Challenges for HR Professionals in the Post-COVID-19 Era

This article discusses the challenges faced by HR professionals in the post-COVID-19 era. It explores the importance of health and safety, meritocracy, branding, and other trends that will shape the future of HR.

Parami International College
Master’s in Business Administration
Course Name: HRM 401 - Organizational Behavior Assignment
Submitted to; Submittedby;
DawEi Phyu Aung Ms. Wint Yee Khaing
Batch – 5
Date of Submitted
10 / 20 / 2022

Challenges for HR Professionals in the Post-COVID-19 Era
Introduction
Many of us are concerned about what will occur after this pandemic is over. Many have
already predicted a bleak future that will be marked by the worst financial crisis in a
century. But what effects will this have on HR? Any planning or strategy process has
always been built on trend analysis. We demand to recognize the internal and external
factors that will affect how our businesses develop in the future to combine HR plans
with strategic plans. based on online conversations with business executives and
managers, along with information derived from corporate media.
I'll begin my analysis by focusing on what, in my opinion, is the crisis' central issue: the
importance of health and safety. Future demand for HR experts in health and safety will
be high, and consultancy firms with a focus on health and safety will have much more
work to do than simply preparing the paperwork for potential inspections. Then,because
meritocracy and legality go hand in hand, I'll concentrate on them.
For essential and critical positions in the public sector, meritocracy systems will need to
be implemented, and candidates will demand legality to secure their future in the event of
a crisis. Thirdly, branding tools will need to be mastered by both organizations and
candidates. To maintain a competitive edge, businesses will need to use employer
branding strategies more frequently to entice the best and the brightest candidates.
Additionally, candidates will need to use imagological techniques to survive in a post-
pandemic candidate surplus that is extremely competitive.
HR Trends in Beyond
“We know better…” - Health and safety as a priority
To ensure the safety of their employees and the continuation of their operations in the
wake of the COVID crisis, organizations have begun to place a higher priority on health
than anything else.
Some of these health precautions will continue to be in place throughout this pandemic
and the years that follow. Face masks, gloves, uniforms, and other workplace safety
equipment will all be required in many organizations.
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The health and safety specialist will take on a more prominent role in the HR
department after previously being an underappreciated HR position and a haven for
mediocrity. The significance of the health and safety specialist, particularly in hospitals
where s/he was supposed to work with the acquisition department to ensure the stock of
protective gear, has been highlighted by this crisis. We could all see that the problem
wasn't just one of supply; it also stemmed from a lack of forethought, organization, and
investment.
For instance, some medical professionals may have laughed during the safety
instructions at the beginning of the COVID crisis, believing that "it won't come to this" or
that "we know better..." Doctors reported that they began practicing putting on their gear
in front of a mirror at home after the first few cases of COVID infections among medical
staff. This was done to ensure that this "performance" became routine and that all
instructions were followed exactly. Health and safety regulations were suddenly taken
seriously and will continue to be so in the future.
Although small and medium-sized businesses will continue to use the services of health
and safety consultancy firms because they lack the funds to employ their specialists,
things will shift in favor of the professionalization of these services. Companies that
provide consulting services will need to set up real pieces of training and instructions,
with real tests, real evaluations, and real future actions to take. And we won't look at this
as a waste of our time anymore!
Meritocracy and legality as the new trend?
Organizations frequently engage in several illegal activities during times of crisis.
Some businesses favored working with people without contracts in 2008–2009. Other
businesses preferred to hire people for the minimum wage and make up the difference in
cash. The aim was the same: to reduce the financial burden on their organizations by
paying no taxes or fewer taxes to the state. Employees received the net wage they had
agreed upon, and businesses paid less in taxes.
However, this is a distinct kind of crisis that, paradoxically, will compel both
employers and employees to enter into legitimate employment contracts with real wages.
Workers without contracts of employment realized they couldn't take advantage of all the
financial aid initiatives implemented by the government during this crisis.

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The meritocracy issue was one that this crisis also revealed. Numerous hospitals'
shortcomings were directly related to nepotism. Government-run state hospitals have
served as a warm and welcoming resting place for friends and family of politicians. Even
though the current crisis won't completely eradicate nepotism, I believe that meritocracy
will eventually take its place, particularly in the core crisis-affected industries of
healthcare and law and order. Money doesn't buy happiness, as this crisis has shown, and
we are no longer able to leave the country in search of better medical care or facilities.
We are forced to work with what we have, and if what we have is corrupted by nepotism,
we must act to alter the system, particularly where it counts.
Branding, branding, branding
Numerous online courses on employer branding have been organized over the past
month by online services like WeareHR and Ejobs. And their efforts are very helpful to
organizations because I see a real branding competition between companies in the years
to come for the best and the brightest candidates.
The crisis has a dual impact. On the one hand, businesses had to and will continue to
lay off workers. As businesses slowly but steadily restart, the employee shortage in some
sectors, such as tourism and hospitality, will turn into an employee surplus after the
crisis. Therefore, as the best way to create a competitive advantage in the market,
organizations will compete to attract the best and brightest. And this denotes an increase
in employer branding initiatives.
Typically, we think that because they can choose, control, and impose, organizations
have the power in times of employee surplus. However, to have this kind of power,
organizations must be appealing. This attractiveness will result in stability, market
dominance, and favorable perspectives for the company and the candidates' careers. The
crisis will reorient candidates toward the long-term benefits brought by stability and
fidelity, whereas in the past candidates tended to follow the trail of short-term benefits.
These recruiters weren't worried about the KSAO, retention, motivation, performance, or
candidate profiles. They only required two capable hands and a modicum of
comprehension to carry out simple tasks on the factory floor. This is what a lack of
employees will do to a sector:

