van der Lippe & Lippényi, 2020).

Furthermore, Work-Life Balance strategies of companies have been connected with the job
satisfaction of employees (Cegarra-Leiva, Sanchez-Vidal, & Cegarra-Navarro, 2012). According to
Rego, Ribeiro, Cunha, and Jesuino (2011), employees’ satisfaction and happiness at work positively
affect their performance and organizational productivity. Contrariwise, burnout is a serious
problem for organizations (Fernet, Gagne, & Austin, 2010), since it causes negative consequences
(Simha, Elloy, & Huang, 2014), such as absenteeism, depression, cynicism, reduced wellbeing, poor
performance, and low work engagement (Hakanen, Schaufeli, & Ahola, 2008).

Akkermans, Richardson & Kraimer (2020) claim that even though the pandemic is a negative shock
for most people, it might also bring some positive outcomes including work arrangements, career
development and skill upgrades with regard to the use of technology. For example, academics have
been upgrading their technological skills with the sudden demand to switch to online lectures on
short notice (McKinsey & Company, 2020). Besides, some individuals otherwise unwilling to
engage in proactive skills development have expanded career sustainability by effectively dealing
with the current changes in work demands (De Vos, Van der Heijden, & Akkermans, 2020).

Moreover, unemployment rates have dramatically increased since the start of the pandemic. About
3.3 billion workforce is affected by workplace closure due the pandemic (ILO, 2020). Initial
estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO, 2020) indicate that 6.7% of working
hours will disappear globally in 2020, which equals to 195 million full-time workers. Particularly
individuals and small business owners working in services, tourism, travel, and retail will be left
up unemployed. Global unemployment at the start of 2020, before Covid-19, already stood at
around 195 million (UN News, 2020).

In order to cope with the arriving large-scale unemployment, ILO (2020) suggests integrated policy
measures focusing on stimulating the economy and jobs, as well as protecting workers in the
workplace, among others.

Therefore, HR managers need to implement appropriate approaches and policies for monitoring
problems concerning employees' work-life balance, their job satisfaction or burnout. In the era of
uncertainty and rapid technological changes, the management of HR innovation is crucial for a
company.
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 8, Issue 11, November-2020

Georgia during Covid-19

Population of Georgia amounts to 3,7 million people, GDP per capita is 4,763 USD, and
unemployment rate equals to 11.6% (Geostat, 2020).

Georgian people have been less affected by the illness because of the strict lockdown policies at the
very beginning of the pandemic. However, implications on business are severe. Many companies
went bankrupt or are on the verge of bankruptcy. Decline in demand, interruption in the supply
chain, problems related to the transportation, which were caused by the lockdown due to Covid-
19, negatively affected almost all sectors in Georgia.

Besides, labour market participants face a high risk of job loss. The workers employed in
companies that face a dramatic decline in their usual economic activities (e.g. restaurants, hotels,
transport, entertainment) are likely to put their workers on unpaid leave or to fire them (Babych,
et al., 2020).

Furthermore, the Georgian economy lost from 3-9% of potential tourism revenue in February
(Babych, et al., 2020), while 7.6% of Georgia's GDP accounts from the tourism sector (GTNA, 2018).
In Georgia too, disruptions to trade, border closures, travel bans, and other restrictions on the
movement of goods, people, and capital resulted in forced business closures and inability of
workers to get to wor(Babych, et al., 2020).

According to the survey of the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 66% of Georgian
companies suffered financial loss, and business turnover in 76% of companies for the last 6 months
decreased (GCCI, 2020). As a consequence, more than 50% of companies in Georgia have reduced
staff, and 40% of companies in Tourism industry dismissed all their employees (PwC Georgia,
2020).

