A STUDY ON HRM IN ORGANIZATIONS DURING PANDEMIC

ACROSS INDIA/WORLD

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT

SUBMITTED TO
Dr. Papori Baruah
Professor & Dean, School of Business Administration

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

TEZPUR UNIVERSITY
NAPAAM, SONITPUR, ASSAM-784028

SUBMITTED BY:
Krishti Borah (BAM20023)
Bipanjoy Nath (BAM20024)
Jitendra Lamsal (BAM20027)
Akash Borthakur (BAM20045)
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DECLARATION

We declare that this written submission represents our ideas in our own words and
where others idea or words under reference have been included. We have adequately cited
and referenced the original sources. We also declare that we have adhered to all principles of
academic honestly in our submission. We understand that any violation of the above will be a
cause for disciplinary action by the institute and also can evoke penal actions from the source
when have thus not been properly cited or from whom paper permission has not been taken
when needed.

Name Roll no.

Krishti Borah BAM20023
Bipanjoy Nath BAM20024
Jitendra Lamsal BAM20027
Akash Borthakur BAM20045
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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work contained in this report entitled “A Study
on HRM in organizations during pandemic across India/World”, submitted
by Krishti Borah (BAM20023), Bipanjoy Nath (BAM20024), Jitendra Lamsal
(BAM20027) & Akash Borthakur (BAM20045) is a record of project work
carried out by them under my direct supervision and guidance.
I consider that the report has reached the standards and fulfilled the
requirements of the rules and regulations.

Signature of Professor
Date:
Dr. Papori Baruah
Place:
Professor & Dean
Dept. of Business Administration
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Papori Baruah , Professor & Dean,
Department of Business Administration of Tezpur University for extending his constant
support, encouragement and guidance without which it would have not been possible in
carrying out this assignment. We are also very grateful to all the respondents without whose
responses the survey could not have been completed. We thank them for the time they gave
us by filling the questionnaire provided by us.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction--------------------------------------------------- 7
Chapter 2: Methodology-------------------------------------------------- 9
2.1 Survey Methodology--------------------------------------- 9
2.2 Consolidation Methodology------------------------------- 9
Chapter 3: Questionnaire------------------------------------------------- 10
Chapter 4: Analysis------------------------------------------------------- 11
4.1 Analysis from secondary/literature survey-------------- 11
4.2 Analysis from primary data-------------------------------- 12
Chapter 5: Conclusion---------------------------------------------------- 18
Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------- 20
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ABSTRACT

This study is undertaken to understand the HRM practices in organisations during

pandemic across India/World. The objective of this study is to explore the challenges of HR
during and post COVID-19 pandemic, provide an idea on different ways and tools HR
leaders of different organizations have used to cope and tackle the difficult situation, provide
an idea on how the HRM of an organization took various decisions to ensure the continuity of
business and to explore the steps taken to ensure the health and safety of the workforce. The
sample size was 13 and it included people of different occupation and place.
In the conclusion we found that the current processes occurring in the companies as a
response to the pandemic are complex, leading to many negative but also some positive
outcomes. Employees and organisations are adapting to the new reality in order to achieve
results. In this regard, emphasis should be placed on the internal communication to adapt
quickly. Consequently, team spirit, friendship, collaboration, and cooperation are essential to
survive in this changing environment. HR management makes a significant contribution by
introducing online HR processes, training employees not only in skills required for
performing current jobs, but also for developing those skills necessary for the future in case
the circumstances change. HRM should focus on these issues in the personnel development
programs.
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OBJECTIVES & LIMITATIONS

Objectives-
This report is prepared with the view to ensure the fulfilment of the following objectives
for the topic “HRM in organizations during pandemic.” By the end of this report it is
supposed to-

 Explore the challenges of HR during and post COVID-19 pandemic- Challenges are
sure to arise in every business and every job role. It is also essential since it provides
us with the motivation to learn more and hone our abilities.

 Provide an idea on different ways and tools HR leaders of different organizations

have used to cope and tackle the difficult situation.

 Provide an idea on how the HRM of an organization took various decisions to ensure
the continuity of business.

 Explore the steps taken to ensure the health and safety of the workforce.

