As the whole of the world is now acutely aware, an outbreak of COVID-19 was detected in mainland China in December 2019. To prevent the contagion of this deadly virus, as per government instructions, most private companies went into shutdown and many lost their jobs. Since activities of the government, organizations and the economy go hand in hand, the emergence of a global pandemic is inevitably going to have an impact on organizations and their employees who contribute to a large portion of the economy.
In times of such crisis, major layoffs and wage cuts to cope with the losses incurred by this coronavirus have led to a global recession. Quite a lot of companies have started Outsourcing payroll services to keep a check on the finances and know how much each employee is being paid. A lot of companies have been responsible enough to lead by example and take control of the situation. They have tried their utmost to stand firmly beside their employees, ensuring their welfare. In this article, we’ll have a closer look at the steps and actions various organizations have taken to neutralize the damage done by the constant lockdowns and to help their employees settle down in the “new normal”.
As all companies should, many of the global companies are standing with their human resource in such trying times. These companies have adopted various practices that facilitate the swift settlement of their employees in the new normal. These include providing bonuses, granting financial aids, and paid leaves. A few of them truly are noteworthy and can rightfully be labeled as “best practices”. For example, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm has refused to take two months’ salary to support his organization and use the money to stand behind his workers amid the pandemic. He allegedly took inspiration from Arne Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott, who has declared a forfeit on his salary for the rest of 2020.
On the other hand, Amazon is hiring more workers, and employees infected with the virus will receive up to two weeks’ pay as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to thrive. The company’s founder, Jeff Bezos has been quoted saying, “Across the world, people are feeling the economic effects of this crisis, and I’m sad to tell you I predict things are going to get worse before they get better. We’re hiring 100,000 new roles and raising wages for our hourly workers who are fulfilling orders and delivering customers during this period of stress and turmoil. At the same time, other businesses like restaurants and bars are being forced to shut their doors. We hope people who’ve been laid off will come work with us until they’re able to go back to the jobs they had.”
Moreover, PepsiCo has also declared that they will give 100 percent of the wages to quarantined employees. PepsiCo also promises to grant additional benefits to all US-based employees and additional compensation to their American frontline workers, which sum up to 90,000 frontline employees at both PepsiCo Foods North America (PFNA) and PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA).
On the contrary, some companies have chosen to ensure the mental well-being of employees. One such example is itel. Itel is continuously conducting internal engagement and responsible communication campaigns in an attempt to assist employees to cope with this uncertain situation through spiraling negative thoughts. The mobile brand is also developing and delivering tips and tricks with added humor, helping employees to work efficiently through the new work setup. Finally, it has also introduced quizzes, games, and fitness challenges to keep the physical and mental health of the employees in check. Employers should follow these companies’ example and implement measures to improve their employees’ welfare. For instance, the first thing you would need to do would be to provide your employees with Total and Permanent Disability Insurance through financial firms similar to Curo Financial. This could ensure that even if the employee suffers a permanent disability, for whatever reason, and is no longer able to work as a result, they could have enough funds to cover their living expenses. Similarly, there can be several other ways where business owners can improve an employee’s experience in the company.
Coming back, COVID-19 is supposedly going to cost the world economy around $1 trillion solely for the year 2020. Recently, a survey was carried out by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Arizona State University in order to identify how various companies around the world reacted to the pandemic.
Around 1000 organizations from 29 nations contributed to the survey by providing data and sharing their best practices. At the peak of the pandemic, around three-fourth of the total workforce of the surveyed companies carried out their duties from home. In fact, 64% of the workforce are still working from home. Although most of the workforce is eager to return to the office, merely 6% of them never wish to do so. 17% of the organizations are testing their employees for diagnosis of COVID, while 60% of the ones doing so have made it compulsory.
However, only one-third of the companies, specifically 39% of them, had any sort of predetermined pandemic resistance plan in place prior to the outbreak of coronavirus, although most of them had preparations for natural calamities and fire. The most ordinary response to the emergence of COVID-19 was to cut down on wages and other personnel expenses, including layoffs. Workforces were reduced 35% permanently and 28% temporarily, recruiting was frozen 35% permanently and 28% temporarily while work hours were reduced 29% temporarily and 25% permanently. Almost all the employers have established additional safety rules and regulations for the return of the employees to the workplace, with three-fourth of them making masks mandatory in the office for employees.
Writtten by
Farhat Chowdhury
