Rethinking the role of HRM during COVID-19 pandemic era: Case of Kuwait

Abstract

The recent pandemic in a shape of the new coronavirus COVID-19 has disrupted global economies and businesses and had unprecedented implications on organizations around the globe. The dramatic changes that were introduced due to the pandemic have influenced human resources management extensively. HR professionals were asked to navigate in the ambiguous present and unpredictable future by managing and guiding employees to cope with stress and adjust with the new remote working practices in an unprecedented speed, rate and scale. The coronavirus pandemic has forced HR professionals to rethink and redefine their role as the organizations started adjusting to enforced social distancing and a new working environment that they may have never imagined. The paper uses qualitative HR expert interviews as a research method. The article tackles to unveil the challenges HRM has been facing in Kuwait, determines the influence the crisis has on HRM and introduces the recommendations for managing the crisis from HRM point of view. The qualitative research findings indicate that organizations, alongside the HR professionals, should channel their efforts towards driving people transformation and enabling change, introducing flexible working practices, relying on new, innovative technology and developing the culture of trust & empathy to deal with the current or future crises.