The Effect of COVID-19 on HR Practices

Description/Abstract/Artist Statement

In Spring 2021, 1,356 Human Resource (HR) Professionals responded to a survey about human resource agility practices they used in response to the pandemic. This is the third of a four-wave data collection tracking HR practices since mid-2020. The list included 56 agility practices that ranged from remote work to making changes to employees’ compensation and benefits plans to manage the financial disruption caused by COVID-19. Compared to September 2020, fewer employees worked from home in January 2021, fewer training and development opportunities were offered, and fewer workers were affected by changes in job assignments. Findings suggest the majority of HR changes occurred between March and September 2020, with fewer changes in fall 2020 and spring 2021 as employees and managers found new routines for how to work under these new conditions. We also asked about employee morale and adaptability. HR professionals reported that morale was low between March and September 2020 (M = 2.57, SD = 0.96; 5-point scale), but has improved (M = 2.80, SD = 0.82; 5-point scale). However, while morale was relatively low between March and September 2020, employee adaptability was high (M = 3.89, SD = 0.92; 5-point scale), as was their willingness to cooperate (M = 3.47, SD = 0.87; 5-point scale). Both have declined slightly since that time. In all, this research tells us that while organizations and employees were willing and able to adapt at the beginning of the pandemic, organizations and employees have perhaps settled into their old ways since.

Presenting Author Name/s

Tamara Lloyd

Faculty Advisor/Mentor

Emily Campion

College Affiliation

College of Business (Strome)

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Disciplines

Human Resources Management

Session Title

Management Research Lab

Location

Zoom Room CC

Start Date

3-20-2021 2:00 PM

End Date

3-20-2021 2:55 PM

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Mar 20th, 2:00 PM Mar 20th, 2:55 PM

The Effect of COVID-19 on HR Practices

Zoom Room CC

In Spring 2021, 1,356 Human Resource (HR) Professionals responded to a survey about human resource agility practices they used in response to the pandemic. This is the third of a four-wave data collection tracking HR practices since mid-2020. The list included 56 agility practices that ranged from remote work to making changes to employees’ compensation and benefits plans to manage the financial disruption caused by COVID-19. Compared to September 2020, fewer employees worked from home in January 2021, fewer training and development opportunities were offered, and fewer workers were affected by changes in job assignments. Findings suggest the majority of HR changes occurred between March and September 2020, with fewer changes in fall 2020 and spring 2021 as employees and managers found new routines for how to work under these new conditions. We also asked about employee morale and adaptability. HR professionals reported that morale was low between March and September 2020 (M = 2.57, SD = 0.96; 5-point scale), but has improved (M = 2.80, SD = 0.82; 5-point scale). However, while morale was relatively low between March and September 2020, employee adaptability was high (M = 3.89, SD = 0.92; 5-point scale), as was their willingness to cooperate (M = 3.47, SD = 0.87; 5-point scale). Both have declined slightly since that time. In all, this research tells us that while organizations and employees were willing and able to adapt at the beginning of the pandemic, organizations and employees have perhaps settled into their old ways since.