) a) 

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world hard. Most of the companies have used very
innovative yet simple ways to carry out the recruitment process, mainly the interview through a
plethora of technologically advanced ways. Some of them are : -
 Video conferencing through Internet is one of the most widely used method for
conducting job interviews. It is convenient and a reliable method where the recruiter can
easily get to know the applicant and his / her whereabouts. Through video conferencing it
becomes easy to interact with the applicants and to decide whether they are a fit for the
job profile. Merits of video conferencing are that it is convenient and effective. Demerit
of video conferencing is that it requires a stable Internet connection, which might not be
available all the time.
 Telephonic interview is another medium of conducting job interviews through cell
phones on normal calls. Telephonic interviews are flexible ie; both the recruiter and
applicant can easily figure out a time slot where in they can communicate. Merit
conducting interview through telephone is that it is fast, effective and reliable way of
communication which helps recruiter to understand the communication skills of the
applicant. Demerit can be that if a proper mobile cellular network is not present, it may
cause ineffective communication.
 1. Telephonic interview: The interviews are being conducted through
phone calls due to the pandemic because everybody was shut in their
places and nobody could travel. The merit of this medium is that it can
be conducted easily without much complexity. The disadvantage of this
medium is that it is not reliable which means that the other party on the
other side is true to their identity or not.

b) To recruit a more diverse workforce, companies follow some effective recruitment techniques.
These include : -
 Using diverse recruitment staff to assure the applicants that the company has a
multicultural environment and looks forward to understanding the needs of the
employees based on their cultural values too. This gives applicants the much needed
sense of belonging to the applicants and not feel discriminated based on their cultural
status.
 Providing testimonials from ex employees and current employees can help in giving
the job seekers a feeling of security and supportiveness as they tend to think that the
people from their cultural background are accepted and treated equally in the
organisation.
 Spreading information about the company's work culture through various media outlets
such as social networking websites can help the job seekers to get an insight on the
multicultural environment of the company. Talking to various communities, refugee
groups etc can also prove beneficial in assuring people about the diverse workforce that
the compnay has.
3 major benefits of a diverse workforce are : -

 Faster decision making - Companies with a diverse workforce are able to find solutions
to problems quicker as different viewpoints provide a wider perspective, therefore a
decision is made effectively in a diverse workforce environment.
 Increased productivity and skill set - Diversification of workforce also ensures increasd
productivity due to a diverse skill set which helps the employees provide optimum output
in less time.
 Increase in company's reputation - A diversified workforce ensures an overall better
reputation of the company as people of different communities are able to connect better
with the company's workforce giving them an assurance about the company's well
managed structure.

Q2
 Cutting costs in an organization from an HR manager point of view.
 Instead of going into the dynamics of long-term and short-term cost-cutting, let’s cut the
chase and start with obvious cost cuttings from an HR manager’s point of view.
 1) Outsource some of the HR services – It is important to first identify keynote HR
services that are extremely important for the efficient functioning of the company.
Services like Employee Relations, Performance management, Succession planning,
Compensation design and Performance Management are core to HR services. The next
step would be to collect the remaining services and look for outsourcing. Generally,
services like Background checks, Medical Screening and Temporary Staffing can be
easily outsourced. Also, external specialists can be hired to guide HR's selection team for
a particular portfolio. This reduces time and money lost into interviewing a wide array of
candidates. Here what happens is the narrowing down of candidates at a level.
 2) Cost-cutting can also be achieved by reducing unused employee benefits like wellness
programs, free gym memberships, free employee outings etc., by offering work from
home solutions.
 3) Another way cost-cutting is by optimizing salaries based on market conditions.
Although this is a very unpopular alternative among employees, it does have a great
potential of reducing immediate costs.
 4) Hiring on contract and replacing full-time workers (who leave the organization) by
contract-based employees also have a great potential to reduce costs. Evaluation of
recruitment process on this line will reduce the need for a recruitment freeze and will
keep HR professionals involved. However, it is worth noting that bad hires on contract
can increase the attrition rate in an organization which can directly affect the morale of
employees and in turn affect the brand of the company. A continuous re-hiring process
may also involve spending of valuable company time on hiring. Hence the quality of
selecting contract-based employees should be increased.
 5) The last effective measure to cut costs is bringing in automation. The basic exercise an
HR team can perform is enable the employees to manage their own requests like annual
leave and half-days. This way of self-serving by employees will reduce HR time and cost
in catering employee needs and will instead make them more responsible towards their
work.