Around 28% of Georgian companies have faced liquidity problems, whereas only 15% of surveyed
companies believe that they can maintain liquidity, and about half of them are anticipating liquidity
challenges in the next 1-6 months (PwC Georgia, 2020). In this extremely difficult situation, the
organizational decisions regarding people management are of utmost importance. New
opportunities are opened up in remote working. Although, many companies suspended business
operations and/or shut down production due to the pandemic, while the most companies switched
to teleworking (PwC Georgia, 2020). It should be noted that the employees of the majority of
governmental agencies also have worked remotely.

As for shifting to remote working, 17% of surveyed companies want to move online, but admit to
not having the necessary skills, while 7% of them plan to transfer to online working systems in the
near future (GCCI, 2020). Remarkably, the interest of Georgian companies in working online
increased from 0.33% to 17% in the last few months (GCCI, 2020).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To find answers to the research questions, the quantitative research method was applied. The data
was collected through the survey. The questionnaire was developed based on the results of the
previous qualitative research containing HRM expert interviews conducted by the author in April-
May, 2020 in Georgia.
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Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18

The question types for the questionnaire included dichotomous questions, multiple questions and
multiple response questions, and 5-point Likert type scale format ranging from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) questions. The most of the questions were closed-ended, and only
two questions were open-ended. The survey encompassed 4 Blocks. First block asked general
questions regarding company name, size, sector, as well as the participant's position at the
company and number of working years at that job. Second part involved questions concerning
working schedule of employees during the pandemic. Third section contained questions regarding
respondents' attitude towards remote working. Forth block evaluated the respondents' perception
towards organizational response to the pandemic crisis and the implications of the crisis on HRM.

The questionnaires were distributed through the Internet, Email, and Google forms. This method
was chosen for its convenience, and popularity among the targeted audience. Overall, 150 HR
managers were invited to fill out the survey. The respondents were chosen with the probability
sampling at the closed Facebook and LinkedIn groups, participants of which are only HR managers
and the groups are dedicated to the issues HR managers are interested in. The sample size is 48,
and response rate is 32%. Confidence level equals to 95%.

To analyze the gathered data, descriptive statistics was carried out through SPSS (2020) and MS
Excel. The results of data analysis are discussed and conclusions made. Several Likert-type items
were used into the questionnaire to measure perceived implication of the pandemic on
organizations and organizational response to the challenges caused by the pandemic, as well as on
modifications in the HRM systems, and strategic HRM. Specifically, the questions aimed to establish
HR managers' evaluation of changes in the jobs, work-life balance, flexible working hours,
communication, and attitudes of the top-management.

Items were responded to on a Likert scale of 1-5, where 5 = Strongly agree, 4= Agree, 3= Neither
agree nor disagree, 2= Disagree, and 1 = Strongly disagree. The respondents needed to indicate
their level of agreement or disagreement with the following statements.
1. Overall, our organization is negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic
2. The executive board/ Top-management has communicated adequately to the employees
about the Pandemic
3. Overall, I am pleased with how my workplace handles the pandemic situation
4. My work tasks and duties have been changed
5. I get consultation when my job responsibilities have changed
6. The way, how my workplace was managed and organized, has been changed
7. My working hours have been reduced
8. I have enough flexibility in my work to meet my other responsibilities at home (e.g.
childcare, caring for my family members, teaching children...)
9. I have sufficient time to perform my work tasks
10. I experience work-life balance
11. I study employees feelings and needs
12. I try to create good atmosphere focusing on the importance of organizational values and
cultures
13. I have initiated projects to improve physical office/ home office space of our employees
14. I have adapted my projects to the individual/ group needs of employees
15. I help managers to improve their relations with employees
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 8, Issue 11, November-2020

16. We celebrate the important moments for our employees

17. I have initiated projects to make it easier to work for employees (e.g. IT service, HRM
service)
18. We have co-created projects with employees and/or managers to include their perspectives
19. I have initiated projects to improve working of employees
20. Top management completely supports employees / HRM
21. Top management has stressed the importance of employee emotional experience and HRM
practice
22. Top management has encouraged HRM practice to improve employees wellbeing
23. Employee experience and / or HRM practice have been a strategic focus area for my
organization during this pandemic crisis
24. Employee experience and / or HRM practice were a strategic focus area for my organization
before this pandemic crisis

The reliability analysis was performed through SPSS with Cronbach’s Alpha comprising 24 items
(Table 1). Cronbach’s alpha showed the questionnaire to reach acceptable reliability, α = 0.92. All
items appeared to be worthy of retention resulting in a decrease in the alpha if deleted.

