Question 1

In the era of information and globalization, the impact of an event has spread from
one country to the world, and some people compare it to the butterfly effect. A new
coronavirus outbreak in 2020 could have a serious impact on the overall economic
environment and affect individuals, countries and even the entire world. At the critical
juncture of epidemic prevention, understanding the new coronavirus and its symptoms and
strengthening preventive measures are a top priority for HR. The HR department should not
only cut salaries, cut staff, cut expenses and find solutions. An outbreak of COVID-19 will
have a different impact on the role of the human resources sector, in particular training and
development and occupational safety and health.

In recent years, there has been a lot of research literature on mental health problems
of employees at home and abroad. Research shows that the main causes of mental health
problems among employees are work stress, interpersonal relationships, corporate culture and
other factors, and more than 80 percent of employees in the workplace have experienced
various mental health problems. The problems are: irritability, anxiety, depression. A just-
released study by One Mind at Work and the Society for Human Resource Management
offers insights into the mental health of the 2020 team of senior HR leaders. "This year is
fraught with great uncertainty," the white paper said. Health and safety concerns, as well as
concerns about the economy and personal finance, are causing unprecedented emotional
stress. But not long before the COVID-19 outbreak, data on treatment and mental health
support revealed serious challenges, including one in five people with mental health problems
in 2019, of whom 60 per cent received no treatment or support at all for their mental health.
"[ CITATION Rob20 \l 2052 ] During the epidemic, the source of stress has shifted from factors
such as work pressure to worry about the epidemic. Anxiety, panic and its spread are the most
common psychological problems that are most easily spread today.

Before COVID - 19, for some workers, choose to work from home can be very
exciting - without having to commute, comfortable environment, and can according to other
duties to organize working days. But given the reality of doing so during a pandemic,
working from home has lost its appeal for many people. People are often unable to cope with
uncertainty or risk assessments, leading to increased stress. “Social isolation is inherently
uncomfortable,” said Dr. Eric Zillmer. [ CITATION Emi20 \l 2052 ] For employees, there are also
unknowns related to occupational safety, which are a very personal source of stress. COVID-
19 and related mental processes are powerful opponents. In addition to being forced to deal
with these additional stresses, many employees still have to work and face unexpected mental
health challenges that require support at work. That's why many employers are now paying
attention to their employees' mental health. [ CITATION Par20 \l 2052 ]

During this special period, the company's management team first considered how to
help employees cope with the spread of the epidemic, implement effective health protection,
and ensure the health and safety of employees. Companies also need to take preventive
measures, learn from the challenges and lessons of the epidemic, and improve employee
health management, workplace health management standards and enterprise emergency
response management systems. In particular, early consideration should be given to health
and social policies and employee insurance. So, this is a challenge for the company that needs
to be done quickly.

Beside that ,the impact of the outbreak meant that company management had to
adjust the way it worked and solve a variety of problems, including how to keep employees
loyal and motivated. In this case, the company may face a variety of strategic and operational
risk, such as the delay or interrupt raw material supply, the change of customer demand or
cost rise, logistics shortages caused by delay in delivery or failure, lack of health and safety to
protect workers and labour shortages in addition to logistics and billing related to import and
export trade, may also appear all sorts of problems. Due to various travel restrictions and
blockages, the number of employees working from home has soared, and there is a need to
work in particular with the information management team to continue to improve IT
capabilities to maintain productivity and support this new way of working. The completely
unexpected changes of 2020 are forcing all of us to rethink how we develop and train
employees, how we build and strengthen organizational skills and culture when we can't meet
in person. [ CITATION Luc20 \l 2052 ]

Training and development costs are significantly reduced during COVID-19. But
for the long-term development of employees, companies need to attach great importance to
training, and this is no exception during the epidemic. The holy month of Ramadan is
traditionally a low season for training and growth activities in Bahrain, and Ramadan's
overlap with the Covid-19 pandemic this year provided an even greater headwind for most
companies in the region. Counter-intuitively, National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) saw Ramadan
and working from home as an opportunity [ CITATION Mar20 \l 2052 ] ,Therefore, the company
also has to train employees to work from home to solve the problems they do not have in the
workplace. In many parts of the world, there are already many executives and employees who
provide a variety of services to customers remotely connected. People actually telecommute
these days, but with that experience, managers are getting better at staying in touch and
getting their priorities done.
Question 2

Covid-19 has led to a sharp increase in anxiety and stress among employees, and
most employers say they will focus on boosting or strengthening benefits programs for
workers in the coming year. More than half of the employers in the survey plan to make high-
quality mental health solutions a priority for their employees in the next year. In the Asia-
Pacific region, more than 50 percent of companies will be able to use telecommuting as a
way of working for the rest of the year. As a result, some employers are looking to boost
revenue in this area, for example by enhancing virtual care or helping employees organize
comfortable remote working environments. [ CITATION Asi20 \l 2052 ] In this case, how to
provide a safe working environment for employees, how to make employees calm and
motivate themselves, how to maintain the normal operation of the company, and so on are all
tests of the resilience of the human resources department. First, employers should first
consider how to limit the labeling of mental health issues, in particular by informing
employees and adopting company mental health measures.

