COVID-19 IMPACT & HR TRENDS

Measures taken by organizations to combat the second wave of COVID -19 and maintain business continuity. — August 2021.

Last year, we at OMAM had conducted a study on the role of HR during COVID -19 , and we found that the HR role has significantly increased with additional responsibility to sync the business continuity, managing remote working, driving employee engagement, managing the culture, taking care of employee’s mental health & wellbeing and dealing with the uncertainties caused by this pandemic.

Over the last 16 months, companies have moved back and forth between working online and offline as and when lockdowns were announced and ended, respectively. These lockdowns have also played havoc with people's mental health, sense of well being and belonging. People have lost friends, family, colleagues. There has been a lot of fear, and people are struggling with how to return to normalcy, or what will normalcy even mean going forward.

Now that people are getting vaccinated at a rapid pace and scale, with cities being gradually unlocked, organizations across India are figuring out how to reopen their doors, set up different hybrid models , and bring people back to work.

We spoke to industry leaders and businesses to understand the various initiatives taken by their organizations to address these concerns, provide stability, security, mental health and other support as they prepare to open up and return to work. This survey covers – initiatives facilitated by organizations to ensure well-being initiatives, impact on – leave policy, business and increments, priorities of employee benefits, creating special task force, vaccinate employees, support provided to COVID-19 infected employees, support provided to family members of deceased employee (due to COVID-19), etc. and measures taken to reopen once the restrictions are waved off.