Limitations-

Limitations of Primary Data- The data are collected through an online platform. Thus,
the level trust-worthiness of the data is uncertain. Moreover the respondents belong to a
selected geographical location from one part of the country hence, the HRM practices in
other areas might be different to some extent.

Limitations of secondary data- The data are collected from various online sources, so
some information might not be true to full extent. The company publishing the data may not
be reputable.
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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

In the face of unexpected challenges that COVID-19 crisis has brought on businesses,
the leaders of Human Resource (HR) functions have become the primary care taker of health,
safety and wellbeing of employees. These leaders are playing a key role, ensuring the health
of the employees, implementing safety protocols for all individuals who need to continue
working in the offices, production facilities and warehouses, leading the communications
between the business and its employees, developing work-from-home policies, and
preserving as many jobs as possible. Consequently HR leader are forced to think different,
regardless of the industry they are in.

The pandemic has provided an unequal opportunity for the HR leaders to work even
more closely with the business and prove themselves as true business partners to their internal
colleagues.

Unexpectedly, the pandemic has generated numerous learning opportunities for

leaders, until a few months ago; the idea of having a large number of employees working
from home, enabling businesses to operate “as usual” seemed unthinkable. However, the
pandemic has performed as a catalyst to demystify this idea. Under different working
conditions, leaders and executive of different seniority and responsibility levels have shown
exceptional capacity to adapt to the new changes brought by the pandemic. They also
increased their creativity to solve problem they have faced never before, as well as their
ability to make quick decisions have improved along with taking risks that they were not used
to take. To ensure business continuity they took care to enhance the motivation level of the
employees; with absolute backup, take care of employees’ health and wellbeing and
preserved jobs.

Companies, regardless of size and sector, have demonstrated empathy and

humanitarianism toward their employees and their families. Despite the fact that a large
proportion of businesses have been severely impacted, most of them have tried to avoid–as
far as possible–laying-off personnel. To reach out and be close to employees and their
families, communication has become an essential tool. In order to avoid emotional burnouts,
the company prepared online workshops aimed at orientating employees about work-life
balance, caring for children and vulnerable individuals, and managing emotions, stress, and
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anxiety during the pandemic. Many HR leaders are applying people-analytics tools to
understand the worries, anxieties, and feeling of their collaborators in a timely manner. The
information that is generated periodically by this tools are taken into consideration for their
discussion, analysis, and decision-making processes, primarily with the aim of evaluating, if
required, change the way of communication by the leaders with rest of the organisation.

In order to cope with these challenges, companies have formed different,

multidisciplinary work teams, with the mission of anticipating the actions that will have to be
taken to ensure a gradual return to the “new normal.”

While it is true that the lockdown accelerated the digitalization of activities and
processes, it is also true that the new way of working remotely may represent an additional
challenge for employers. When companies call for a gradual return to offices and production
facilities, their employees might question them about the real need to return to the physical
workplace.
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Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Survey Methodology:

In order to conduct the survey which was in relation to the study of HRM practices
during pandemic with demographic factors such as occupation and place the methodology
employed was via the platform of Google Forms. An online questionnaire was prepared
which had queries related to the HRM practices in an organisation. The questionnaire was
then forwarded to individuals with the help of messenger platforms such as email, Whatsapp
or short-messaging-service (SMS). The responses were then consolidated on the Google
Forms platform and then downloaded in an excel format (.csv) for further processing.

Sample size: 13

2.2 Consolidation Methodology:

The responses were then filtered and consolidated on the platform of Microsoft Excel.
In order to perform the analysis. Thus, the responses were considered for each individual in
order to perform the analysis. Secondary data on HRM practices were also collected from
various websites over the internet and these data were used to continue with further analysis.

For the purpose of conclusion both primary and secondary data are used. The results from
analysis have been explained for each method of study and later an overall review has been
given on the topic of study.
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Chapter 3: QUESTIONNAIRE

In order to complete the survey, we prepared a questionnaire which was intended to

know the HRM practices of an organisation in this pandemic situation. A detailed
representation of the questions which were asked in the questionnaire are given below.