Table 1. Reliability Statistics for the Likert Scale questionnaires
Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items
0.907 0.920 24
Item Statistics Mean Std. Deviation N
Overall, our organization is negatively affected by Covid-19 pandemic 2.95833 1.270924 48
The executive board/ Top-managements has communicated
4.47917 0.874937 48
adequately to the employees about the Pandemic
Overall, I am please with how my workplace handles the pandemic
4.39583 1.066703 48
situation
My work tasks and duties have been changed 2.52083 1.336709 48
I get consultation when my job responsibilities have changed 3.77083 1.241817 48
The way, how my workplace was managed and organized, has been
3.20833 1.428559 48
changed
My working hours have been reduced 2.14583 1.336709 48
I have enough flexibility in my work to meet my other responsibilities
at home (e.g. childcare, caring for my family members, teaching 3.68750 1.240389 48
children)
I have sufficient time to perform my work tasks 3.41667 1.426696 48
I experience work-life balance 2.52083 1.515727 48
I study employees feelings and needs 4.00000 0.967559 48
I try to create good atmosphere focusing on the importance of
3.95833 0.921570 48
organizational values and culture
I have initiated projects to improve physical office/ home office space
3.43750 1.146804 48
of our employees
I have adapted my projects to the individual/group needs of
3.47917 1.148349 48
employees
I help managers to improve their relations with employees 4.00000 0.922531 48
We celebrate the important moments for our employees 3.50000 1.166920 48
I have initiated projects to make it easier to work for employees (e.g.
3.47917 1.071057 48
IT support, HRM service)

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Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18
We have co-created projects with employees and/or managers to
3.45833 1.091351 48
include their perspectives
I have initiated projects to improve working of employees 3.47917 0.988408 48
Top management completely supports employees/HRM 4.29167 0.972813 48
Top management has stressed the importance of employee emotional
4.10417 0.907025 48
experience and HRM practice
Top management has encouraged HRM practice to improve employees
4.16667 1.041472 48
wellbeing
Employee experience and/or HRM practice have been a strategic focus
3.97917 1.058569 48
area for my organization during this pandemic crisis
Employee experience and/or HRM practice were a strategic focus area
3.83333 1.071057 48
for my organization before this pandemic crisis

The research findings indicate that, to date, many companies intend to stress the importance of
HRM practice and take care of employees.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Overall, managers of 48 organizations took part in the survey from which 8 organizations are
public organizations i.e. governmental agencies and the rest are profit oriented commercial
companies. The small amount of the public organizations is determined by the fact that the
governmental bodies, ministries, and other state agencies act under the directions from the central
government and hence their response to the pandemic situation was more or less the same.
Therefore, the survey of eight public organizations can make the overall impression and even can
be generalized to the government agencies in Georgia.

46% of the surveyed organizations are large, and 54% are SME (Table 2). According to the
classification of National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat, 2020), large company is an
enterprise, where average annual number of employed exceeds 250 persons, the average annual
number of employed in Medium size enterprises ranges from 50 to 250 persons, and small size
enterprises have less than 50 employees.

