COVID-19 and People Management: The View of Human Resource Managers

Abstract

COVID-19 has brought an unexpected need for change within organizations, particularly regarding human resource management. The nature of this global crisis has meant that these processes remain under-systematized. The aim of this study, which uses an exploratory design and mixed-methods analysis, is to contribute to describing the changes in human resource management practices and processes that resulted from this pandemic and to present the outlook of human resource managers for the future. One hundred and thirty-six Portuguese companies participated in the study, with the answers provided by their human resource managers. Results show that the main changes have occurred in the processes of work and safety, training, work organization, recruitment and selection, induction and onboarding, and communication. The profiles that emerged showed an association between the level of change and size of the organization. There was an increase in the use of teleworking and layoffs, and a positive assessment of the organizations’ level of preparation and adaptation to this crisis. Human resource managers reported that the most evident changes in the future will be associated with the use of technology, teleworking, and work organization. These findings are of the upmost importance, as human resource managers are essential pillars in the adjustment of the organizations to this pandemic situation.

Telework and Work–Family Conflict during COVID-19 Lockdown in Portugal: The Influence of Job-Related Factors

“…The perception of control that the worker has over his or her work influences work planning, work speed, and goal setting, as pointed out by Chung (2017). Moreover, since studies have shown that a high level of autonomy at work can reduce the conflict between family and work (Goldstein 2003;Voydanoff 2004), this is an important dimension to be considered when work is shifted to telework. While support from the supervisors and from coworkers did not predict the work-family conflict, they proved to have a moderating effect on after-hours work-related technology use and work-family conflict.…”

“…This perception of control that the worker has over his or her work influences work planning, work speed, and goal setting (Chung 2017). A higher level of autonomy at work can reduce the conflict between family work, as suggested by studies conducted in salaried workers (Voydanoff 2004) and teleworkers (Goldstein 2003). This reduction in the conflict between family work may be because employees believe that they have the necessary competence and capabilities to achieve their job performance (Saragih 2011).…”

Capacity Development of Local Service Organizations Through Regional Innovation in Papua, Indonesia After the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Furthermore, the third indicator, Human Resources, is an important indicator that can run the organization’s services technically. Scientific articles that are in line with this indicator as mentioned ( Shrouf et al, 2020 ; Gonçalves et al, 2021 ; Murawski, 2021 ). This indicator is indicated by eight components which are detailed in (3.1) Recruitment, staff diversity, and expertise; (3.2) Roles, responsibilities, and job descriptions; (3.3) Personnel files; (3.4) Timesheets; (3.5) Volunteer/Internal management; (3.6) Discipline, grievances, and conflict resolution; (3.7) Staff performance evaluation; and (3.8) Development staff.…”

Analysis of Human Resource Management in The Administration of Food Barns during the COVID-19 Pandemic in East Java, Indonesia

“…That traditional and indigenous technology is not able to produce food in large quantity. Besides that, the use of technology also emerges in processes such as recruitment and selection or training and development (Gonçalves et al, 2021). One of the implementations of development is the application of information technology for the effectiveness of work.…”