The questions covered in the questionnaire are:

1) Name
2) Occupation
3) Place
4) Weather the organization is negatively impacted by COVID-19?
5) Weather the executive board was communicated adequately about the pandemic?
6) Weather they are consulted about any changes concerning their job responsibilities?
7) Weather they experience changes in the way their workplace is managed or organized.
8) If they experienced any reduction in working hours.
9) Is there a balance between their tasks and the time available to do them?
10) Do they have an appropriate work life balance?
11) Percentage of employees covered by performance appraisal systems.
12) Level of ties between promotions, payment rise and performance appraisal.
13) Average number of hours of formal training for employees per week.
14) Weather adequate communication is used to solve problems and meet deadlines?
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Chapter 4: ANALYSIS

4.1 Analysis from secondary/literature survey:

The organizations which were prepared for the work from home were better equipped to deal
with the nationwide situation without any significant impact on productivity. The HR
department of every organization has been in the frontline, leading the efforts to facilitate
employees. In situations like these, HR, in addition to handling the business requirements, is
also responsible for managing concerns and apprehensions of their employees.

As the initial chaos settles, HR has to step up and support their employees and prioritize their
mental and emotional wellbeing. These unprecedented times can induce anxiety and raise the
stress levels of a person, and the onus is on the employers to channel these emotions in order
to keep their employees safe, motivated, and productive.

Preparing for the New Normal

With the current disruption in the industry, traditional ways of working have become things
of the past. The present and future of IT companies rely on remote working with minimum
investment in infrastructure. It is crucial for HR to revamp the policies and processes in
accordance with the new normal.

The Way Forward for HR

The onboarding practices for new employees need to be reviewed to align them to the
organization’s vision and goals while ensuring a seamless remote joining experience. The
entire employee journey will have to be planned as the HR gets ready for the new challenges
that come along with a distributed virtual atmosphere. This could mean the modification of
recruitment practices, rewards and recognition policies, engagement initiatives, exit
processes, and everything in between.

How do the Future Organizations look like?

• Working hours, locations, and even the work arrangements to become more fluid

• Remote working to be an integral part of every organization

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• The popularity of contractual jobs and freelancers to grow

• Workforce to constantly upgrade and work on capability enhancement to remain

competitive

• Focus on learning and development to increase to make employees future-ready

New Normal will not be without its Challenges

Data suggests that employees are working longer hours and have experienced a significant
drop in absenteeism during the crisis. Organizations feel that the employees have showcased
commendable agility and resilience to adapt to the new ways of working. However, the
ability to sustain this momentum poses an immediate challenge to organizations. This
enthusiasm could be short-lived as job security is a driving force for most employees in the
current situation. As the market sees an improvement, productivity may roll back to pre-
Covid levels.

The new way of work may create a need for some new roles, render some roles redundant, or
require upskilling of existing resources.

Digital is a saviour in times like these when the only way to operate is in a remotely
distributed environment. This crisis has presented the IT industry with an opportunity to
empower businesses with technology, and further emphasized the focus on innovation to
survive and thrive. It is heartening to see the commitment of our workforce during these
trying times. Striking a balance at this time will be the key to effectively forge a path towards
the future of work.

4.2 Analysis from primary data:

We wanted to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the participating

organizations. Therefore, respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement or

disagreement on three statements about organizational impact, executive communication and
overall satisfaction with the organization’s response to the pandemic.

Answers range from 1 “strongly disagree” to 7 “strongly agree”.

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The distribution of answers to this question appears: 61.5 % of respondents either agree or
strongly agree that their executive board has communicated clearly and adequately about the
COVID-19 pandemic. 15.4 % somewhat strongly agree and only 23.1% have neutral
opinions.

The distribution of answers to this question appears: 38.5% of respondents have neutral
impact on their organization. 23.1% either disagree or strongly disagrees that their
organization is negatively impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas the rest somewhat
agrees and also strongly disagrees with the statement.
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Here we found that 69.2% of the respondents agree that they were consulted about any
changes concerning their job responsibilities. 15.4% gives a neutral answer and the rest
14.1% disagrees and strongly disagrees with it.

We see that 61.5% of the respondents agree to the changes in the way their workplace is
managed or organized. 30.8% got neutral responses to it and 7.7% strongly disagrees to it
which means they experience no such changes.
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It got a mixed response where 30.8% respondents agree to reduction in their working hours
whereas 38.5% disagrees completely with it. Rest 30.8% strongly agree and strongly
disagrees with the change.