Table 2. Surveyed Organizations Size
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Large 22 45.8 45.8 45.8
Medium 14 29.2 29.2 75.0
Small 12 25.0 25.0 100.0
Total 48 100.0 100.0

The pandemic crisis has cause transition to teleworking. More small companies went completely
remotely during the pandemic while large companies have arranged the workplace in such a way
to hinder the density of employees throughout a workday (Fig. 1). As a result, the majority of the
organizations have introduced the flexible working schedule because of the pandemic, whereas
other organizations could only establish flexible working for some positions. Consequently,
organizations also in Georgia had to change the policy to allow remote working. Besides, teams
were working through the teleconferencing and online meetings in the large companies. On the
contrary, in the small companies they either worked face-to-face or cancelled team working.
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 8, Issue 11, November-2020

Figure 1. Changes in organizational work due to the Pandemic

The respondents think that they might retain remote working for eligible positions (Fig. 2).
However, in order to perform work online from home effectively, the employees need to possess
knowledge in new technologies and tools. Correspondingly, 69 percent of the managers believe
that their employees are ready to work using new technologies compared to 27 percent of
respondents stating they are working on this point, and the minority (4%) claims that their
employees are not prepared to work with the novel technologies (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. Continuing Work Remotely using new technologies

Almost all the organizations either cancelled or postponed travels to the conferences, exhibitions,
and trade shows, or conducted online meeting instead of traveling (Table 3).

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Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18
Table 3. Decision regarding work-related travel (N=48)
Multiple response question Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cancelled all trips inside the country 17 35.4 35.4
Cancelled or postponed travel abroad 34 70.8 70.8
Cancelled travel to conferences/ exhibitions 27 56.3 56.3
Cancelled the majority of them 4 8.3 8.3
Only postponed them for the future 13 27.1 27.1
Neither cancelled not postponed (we travelled as planned) 1 2.1 2.1
Conducted online meetings wherever possible 26 54.2 54.2
We are planning to develop new policy concerning the work-
7 14.6 14.6
related travel

Half of the managers participated in the survey have at least partly performed their work remotely
since the Covid-19, while 31 percent have been working completely online and only 19 percent did
not work from home. This must be a new experience for the majority of them (48%), as they did
not work remotely before the pandemic. Conversely, 16 percent stated to have worked remotely
before the pandemic, whereas 36 percent have teleworking experience before the pandemic.

The managers agree that their organizations are at some degree affected by the pandemic. Yet, they
are satisfied with the measures the management has been taking to handle the situation (Table 4).
The pandemic led to the modification of jobs, working hours, workplaces, and management
systems. Though, work tasks and duties have not changed in 30 organizations as reported by the
respondents. According to the managers, their working hours have not been reduced, but the way
their workplace was managed and organized has been altered. In this regard, organizations offer
consultations to managers and employees when their responsibilities are modified.

Table 4. Respondents' level of agreement or disagreement with the statements concerning
organizations response to the pandemic in Numbers (Frequency)
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Neither Agree Total
Disagree Agree
Overall, our organization is negatively
6 15 8 13 6 48
affected by the Covid-19 pandemic
The executive board/ Top-management has
communicated adequately to the employees 1 1 3 12 31 48
about the Pandemic
Overall, I am pleased with how my workplace
3 0 3 11 31 48
handles the pandemic situation
My work tasks and duties have been changed 12 18 4 9 5 48
I get consultation when my job
4 4 7 17 16 48
responsibilities have changed
The way how my workplace was managed
8 9 7 13 11 48
and organized has been changed
My working hours have been reduced 20 16 1 7 4 48
I have enough flexibility in my work to meet
4 4 10 15 15 48
my other responsibilities at home
I have sufficient time to perform my work
6 10 4 14 14 48
tasks
I experience work-life balance 16 15 1 8 8 48

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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 8, Issue 11, November-2020

Since the employees have been working remotely from home during the pandemic, the work-life
balance issues were critical tasks for managers to address. The surveyed managers agree or
strongly agree that they have enough flexible schedule from work to meet their other
responsibilities at home such as childcare. On the other hand, they agree or strongly agree that they
have enough time to perform their tasks and duties at work. Nevertheless, they disagree or strongly
disagree that they experience work-life balance.