What is most needed to be strong in an epidemic is to regularly invite mental health

professionals or counselors' offices for mental health talks, seminars or training, and to
provide staff with specialized knowledge training. Part of encouraging people to seek help is
self-identity, which is understanding that employees have mental health issues, and talking to
a mental health professional can help reduce the impact. This helps employees recognize their
own mental health disorders. The company can also offer health benefits at lunchtimes, such
as joining an online gym or a yoga class .Studies have shown that employees who believe
their employers care about their well-being are 46 percent happier and have 25 percent less
anxiety and depression. [ CITATION Rob20 \l 2052 ] New employee training and daily employee
training should also include relevant employee defense knowledge training courses aimed at
educating and encouraging employees to be aware of mental health issues, actively monitor
their mental health and seek help. It can not only express the humanistic concern of the
company and create a harmonious and positive corporate culture, but also enhance
employees' self-awareness and prevent problems before they arise.

Beside that ,many companies began to experiment with online training in response
to the trend of the Internet age and the needs of their employees after the outbreak of the
epidemic. With abundant resources, unlimited time and space, diversified forms of
multimedia and rich experience, online training is the training form that enterprises need and
expect. [ CITATION Sam20 \l 2052 ] So ,staff training is an important part of human resource
management in modern enterprises. It is an effective method to improve the overall quality of
staff, enhance business skills and cultivate different types of backbone talents. COVID-19 has
disrupted business around the world. Companies need to adapt, and this includes adjusting
their training strategies and how they develop their employees. In the long run, employees
and employers should pay more attention to retraining and upgrading skills. [ CITATION Lin20 \l
2052 ] As new technologies and innovations continue to be introduced, the training and
development of the organisation will focus more on putting staff at the centre of the business
to ensure they have the necessary skills to provide the best service to customers. Millions of
workers around the world are suddenly switching to working remotely, creating huge
opportunities for telecoms technology providers. New and improved tools are emerging and
will continue to appear on the market.[ CITATION Lin20 \l 2052 ]

To match costs and skill requirements, companies need to shift from departmental
structures to multidisciplinary teams that can be assembled and rearranged to meet different
needs. Especially with the rise of telecommuting and freelancing, companies can have teams
with members based in different countries.[ CITATION Luc20 \l 2052 ] All of this means that the
post-COVID-19 workplace will require skills and competencies that may not have been
important or even existed before COVID-19. This will require a change in the "content" of
staff training.[ CITATION Man20 \l 2052 ] Companies need to find ways to continue to upgrade
their employees' skills (by learning new competencies to stay in their current positions) and
retrain (by learning new competencies to transition to a completely new role).The forms
range from face-to-face and online, to on-site and on-demand, from free micro-learning to
well-paid formal research. [ CITATION Luc20 \l 2052 ] Some retirees will also serve as mentors
or advisers.

Affected by the epidemic, enterprises that had previously rejected online training
will experience the convenience, flexibility and richness of resources of online learning. The
sharing spirit of the Internet age makes it possible for people to acquire appropriate learning
resources at low cost. [ CITATION VIB20 \l 2052 ] Many resources are even available online for
free, or learning materials are available at a very low price .Due to the widespread
popularization and application of Internet technology, many learning organizations have been
gradually established. The training effect of the traditional mode is gradually decreasing, and
many things that originally remained in the concept have gradually become possible. It will
be more convenient and efficient to train talents for enterprises by carrying out Internet-based
training. Connected age knowledge employees will greatly through informal learning, under
the traditional training management tools and concepts, enterprise is difficult to realize the
control of informal learning situation, but if set up learning platform, to provide learning
resources, through information technology to achieve informal learning control is no longer
difficult to the staff, time, and according to the requirements of their own learning habits to
choose learning time and content, is conducive to make full use of the fragmentation of staff
time, enhance the learning interest, help employees to realize from the want me to learn to
change I want to learn from.
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