The changing role of HRM through crisis: from response to recovery

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is unlike any other crisis that human resource management (HRM) has had to deal with in modern times. As HRM scholars have pointed out, “at its core the COVID-19 pandemic is a human crisis” and that HRM has been “central to the response in organisations globally” (Collings et al., 2021, p. 1). This crisis is unique in its breadth, scale and global impact. Within weeks of early global reporting in March–April 2020, millions of workers lost their jobs and terms such as “furloughs”, become everyday language. Governments reacted with job support schemes for both workers and businesses, whilst millions of people succumbed to the virus. Organizations across the globe were forced to adapt significantly in many areas of work, working practices and HR policies and procedures. Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic wrought health and healthcare havoc, it simultaneously exposed the inequities in how different groups of workers experienced the pandemic's disruption (Butterick and Charlwood, 2021).