According to the survey results, the organizations in most cases established flexible working hours
and allowed work from home in order to support employees to perform their jobs during the
pandemic. Moreover, the managers were in constant communication with the employees and
treated them with compassion (Fig. 3). Besides, 52 percent of the respondents claimed that they
helped the employees to upgrade their skills needed for remote working. 21 percent of managers
stated that they have implemented less strict policies as well as adapting guidelines in compliance
with the remote working schedule. Only 19 percent of the respondents reported temporal salary
reduction to retain jobs.

Figure 3. HR managers supporting initiatives during the Covid-19 crisis

Recruitment and selection in times of the pandemic has been altered. In the majority of the
organizations, recruitment process either did not take place (in 35% of cases), or was used only a
few approaches (29%) to select employees in order to fill a position. In 63 percent of cases, large
organizations applied the same approach as before the pandemic to recruit new employees, while
the same did only 13 percent of medium-sized and 25 percent of small companies. In contrast, no
recruitment and selection process took place at 41 percent of large and at 18 percent of small
organization.

With regard to formal trainings including online trainings, the most SMEs provided on average 1
hour, compared with 80 percent of large organizations that offered more than 6 hours trainings
per week to the staff. 15 percent of the respondents stated that their employees receive 3 to 4 hours
formal trainings (comprising online trainings) per week during the pandemic.

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Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18

In addition to trainings, formal meetings were also held mostly online through the Internet
communication tools to inform employees about the organization’s situation, such as strategy,
results, changes, etc. Large organizations conducted either irregular meetings or they did not use
the formal meeting systems at all, while 60 percent of respondents from the medium-sized
organizations indicated that they held regular meetings that have been attended by less than half
of the employees.

The respondents mentioned online communication tools such as Zoom, Skype, Meet, Teams, which
organizations have used simultaneously with Phone and Email to maintain regular communicate
with the employees.

To the statements regarding employee wellbeing, the managers agreed that they studied feelings
and needs of the employees. For this reason, they have initiated projects to improve home office
spaces of the employees and to improve their working in general (Fig. 4). In addition, the
employees were involved in projects and their views were considered. The respondents indicated
a high level of agreement with the statements that they help managers to improve relations with
employees, initiated various projects to help employees and managers to adapt to the remote
working conditions, and created agreeable atmosphere with the focus on organizational values and
culture (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. HRM Concern For Employee Wellbeing during the Pandemic

The support from the top-management was vital to the human resource managers in their activities
to ensure employees' wellbeing during the Covid-19 crisis. Concerning the attitude of top-
management towards HRM practice in the course of pandemic crisis, the respondents agreed that
the top-management of their organizations completely supports employees, understands the
importance of employee emotional experience, and encourages HRM practice to improve
employees’ wellbeing (Table 5). In respect of Strategic human resource management, the majority

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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 8, Issue 11, November-2020

of the organizations have considered HRM practice being a strategic focus area during the
pandemic as it was before the crisis. 35 percent of the respondents strongly agree and 40 percent
agree to the statements that employee experience and /or HRM practice have been a strategic focus
for their organization during the pandemic. Whereas, 35 percent agree and 31 percent strongly
agree that employee experience and HRM practices were a strategic issue for their organizations
even before the pandemic.

Table 5. Level of agreement and disagreement about the strategic HRM and attitude of top-
management towards employee wellbeing by Frequency and Percentage
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Neither Agree
Disagree Agree
Top management completely supports
2 4% 0% 6 13% 14 29% 26 54%
employees/ HRM 0
Top management has stressed the
importance of employee emotional 1 2% 1 2% 11 23% 14 29% 21 43%
experience and HRM practice
Top management has encouraged HRM
practice to improve employees 1 2% 0 0% 10 21% 16 33% 21 44%
wellbeing
Employee experience and /or HRM
practice have been a strategic focus
2 4% 2 4% 8 17% 19 40% 17 35%
area for my organization during this
pandemic crisis
Employee experience and / or HRM
practice were a strategic focus area for
1 2% 5 10% 10 21% 17 35% 15 31%
my organization before this pandemic
crisis

