HR: Hidden Backbone to Corporate’s Pandemic Response

Human Resources (HR) has shifted from being the image of employee relations, payroll and FMLA to being at the forefront of corporate’s crisis response. HR departments top priority is developing and implementing their company's return protocol for their employees with health and safety compliance as their area of focus.

When we undergo an economic recession, human resources are at the front line of managing layoffs, or for the HR consulting industry, advising on how to comply when organizations have been forced to shut their doors. This period we are experiencing is unlike other historical catastrophic events. HR professionals and consultants continue to work tirelessly with clients through furloughs, layoffs and shutdowns while partnering with their operational management teams are working around the clock to solve business issues and provide thoughtful solutions. 

The ‘human’ aspect of human resources has shifted as we have moved from face to face interaction to being remotely connected. The new understanding of office culture and interpersonal protocol has been turned on its head as we see a shift in employee relation cases as employees begin to return to the office adapting to a new way of work. 

Questions being asked are will it be considered workplace harassment or a safety violation if an employee takes their mask off when they are around their coworkers or if they do not properly practice physical distance? These are one of many topics we are discussing with clients as we move towards the new working normal. 

Determining testing procedures and the protocol for when an employee tests positive has been a focus for HR professionals to develop written guidelines. We are discussing scenarios which include if an employee tests positive for the Coronavirus, how does the company go about altering their staff? What about the timeframe for guest and employees to be in direct contact with others in the period after either of them test positive for COVID? If the employee has taken a fever suppressant for their low grade fever in order to pass a temperature screening and ends up infecting the staff and guests with COVID-19, how does the Company comply under health district or OSHA guidelines.

Planning for a situation that can lead to employees and guests contracting a severe illness requires enormous amounts of emotional labor and responsibility as we strategize the nuances of being around others during a pandemic. While the pandemic has brought on the need for newly created roles, team members are oftentimes comfortable returning to their jobs. However, if they chose not to return to work, organizations risk losing institutional knowledge, which can create talent gaps. In order to meet safety requirements, companies are opening in phases which means many are not at the same level of staffing pre-COVID. As a result, we are seeing less people returning or a hybrid schedule for staff to work in the office while others remain working remotely. Some companies are staying all remote.

Within the hospitality industry, human resources professionals who have work experience in operations have been highly revered due to the logistical planning that is behind crafting reopening plans. As we have dealt with the pandemic, there has been a higher willingness to comply with remote work, which has evidently created a decrease in employee relations issues for employees that are able to telecommute. We have seen an empathic response from corporate leadership to create an appropriate work life balance as parents have to take on the role of their child’s teacher while concurrently handling work at home responsibilities. The pandemic has caused organizations to reevaluate their attendance policies and sick leave benefits as we collectively begin to shift away from the prideful ‘team player’ who attends work while sick. Companies are encouraged to soften and sharpen timing around taking time off work at the first sign of illness. In order to litigate the logistics of the reopening strategies, human resources have been working closer with operations and corporate than ever before. 

While HR has been historically acknowledged as a more reactive component to corporate, it has assumed its place as a more respected and valued position and industry. Employers have had to work with their human resources team more than ever before as corporate America handles unprecedented change.

Once we are in a final phase re-opening and the operations are more stable, our colleagues in HR have shared they are looking forward to getting back to focusing on their important role in employee engagement, culture and retention.