Human resource management in recession: Restructuring and alternatives to downsizing in times of crisis

Abstract

In just over a decade two global crises have created significant instability across the world and plunged many national economies into recession. While studies of HRM during economic downturns are limited, the global impact of COVID‐19 on employment adds impetus to the debate. Though downsizing and mass layoffs attract most attention, redundancies are just one potential response to challenging economic conditions, and various other employment adjustments might be viewed as complements or alternatives to workforce reductions. However, little is known about the implementation of HR practices or enactment of HR strategies during recession. Drawing upon 56 in‐depth interviews, this article presents three case studies of recessionary restructuring in British manufacturing firms. The cases share a concern with mitigating redundancies and highlight the importance of actor agency as well as institutional and organisational context in shaping restructuring outcomes. The article contributes to HR theory regarding HRM in recession and employment restructuring.

Contextualising employee engagement in crisis: a protective caring approach to employee engagement in the banking sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…Although it might be easier to lay employees off, we demonstrated the relevance of the protective caring approach. While Covid-19 is one of many crises, context-specific developments in the labour market might play a bigger role in companies’ HR practices (see also Johnstone, 2024). In our case, due to the staff shortage in Bosnia and Herzegovina, banks rely on their employees and vice versa employees rely on a trustworthy employer, who is able to withstand crises.…”

“…Despite a 25-year gap between generations, many employees navigated the challenges of war and pandemic by drawing comparisons. During recessions, downsizing and mass layoffs typically receive the greatest attention with often detrimental effects on employees and organisations (Johnstone, 2024). Consequently, during protracted times of crisis and before Covid-19 employees and supervisors tended to remain silent about their demands and needs.…”

Employee voice in times of crisis: A conceptual framework exploring the role of Human Resource practices and Human Resource system strength

“…Specifically, during turbulence, organizations often deploy new or reconfigure existing HR practices to respond to the crisis. Indeed, extant research demonstrates that during crises, organizations implement HR practices that may treat employees as long-term assets or as medium-to short-term costs (Cameron, 1994;Cascio, 1993Cascio, , 2002Johnstone, 2024). We distinguish crisis-related HR practices into solidary, utilitarian, and opportunistic to highlight the signals the organization is sending to its employees during turbulence.…”

Financial Literacy and Performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: A Literature Review

“…MSMEs in India provide employment to nearly 60 million people through 26 million businesses (Rajeevan et al, 2015). MSMEs provide private sector employment opportunities, accounting for two-thirds of jobs in the European Union (Johnstone, 2023).…”