One of the most important issues to address during the remote working is the performance
management. Therefore, the managers participated in the survey responded to the open-ended
question - "How have you ensured performance management taking into consideration the
distance working routine?" - with a wide range solutions. The responses were analyzed with the
content analysis approach, which showed that managers trusted to the employees and did not
control their job activities with micromanagement. However, they have openly and constantly
communicating with the staff helping them to adapt to the remote working system as well as to
encourage, motivate, and praise them. The employees performed their tasks with responsibilities
and did not require directives from the management, nor close monitoring. The respondents also
reported that they were using a specific online working systems to collect statistical data about
working hours and performed tasks, as well as the reporting system by which all employees wrote
reports about the tasks and duties they have performed. The managers filled in the questionnaire
expressed their satisfaction with the performance of their employees with the remote work during
the pandemic.

Another open-ended question was related to the HRM issues Georgian organizations have been
focusing on during the pandemic. The content analysis revealed that the most significant activities
were linked to the employee health and safety. In addition, HR managers have addressed
organizational values and culture, held consultations to inform the staff about the pandemic
situation as well as governmental restrictions and regulations. Moreover, HR management has
concentrated on employee motivation, communication, stress management, time management,
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Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18

and crisis management. The respondents mentioned as well employee retention and payroll as the
most critical issues during the Covid-19 crisis.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The unexpected changes because of the COVID-19 and accompanying regulations to hinder
spreading the virus have caused a great deal of economic uncertainty around the globe. The
pandemic has created extraordinary difficulties to companies. Under such challenging conditions,
HRM plays a vital role to help the workforce to adapt to the new real.

In this article, we discussed the implications the pandemic has for human resource management.
Since all organizations respond to the threat of the new coronavirus crisis, HR managers have to
play a central role as organizations need to help their workforce cope with and adjust to their newly
altered work environment. This research sheds light on the decisions Georgian organizations took
in times of Covid-19.

The pandemic crisis has caused changes in the working conditions at all organizations participating
in the survey. It also accelerated transition to remote working and digitalization. Consequently,
organizations had to change the policy in this regard and allow remote working. Hand in hand with
the remote working transition, the employees need technological skills to acquire or improve.

Remote working is accompanying with the flexible working schedule and hence, some
modifications to tasks, duties, workplaces, working hours, team working, and management
systems are inevitable. However, the changeover cannot always be to the better direction. On the
contrary, the workload and working hours of the managers can be increased resulting in stress and
burnout.

It should be pointed out that many organizations in Georgia are not ready yet to introduce remote
working and flexible working schedule for the majority of positions. In response to this challenge,
they should work on changes in strategy, operational management, and/or business process
modification. Further research in this regard can discover the precise systems requiring
digitalization taking into account the type and size of an organization.

At first glance, constant communication including online meetings was in place in times of the
pandemic. Still next research will explore how satisfied the employees and managers are with the
communication process, and with the communication tools.

The business trips were cancelled or postponed because of the lockdown. Future studies unveil the
consequences of this restriction to the business, company sales or the financial condition at large.
The organizations were not fully engaged in the recruitment and selection process. In general, they
have not hired new employees during and post-pandemic period. This finding is in line with the
tendency of growing unemployment highlighted in the literature review.

Our research did not confirm the salary reduction in the majority of the organizations in contrast
with the general trends summarized in the literature. The reason behind is that the organizations
did not reduce salaries in the course of the survey but they may plan it in the longer-term, as the

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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 8, Issue 11, November-2020

exact implications of lockdown have not been yet identified. The following large-scale research can
ascertain the pandemic impact in this regard as well.

The HRM effort has been directed to the employee retention and payroll coupled with employee
health and safety issues. Communication, personnel development, (online) trainings were also
questions of great importance to HR managers. Further research needs to demonstrate the themes
covered by HRM during the pandemic, and whether training sessions helped the employees in their
transformed jobs.