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companies will hire any candidate they can find in the hopes that training and
development initiatives will make up for any initial gaps in their KSAO.
There will be an excess of applicants and a shortage of jobs after the crisis.
As a result, businesses will stop using mass hiring. Instead, they will carefully screen
applicants to find the best possible fit for the position and the organization; in other
words, organizations will idealize their candidate profiles. Personal branding will be
important in this situation. Candidates will need to establish a personal brand, employ
imagological strategies to market their profiles, establish credibility, and foster
professionalism.
The larger and more aggressive use of branding techniques for both organizations and
candidates will be determined by the neo-liberal ideology, where supply and demand
regulate the market.
Nationalizing work migration
Due to layoffs at both local and European businesses, the COVID crisis will result in a
surplus of human resources on the market. At the EU level, businesses will reduce their
labor force to get more done with fewer resources or to effectively control their operating
expenses. This will result in some workers returning to their native country to restore
social and economic stability. However, due to the slower-than-usual pace of the
economy's recovery, local businesses will also have to let some of their employees go.
Teleworking and flexible work arrangements
The decline in social interaction among those who work from home has been noted as a
negative effect in the literature on teleworking and telecommuting (Connelly, 1995; Nie,
1999; Patterson, 1994). Contrarily, the COVID crisis demanded this undesirable outcome
from our employees: a reduction in social interaction through the use of a social
distancing strategy.
By the year 2000, 50% of the workforce, according to Connelly's (1995) prediction,
would primarily work from home. However, a recent report from the US Census Bureau
(2003) claimed that only 3.5% of US workers do all of their work from home. These
numbers have increased since 2003, but no increase has been as significant as the COVID

crisis's forced adoption of teleworking by nearly all of the workforce in the affected
nations.
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Some businesses have realized that telecommuting not only results in lower operating
expenses (utilities, office upkeep, rent, etc.) but also increases productivity. People work
more efficiently at home than they did in the office. Increased autonomy, comfort, and
time management create a better balance between work and life outside of work (Shuler,
2006, p. 3).
Teleworking and telecommuting may become the new norm as a result of the three
benefits already mentioned: a decrease in social interaction as a social distancing
strategy, lower operational costs, and increased productivity.
However, I think that contemporary ideas of workplaces, where employees commute
from their homes to work, will prevail. We accept teleworking as the only workable
solution at this time without realizing that it could turn into a total institution (Shuler,
2006), where the lines between work and personal life could become so muddled and
overlapping that people would eagerly seek out more conventional working
arrangements. When our freedom of movement is unrestricted, we value teleworking.
However, when we are alone, teleworking turns into a form of forced confinement that
only worsens stress and burnout.
Will robots take employeejobs?
I learned about the amusing website willrobotstakemyjob.com a few years ago. I looked
into what would happen to my job right away and was relieved to learn that professors
and lecturers at universities are not in danger. But it seems like a lot of HR positions are
being impacted by technology, whether it's software or even artificial intelligence.
Even though we were all aware of this trend, we all believed that there would still be
enough time before technological advancements would completely replace those at the
bottom of the hierarchy.
First, this trend has been accelerated by the employee shortage, particularly in the
automotive industry. Due to severe labor shortages in recent years, Ina Schaeffler, a
global leader in this industry, determined that its final investment would be a highly

automated assembly line. They intended to use highly productive robots to supplement
the few workers they could find on the local market.
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The productivity rate that can be achieved right away makes up for the higher initial
investment compared to using manual labor.
Second, the COVID crisis has increased the use of software and high-tech devices. To
stay competitive, every business began integrating cloud services, websites, social media,
online software, etc. into their daily operations.We've started using chatbots, virtual
assistants, and digital assistants in HR, and they seem to be getting more and more useful
now that we need to limit our social interaction. such as payroll, vacation, absences, and
expenses, Planning, hiring, and other tasks can and will be carried out by various forms
of AI.
Without a doubt, this crisis has shown us that we need to use technology more in our
daily lives and that it will eventually replace those of us who work in lower-level
positions in the organizational structure. Greater specialization or career reorientation
should be the objective for HR professionals in the upcoming months. The likelihood of
being fired or replaced by software applications decreases with increasing specialization.
Conclusions
The virus that has affected not only our health but also our social and economic lives
this year has brought about a medical crisis unlike any other. We all attempt to predict
what will happen to our national economies in addition to the medical upheaval and the
loss of human lives. We worry that we will lose our jobs, that we won't have enough
money, and that our future will be impacted. While everyone is concentrating on the
economic ramifications (the financial crisis), I am concentrating on the human resources
(HR) ramifications because I think that HR belongs at the same table as finance and
marketing. While everyone is concentrating on digitalization, rising software usage, and
technological advancements, I tried to shed light on trends unrelated to this phenomenon
even though I believe it shouldn't be ignored.
Particularly in this situation, trend analysis has two implications. On the one hand, it
is a mental challenge designed to lessen the anxiety of the unknowable. On the other
hand, it might offer alternate futures that organizations can consider when making

decisions. We can reduce the unexpected to a greater extent as we conduct more trend
analyses.
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References
Connelly, J. (1995). Let’s hear it for the office. Fortune, 131, 221-223.
Nie, N. H. (1999). Tracking our techno-future. American Demographics, 21, 50-52.
Patterson, J. (1994, October 17). Welcome to the company that isn’t there. Business
Week, 86.
Shuler, S. (2006). Working at home as a total institution: maintaining and undermining
the public/private dichotomy. The Electronic Journal of Communication, 16(3-4).
Retrieved from http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/016/3/01632.HTML.
U.S. Census Bureau (2003). Selected economic characteristics: 2003 American
Community Survey Summary Tables
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