46.2% respondents agrees and 15.4% strongly agrees to that there is a balance between their
tasks and the time available to do them with online working process. 30.8% got neutral
responses and 7.7% disagrees to it.
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We learn from this pie chart that 38.5% and 23.1% of the respondents considers that they
have an appropriate work-life balance. 30.8% have neutral responses meaning they somewhat
agrees and somewhat not whereas 7.7% strongly disagrees with that they have an appropriate
work life balance durin this pandemic.

Coming to the appraisal system in organizations during the ongoing pandemic 30.8% accepts
of receiving appraisal percentages from the range of 86-100 whereas other 30.8% responded
that their appraisal percentage ranged from 26-45. 23.1% marked for 45-60 percent
appraisals, 7.7% for 10-25 percent and the rest for 61-85 percent appraisals.
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53.8% of neutral responses come up to the statement of ties between pay rises, promotions,
etc and performance appraisal. 30.8% and 7.7% agrees and strongly agrees respectively with
it. Only 7.7% disagrees with the ties between pay rises, promotions and performance
appraisal.

69.2% of the respondents go with 5 hours response meaning that working sessions are
somewhat compressed during the pandemic. Similarly 23.1% opts for 6 hours of formal
training for employees per week. Only 7.7% goes for 7 hours of meeting per week.
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Chapter 5: CONCLUSION

` The current processes occurring in the companies as a response to the pandemic are
complex, leading to many negative but also some positive outcomes. Employees and
organisations are adapting to the new reality in order to achieve results. In this regard,
emphasis should be placed on the internal communication to adapt quickly. Consequently,
team spirit, friendship, collaboration, and cooperation are essential to survive in this changing
environment. HR management makes a significant contribution by introducing online HR
processes, training employees not only in skills required for performing current jobs, but also
for developing those skills necessary for the future in case the circumstances change. HRM
should focus on these issues in the personnel development programs.

On the one hand, companies should develop their human resources, as employees need to
improve skills, and gain knowledge in order to better cope with uncertainties. On the other
hand, however, crisis management dictates the companies to cut costs on training sessions
and on other development activities. Thus, it is important that the HR management finds the
right balance between cutting costs due to recession and developing the staff. Otherwise,
effectiveness and efficiency cannot be achieved.

Many managers are familiar with flexible work arrangements that formalize where, when,
and how employees do their work. Flexible scheduling of work and working from home,
have been shown to deliver positive benefits for employees’ health. People working in global
teams are accustomed to working from home and outside standard business hours. Research
has highlighted the importance of practices such as FWAs that help employees to maintain
their health and wellbeing to cope with the demands of working across geographical and
temporal boundaries.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many MNEs have been forced to rely on one type of
FWA: employees working from home. This is a new challenge for many. Because this shift
has been involuntary, continues over a lengthy period, and requires entire households to be
house-bound, there is more potential for employees to experience increased work hours, as
well as increased work-life conflict. For employees who were globally mobile, and now find
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themselves working from home during the pandemic, the shift is particularly significant and
borders between work and family may require re-negotiation and re-organization.

There are several specific ways by which managers and HR can help their employees to work
from home in a safe and healthy manner. There are many simple and cost-effective ways to
encourage healthy lifestyle habits. For example, encouraging healthy work practices such as
working within regular hours and taking regular work-breaks will help employees to switch
off from work. Communicating clearly and managing work expectations will help employees
to maintain their family responsibilities. The pandemic offers an opportunity for managers to
explore how to implement flexible work arrangements that can enhance the health and safety
of employees well into the future, particularly that of globally mobile employees.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY LINKS

1. Influence of Covid-19 Crisis on Human Resource Management and Companies’

Response: The Expert Study.
https://researchleap.com/influence-covid-19-crisis-human-resource-management-
companies-response-expert-study/
2. HR to play a bigger role during and after Covid-19
https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/hrtech/hr-to-play-a-bigger-role-during-
and-after-covid-19/75740727
3. International HRM insights for navigating the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications
for future research and practice.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41267-020-00335-9
4. Vantage Circle. 2021. Challenges of HR And Its Shift Post COVID-19 Pandemic.
From https://blog.vantagecircle.com/challenges-of-hr/