Unexpected eventualities are part of our existential exigencies. It is how we react to them that determines how we come out of them. The advent of COVID -19 is one of those unexpected eventualities of life, at least for most countries of the world which had no foreknowledge of the pandemic until it broke out.
Since the pandemic broke out, different organizations have reacted in different ways. Most organizations were quick at turning to work-at-home for as many of their workers that could possibly tele-commute. Some organizations are already laying off their workers via email and other means possible depending on their individual peculiarities.
Of the various possible effect of this unexpected pandemic, the following should and would be discussed.
a) loss of employees
b) employee emotional imbalance
c) "unreasonable" employee demands
d) social distancing "carryovers"
A. Loss of employees
COVID - 19 will not go without leaving its scars on some organizations by way of reduction in the workforce. This would be occasioned by way of employees being victims of the pandemic, or employees could have lost a close family member, an occurrence that could cause employees to relocate to another city entirely to start a new life entirely. Employees could also be lost by way of former employees getting new offers in the course of the lockdown. Or they may have upgraded their skills and not willing to return to their former "low" positions. In any of these scenarios and any other like them, the onus will be on the HR of the affected organizations to respond to fill the vacant positions as soon as possible to avoid unavoidable vacuums in operations. Proactive HR will make use of available job applicant data bank to effect timely replacements. Where such data banks don't exist, outsourcing to reliable recruitment agencies may save the day. Better still and to save costs, proactive HRs may make a study of positions in the organization and occasionally, during this lockdown search applicants' CVs online and note down qualified candidates, just in case positions became vacant after the lockdown.
B. Employees Emotional Imbalance
Some employees who will be returning to work after this pandemic lockdown may have lost one close relation or the other. They therefore may return to work a totally different person because of the trauma of their loss. They could become withdrawn or unnecessarily edgy. This may invariably affect their productivity negatively. In this case, the training their colleagues have received in emotional intelligence will come handy to rescue the situation. In organizations where employees have not been put through such training in the past, HR should endeavour to quickly organize training in emotional intelligence to help employees cope with their colleagues' emotional imbalance.
C. "Unreasonable" Employees Demands
With the advent of this pandemic and the eventual lockdown, it should be expected that some employees may have upgraded their skills with the hope of coming forward with demands such as increased pay, promotion, better perks, and the likes without any thoughts as to what the time they have taken off work has had on the organization. HR in this position should be prepared for adequate employee relations and counseling. HR's employee relations and engagement skills would be tested, sometimes, beyond limits. In some cases, the employee handbook and the HR policies may need to be reviewed. I must warn however that this may not happen without some squabbles, especially in unionized environments.
D. Social Distancing "Carryovers"
Some employees will be returning to work with a carryover of the social distancing syndrome occasioned by the pandemic. Social interactions in the workplace may be affected. This will invariably affect communication and therefore productivity in the workplace. HRs should therefore put in place means of improving communication in the workplace. Team-bonding activities should also be introduced and encouraged to take place at short intervals till normal employee or workplace interactions return.
In conclusion, to hope that the pandemic and various measures put in place will not affect how employees work and organizations function will be wishing for the impossible. The only antidote to mitigate its effects is for organizations to be ready and proactive in their approaches to responding to its possible effects.
No comments:
Post a Comment