Managers must acknowledge work-life balance during the remote working from home. This
research demonstrated that managers have sufficient flexible schedule from work to meet their
other responsibilities at home, whereas they have also enough time to perform their work duties.
Nevertheless, they do not experience work-life balance (WLB). Though HRM have concerned for
employee wellbeing and initiated project for this reason, as well as get support from the top-
management, this research still indicated their dissatisfaction about WLB. Interestingly, this
research shows that employee experience and HRM practice were strategic focus for the
organizations before and during the pandemic, and top-management encourages HRM to improve
employees' wellbeing. Thus, the future research must address this controversy and investigate
thoroughly employees' and managers' perception regarding WLB.

Even though the pandemic is a negative career shock, it may have longer-term positive implications
for some individuals. Further studies will show the work and career implications of Covid-19 as a
career shock, as well as to support people in dealing with this shock.

The companies are affected at some degree by the pandemic. However, more longitudinal research
needs to be conducted to examine both the negative and positive effects of the crisis to the business.
It should be noted that not only commercial enterprises are influenced but also nonprofit and
public organizations.

One of the most important topics is performance management of remote working during the
pandemic crisis. According to the research results, Georgian managers have encountered
difficulties in this respect. In a broad sense, they need changes in the performance management
system, and should apply the online appraisal systems.

Today's organizations have to remain adaptive to unforeseen events, as external crisis create
increased uncertainty among workforce, which pose threats to the organizations' performance.
Companies need to protect the wellbeing of their employees and put incentives in place in order to
survive and to demonstrate organizational values.

The organizations of any type and size need to adapt to and navigate through the COVID normal.
Respectively, the HR managers should tackle the difficulties employees are encountering. Finally,
the researchers should provide important insights on the long-term challenges the business and
society are facing in the course of new normal.



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Gigauri, I. (2020). Challenges HR Managers Facing due to COVID-19 and Overcoming Strategies: Perspectives from Georgia. Archives of Business
Research, 8(11). 1-18

THE RESEARCH LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

This research used cross-sectional data, however longitudinal data will give a complete picture of
the impact of COVID-19 on HRM. The small sample size is another limitation, which was caused by
shortage of time and the pandemic state, but probability sampling approach to collect data from
larger sample will allow generalization of results. However, the research findings still can serve as
a preliminary pilot study for further large-scale research.

The importance of this research lies in its implications on companies to adopt an appropriate
strategy and adapt to the new reality. It adds up to the body knowledge about COVID-19 impacts
on organizations - both profit- and nonprofits, and especially the effect of the crisis to human
resource management.

In practice, the research result will contribute to HRM planning and emphasizes the important role
of working conditions in remote working for employee productivity. HR managers will use the
findings to improve their efforts towards both organizations and employees.

Study implications contribute also to policymakers and governmental agencies. To overcome the
crisis caused by the pandemic requires coordinated and joint efforts of organizations, government,
and policymakers to develop decision and regulations addressing the new challenges including a
variety of following issues: flexible work procedures, workforce development with technological
and professional skills required 'next normal', salary reduction, unequal wages and unemployment
problems, financial aids, grants, long-term and low-rate loans to help business financially, and
changes in taxation system e.g. temporarily tax exemption.

Furthermore, the research has impact on wider society. The society can use the findings to
understand thoroughly the current developments concerning the pandemic crisis, and plan their
professional lives correspondingly. The society needs as well to adapt to the changes and navigate
across the COVID normal. In this respect, the study results contribute in society's future wellbeing
in general.

The value of this paper includes HR managers' viewpoints regarding their roles in adaptation of
the workforce to the transformations, and their perceptions towards organizational response and
supportive behaviour during the crisis. Finally, the scholars can discover new research topics based
on this study, and pursue the similar research in other countries using the same questionnaire.

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