Managing Human Resources in a pandemic

*Faith Amadi *Ifeoma Malo

It is expedient that organizations especially small and medium businesses — which are most affected in several cases — realize that life-changing events such as a pandemic are bound to happen, hence it is better to be prepared for something that does not happen than be unprepared when it happens.

Here are Four vital points that can serve as a roadmap for Human Resources to better manage a pandemic in the workplace can be outlined thus:

• Preparing for the threat
• Implementing preventive measures
• Getting through the threat in the workplace
• Managing business recovery post-pandemic

Preparing for the threat:

The quote “prepare and prevent, don’t repair and repent” clearly sets the right perspective to this point. The actions an organization takes in handling simple or common hazards will determine their preparedness in handling major or even graver environmental/biological threats. Hence Human Resources and Management must prepare for biological and environmental threats as they would any threat that threatens to halt or impair their activities. In preparing for a threat, businesses must have a “Business Continuity Plan”. A Business Continuity Plan details how an organization will recover from an interrupted critical business function after a disaster has occurred. If the Business Plan doesn’t exist, then Human Resources and Management should begin to develop a plan for a worst-case scenario that may occur in the advent of a pandemic. A Business Continuity Plan should address: “how many absences a business can handle before an interruption in business operation occurs”, “how to keep business operations running during an interruption” and “what changes to be effected to ensure the smooth running of the business”.

One of the ways in which Clean Technology Hub — a medium enterprise — was able to successfully carry on business continuity was in taking a major and crucial part of its work virtually. The organization consistently carried out webinars and online training to engage its stakeholders. Also worthy to mention was its successful launch of its over 5000 newly on-boarded volunteers from across the globe who were on-boarded virtually as in-person contact was restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Its successful conclusion of the first quarter “Enterprise Development Program’’ initially scheduled to be an in-person training but later turned virtual as a result of the pandemic is also a breakthrough for the organization. Finally, the launching of its ongoing Learning Academy — a digitalized animated learning platform whereby elementary and high school teachers/students can find fun resources that will educate them about climate change and sustainable environment, as well as equip young individuals to learn courses related to Renewable Energy.

Implementing Preventive Measures:

After the pandemic has occurred, what the business does to manage it is very important. Ensuring the safety of employees is vital. An employer need not wait for a pandemic to strike before putting certain preventive measures in place. HR should develop a handbook that will educate employees about safety, health, and environmental measures to put in place.

Getting through the threat:

The implementation of preventive measures does not remove the fact that disasters can occur, but the key thing is to ensure that employees get through and remain healthy and that operations are affected as little as possible. In the event that such disasters merely affect operations, then the focus should be to ensure that the business operations resume as safely and quickly as practicable. Some ways to ensure keeping the workforce healthy are:

• Ensuring symptomatic employees go home
• Administering proper quarantine measure for employees returning from high-risk areas
• Limiting face to face meetings
• Implementing measures for telecommunication
• Implementing alternative work schedules so that fewer employees are seated in the office at the same time
• Employing social distancing measures between employees and between clients/customers
• Temporarily shutting down operations

Business Recovery:

Once the pandemic is over and business begins to return to normal, human resources must take steps to ensure a seamless transition from emergency operations to normal operations. The first step will be to ensure proper communication to all employees. Human Resources should notify employees on the reversal of certain policies or rules that were added or changed to accommodate the pandemic period. Any post-pandemic operating policies should also be duly communicated to employees.

In conclusion, to ensure smooth running in business operations, Human Resources and Management must carefully consider the above-listed points in order to successfully navigate through a pandemic. After all, at the end of the day, the goals are simple: Safety, Security, and Success!

*Faith Amadi is Assistant Manager — Human Resources at Clean Technology Hub

*Ifeoma Malo is the Cofounder/CEO of Clean Technology Hub