Until the coronavirus pandemic, almost everyone talked about their dream job. With COVID-19 now in our lives, people are just thankful for at least being able to keep their job. The continuing lockdowns and economic fallout of COVID-19 could leave tens of millions of workers jobless in the near future and have a massive impact on the most impoverished countries if immediate steps are not taken. Let’s learn what international HR experts have to say regarding this.
What immediate steps should be taken in this regard?
“The first thing that companies have to do is to redesign their business plans. The main target of companies is always to generate profits and the only way for companies to survive is to adapt to the changing conditions of their market places and their external environment in which global conditions are also included. Although many companies have been downsizing, doing so, may not be the best choice since companies do have their own corporate brand image perceived by their internal and external customers and their stakeholders. So, transforming and redesigning business plans rather than downsizing has to be the first choice for companies. In redesigning their business, people strategies have a core value in the long-term plans of companies. Redefining job definitions, designing HR strategies that increase the efficiency of development systems and the performance of employees, increasing the speed of digital transformation, designing HR strategies that motivate employees to change corporate processes innovatively might be some of the main areas that could be take into consideration from the HR perspective. However, the golden rule for companies is to be transparent and to share the changes with their employees step by step.”
“Employers and employees must agree to pool their energies to protect their common interests. In my opinion, the following points of agreement could help both parties to avoid the worst: the employer puts all his non-critical staff into quarantine and they will then strive to balance their professional and private lives by embracing telecommuting. The employer should consider this period of quarantine with telecommuting as a period of sick leave as this will not cause the remuneration paid to the employee to be suspended. In this case, the full salary will be paid to the employee to enable them to cope with the difficulties of the crisis period at COVID-19 crisis period. Keeping the employment contract in force also results in the validity of the employee’s health insurance policy.”
“Some employees, such as those in the hospitality, entertainment, transport and tourism industries, need to rethink a complete shift in their careers, as some sectors will be affected long term and to a serious extent. In that regard, organized and coordinated institutional and private sector assistance is necessary to redirect those careers to help people land on their feet and fill the gaps in existing sectors and enter newly established sectors with fresh vision.”
How will the global job market change in the near future?
“Having the digital infrastructure ready, employing the right profiles for this transformation, redesigning the appropriate business models will increase the ability to adapt to new conditions but, most importantly, communicating, guiding and explaining the changing global conditions to the target audience will be more important than any changes that take place. The need for differentiation for companies will be much more important than at any time before. Innovation will be the primary factor that helps companies to differentiate their products or services. So, either radical or incremental and whether for their products, processes or organizational structures having strategies in place based on the concept of innovation concept be the core competitive strength of companies for the future. Setting HR strategies that frame and cover the need for innovation, both in terms of people and process strategies, will offer the best assistance to complete the relevant transformation for organizations.”
“The world employment market will evolve through home-based contractual mechanisms. Given that the end of the pandemic has not yet been declared, employers will be able to rethink the types of contract to be concluded with their employees. The entire duration of a contract can be done via the internet, especially through meetings and discussions using the Teams application as can the sharing of applications and the sending and exchanging of documents. In order not to have a large number of unemployed people around the world, I think it is wise to give priority to recruitment, work and remote meetings while waiting for a reduction in the spread of COVID 19.”
“One way of looking at the ongoing crisis is that it has accelerated ongoing processes – digitalization, AI, automatization, remote working, short-term engagements, and everyone’s role in adapting their job preferences and career choices in that matter. Sometimes the choices are imposed, however our responses should be detailed and prepared in advance. That said, crises, health and economic, bring both threats and opportunities. While it is certain that international “physical” recruitment will be affected, in both short the and long-term, there is a huge possibility for experienced and specialized professionals to adopt the remote working mode in the future which is to be widely embraced across industries. This should further reduce employee, office and logistic costs for companies and, on the other hand, provide high paid posts in developing countries. Professionals should closely monitor developments and be prepared to anticipate and adapt themselves.”
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