Running head: THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON HRM 1

The Impacts of Covid-19 on HRM

Student’s Name
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Running head: THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON HRM 2

The Impacts of Covid-19 on HRM

Area 1: The strategic role of HRM in organizations

a) Include the article into your write up and provide the url/link to the article.

b) Strategic Human
Resource Management
and
c) COVID- 19:
Emerging Challenges
and Research
d) Opportunities
e) Strategic Human
Resource Management
and
Running head: THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON HRM 3

f) COVID- 19:
Emerging Challenges
and Research
g) Opportunities
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/joms.12695
b) Based on the article, explain how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts HRM. Please use your own words
instead of copying phrases from the article.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had unparalleled global impacts. In the business domains, the pandemic
continues to shift the conventional paradigms and has greatly impacted human resource management
(HRM). Unlike previous crises and global pandemics that were more inclined towards financial and
technological constructs, Covid-19 was more people-oriented. As a result, the pandemic greatly and
directly affected people, their day-to-day activities, and organizational norms. In this regard, the human
resource discipline was pivotal in the response and mitigation of the disruptions emanating from the
pandemic.
First, the unprecedented impacts of the pandemic highlighted significance of the strategic role of
HRM in organizations. Covid-19 outlines the role of strategic human resource management as was seen
in the quick and adaptive measures that were put in place following the outbreak. Many organizations
employed strategic operational measures such as dynamic employee contracts to aid in dealing with the
negative effects.
Second, Covid-19 provides an ideal platform and genesis for further research and development in
human resource management. Immediately after the outbreak, it became evident that the traditional
strategic role fell short of the prevailing organization needs given the shift in human resource practices.
c) State whether you perceive the impacts as positive or negative, and provide your justifications
From the backdrop above, this positive impact has paved the way for further research and
adoption of a HRM heterogenous perspective. Furthermore, strategic research has evolved to
accommodate flexible and dynamic frameworks and HR systems. The pandemic has, therefore, been
instrumental in the shift from a homogeneous perspective that was founded on the hypothesis that all
human resource methods were identical. The pandemic has also led to a differentiated and pragmatic
strategic human resource management.
In conclusion, the pandemic paved the way for a dynamic strategic role of HRM and highlighted
the need for further research and development.
Area 2 a): Employee recruitment
a) Include the article into your write up and provide the url/link to the article.
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/2021-recruiting-trends-
shaped-by-covid-19.aspx
 Running head: THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON HRM 4

b) Based on the article, explain how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts HRM. Please use your own words
instead of copying phrases from the article.
The expanded predominance of COVID-19 has had serious ramifications on the prosperity of
most companies and stakeholders most particularly in the HRM domains. Talent acquisition is an integral
component of human resources as it guarantees the right hires and skills that best meets the underlying
organizational needs. This role was, however, greatly affected by the new needs presented by covid-19.
c) State whether you perceive the impacts as positive or negative, and provide your justifications
Here, the pandemic has had negative impacts on employee recruitment. Covid-19 created new
recruitment needs while disregarding most of the traditional recruitment processes (Maurer, 2021). With
the limited physical interactions, organizations were forced to adopt virtual recruitment practices. With this
growth in employee recruitment complexity, traditional methods and conventional talent acquisition
frameworks are being phased out. Many organizations have had to re-structure the recruitment processes
in their entirety; from job postings, interviews, and onboarding.
Many organizations lacked HRM frameworks that could accommodate the rapid changes. The
process of putting these frameworks and processes was both costly and forced some organization to put
their processes on hold.
c) State whether you perceive the impacts as positive or negative, and provide your justifications

Question 3 b): Positive impact on employee compensation

a) Include the article into your write up and provide the url/link to the article.
Reference article: https://www.benefitspro.com/2021/04/23/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-employee-benefits-
and-how-organizations-approach-them/?slreturn=20211022031539
b) Based on the article, explain how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts HRM. Please use your own words
instead of copying phrases from the article
The covid-19 pandemic has had far-reaching and unprecedented impacts on human resource
management. These impacts have disrupted the traditional human resources practices and paved the
way for heterogenous practices. Organizations have had to adopt these new and dynamic practices to
meet the current needs that emanated from the pandemic.
b)State whether you perceive the impacts as positive or negative, and provide your justifications
Before the pandemic, there was little emphasis on the pivotal role that employee compensation
plays (Bruce, 2021). In 2020, every organization was struggling to find the best ways to support and help
their employees to deal with the challenges of the pandemic. In this regard, organizations became more
aware of the need to have effective compensation packages that would help employees deal with the
prevailing challenges. By scaling up employee compensation, it became feasible for organizations to
come up with compensation packages and that resonated with the underlying needs.
In addition, employee compensation has remained top of organizational priorities since the onset
of the pandemic. With most employees and organizations grappling with other adverse impacts of the
pandemic, it has become imperative to prioritize compensation. The logic behind this is that although
most impacts were unprecedented, better benefits and compensation models will help to mitigate the
harsh conditions.
Area 4 a): Negative Impacts on managing employee relations
a) Include the article into your write up and provide the url/link to the article.
Running head: THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON HRM 5

Reference article: https://www.hospitaltimes.co.uk/how-has-covid-19-affected-employee-relations/

b) Based on the article, explain how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts HRM. Please use your own words
instead of copying phrases from the article
Given the human nature of Covid-19, effects of the pandemic have been more profound on
employees making employee well-being a priority. However, maintaining employee welfare, safety, and
relations has not been easy during the pandemic.
c) State whether you perceive the impacts as positive or negative, and provide your justifications
Covid-19 has resulted in negative impacts. Extensive research and case studies indicate that the
pandemic presented complex anxiety and work-related stress which negatively impacted the
management of employee relations (Royles, 2021). The initial contingency measures such as lockdowns
caused confusions and forced many organizations to pause their formal HR process which ultimately
affected management of employee relations. Suddenly, there was a new way of doing things with little or
no time of HRM practitioners to re-adjust. With this new way and new needs, were divergent conflicts,
employee disputes, and complaints making managing employee relations very difficult.
Existing organizational cultures posed a hurdle in the re-adjustment process. The rapid nature of
the outbreak necessitated parallel swift correction measures, but the existing employee behaviors
hindered the efficiency of this process. For instance, employees were less willing to collaborate and adopt
to the newly proposed changes. The hostility culture witnessed ended up impacting the business domains
negatively.
Running head: THE IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON HRM 6

References
Collings, D. G., McMackin, J., Nyberg, A. J., & Wright, P. M. (2021). Strategic Human Resource
Management and COVID-19: Emerging Challenges and Research Opportunities. Journal of
Management Studies, 58(5), 1379-1382. Retrieved from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/joms.12695
Maurer, R. (2021, February 1). 2021 Recruiting Trends Shaped by the Pandemic. Retrieved from SHRM:
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/2021-recruiting-trends-
shaped-by-covid-19.aspx
Royles, D. (2021, January 11). How has Covid-19 affected employee relations? Retrieved from Hospital
Times: hospitaltimes.co.uk/how-has-covid-19-affected-employee-relations/
Tziner, A., & Rabenu, E. (2021). The COVID-19 pandemic: A challenge to performance appraisal.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 173-177. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2021.24