Role of HR in Managing Emotional Labor During Disaster

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 Management of support

Emotional labor is positively related to burnout and intention to leave. According to the

articles, human resource management departments are not on the side of employees as required,

especially in light of the rising demand for services, organizational delays, and the significant

emotional labor involved in providing those services (Mann & Islam, 2015). First responders of

all categories are affected by this inaction, such as paramedics, nurses, doctors, social workers,

police, and paramedics, who participate in emotional labor. The administration of human

resources has not yet addressed the emotional devastation they are going through. HR

recruitment should focus on emotional intelligence, communication, and interpersonal skills, and

focus on attitude toward the job. Performance management should include adherence to

documentation, creativity, and feedback.

HR departments in public and private organizations should provide guidelines for

recruiting procedures during times of emergency. They should be ready to permit the hiring of

temporary workers right away (Mann & Islam, 2015). Employees working during emergencies

should get a paid premium to appreciate their labor during declared disasters. To reduce the risk

of employee getting hurt during emergency, the HR department should have policies on the

security of office equipment. There should be protocols in place at various human resources

offices for reporting facility issues like physical damage that can increase danger and harm in an

emergency. Therefore, in addition to their regular responsibilities, the HR office should support

response in establishing pre- and post-disaster tasks for key individuals.

In organizations with well-planned disaster management, the necessary resources

required for catastrophe recovery have been recognized by my human resources office, along

with their sources. An example to emulate is The Texas Labor Code, which tackles problems like
pay and health benefits, and is part of the Texas State Emergency Management Statutes package.

Additionally, it is clearly stated in the guide used by the disaster management department in

Texas that short-term workers can be recruited to help with performance of the duties associated

with "providing financial aid to people or families qualified for disaster relief."

Self-care plans

According to Mastracci (2015), first responders can handle the demands related to

emotional labor of their professions with the aid of self-care procedures and management of

critical incidents in after the disaster. They need tactics such as inclusive debriefings on dealing

with post-incident stress, formal therapy, and diffusion session. By using properly crafted

standing orders and operating procedures, rigorous, continuous training for effective decision-

making, emergency responders successfully do high amounts of emotional work. Because

"people will know "who they are" and have a stronger sense of self-worth, they will be less

scared and overwhelmed by another's suffering," which makes self-awareness essential to

emotional labor as well as the expression of compassion and empathy.

Performance evaluation

Organizations must take into account the entire worker to effectively recruit, train,

develop, and assess employees based on performance. As required by their jobs, employees must

be able to repress, manage, and elicit the emotions of both themselves and others (Mann &

Islam, 2015). Employees must be equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to regulate

emotions of affected people and their own employers, the HR must recognize and reward them

for doing so. As far as the human resource department is concerned, they need to improve their

procedures, particularly for emergency workers like nurses and midwives, to reduce burnout and
the likelihood that they will leave or change careers, allowing them to stay with the company for

a longer period. The employees will, however, feel more engaged and strive harder to attain

organizational goals and work for their productivity by providing high-quality care if the HR

rules are improved. To support and regulate emotional labor in the context of a high-performance

work system that serves as a mediator, there is a need for improved models of human resource

management in public organizations (Mann & Islam, 2015). These include HR tactic that tends

to decrease the effects of emotional work. The various elements of a high-performance work

system include decentralized decision-making, aggressive hiring, in-depth training, teams, and

transformational leadership. The department must have distinct guidelines for overtime pay

during times of emergency. The best HR departments require employees to receive counseling.

They regularly evaluate the availability of the internal staff. After evaluation, employees receive

cross-training in case of emergencies.

Conclusion

When performed over an extended period, emotional work may affect the operations of

the organization negatively and the employees’ health. The expansion of the service sector

dictates the value of emotional labor in many more recent professions. Performance management

should include adherence to documentation, creativity, and feedback. Organizations that want

their workers to deliver optimally must ensure that responders are catered for swift reaction to

disasters (nearly simultaneously). As a result, the HR managers play a vital role in bridging the

gap between the company and its employees. HR must carefully examine four crucial processes:

recruiting and selection, remuneration, training and development, and performance management

to solve the issue of emotional labor.

 Reference

Mann, S. C., & Islam, T. (2015). The roles and involvement of local government human resource

professionals in coastal cities emergency planning. Journal of Homeland Security and

Emergency Management, 12(1), 145-168.

Mastracci, S. (2015). Human resource management practices to support emotional labor in

emergency response. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 12(4),

875-889.