The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing human resources managers to adapt quickly to deal with an onslaught of issues, several interviews revealed.
Those issues include layoffs and furloughs, offering family or paid sick leave, reworking employees’ schedules and easing the work-from-home transition for both employers and employees.
In addition, the HR professionals who spoke to Arkansas Business speculated that many employers will see cost savings from having employees working from home and continue that practice when the pandemic ends.
“The thing that’s the most pervasive theme is that the policy changes have had to be immediately developed and implemented and executed,” said Sheila Moss, president of the Northwest Arkansas Human Resources Association, a chapter of the Arkansas Society for Human Resource Management. She also serves on the ARSHRM State Council and owns Information Solutions Team LLC in Bentonville.
“HR is nine-tenths compliance, so we’re always complying with some kind of rule or regulation. And those types of rules and regulations sometimes take years to create. And a lot of different minds come together to make those things happen, to make sure that they’re legal from all aspects,” she said. “Well, suddenly, we have these policies that we’re having to immediately come up with … . [T]hen federal regulations are being added, too, by the hour some days.
“It’s kind of been a Wild West. … [HR managers are] built to constantly switch hats and be able to speak strategically to the owners, but also be able to communicate effectively to the employees. And you always are in that critical role of keeping all the balls in the air and making sure that everybody’s taken care of first and foremost,” Moss said.
She called the current rate of change “unheard of” and said she hasn’t had a conversation with an HR professional in the past month that didn’t include the word “crazy.”
Cammie Scott, president and owner of CK Harp & Associates in Springdale, said the biggest challenge for her has been staying up to date with what HR professionals need to know in this new environment. And the information she’s accessing from different sources is not only in flux but also inconsistent. Scott is also president of the National Association of Insurance & Financial Advisors.
An Opportunity to Shine
Cindy Ruffing, director of human resources at Siloam Springs Regional Hospital and Northwest Health Physicians’ Specialty Hospital, called the rapid rate of change and staying informed the biggest challenges she’s faced recently.
She also views this crazy time as an opportunity.
“For HR professionals, to me, this is our time to shine. You know, this is definitely a time where leadership is partnering with HR professionals and receiving guidance on a number of issues,” Ruffing said.
For example, layoffs and furloughs weren’t on the radar for many businesses before COVID-19. Layoffs are often permanent, while furloughs are typically for a shorter, fixed period of time.
And many businesses weren’t large enough to be required to adhere to the federal Family Medical Leave Act. They also didn’t offer paid sick leave but are mandated to do so now.
Moss said those were some of the big policy changes, and they could actually cause layoffs. Businesses that are already seeing the coronavirus hurt their bottom line are now required to pay certain people not to work. Layoffs may be needed if they don’t have cash on hand to pay people on leave, she said.
Moss also said there is some concern that unemployment could be more attractive than working to some employees. The unemployed are being paid an additional $600 per week and the one-week waiting period has been waived. Also, individuals who quit their jobs didn’t qualify before. Now they qualify if they quit for COVID-19 reasons.
Fortunately for many businesses that were looking at laying off employees, loans are available through the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act. PPP loans, which are administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, can cover as much as eight weeks of expenses and are forgivable if the money is used to retain workers or for other approved expenses such as mortgages, leases and utilities.
“That was a missing link that we really needed,” Moss said. One thing HR managers are doing on a constant basis right now, she said, is having strategic conversations with owners and executives about the resources that are available to help them during the pandemic.
Balancing Act
Even with those resources, certain industries — the health care industry in particular — are furloughing workers and cutting hours.
Ruffing, as the HR director for two hospitals, said she’s been performing a balancing act. On the one hand, hours are being cut because the hospitals aren’t doing noncritical surgeries, and people are being moved between departments to give them as many hours as possible.
On the other hand, hospitals are trying to stay staffed up on health care workers in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases. There could also be a surge in noncritical surgeries when the pandemic ends, she said.
Ruffing said the hospitals must also be prepared to temporarily replace employees, even executives, who contract the coronavirus. “You’re making sure you’re three deep in your bench on some things,” she said.
But Ruffing likes to look on the bright side. “I think many of our companies will come out stronger on the backside, having been able to participate in that type of … future workforce planning.”
Staying Productive
Speaking of the future, another recent major issue for HR professionals has been advising employers and employees on how employees can work from home and stay productive.
Scott, with CK Harp & Associates, said she’s being asked how to keep track of hours worked, what policies and procedures to put into place to ensure that employees stay focused while working from home, how to stipulate what people can and can’t do when working from home, and how to safeguard employer information.
Employers are also concerned about mental health and trying to figure out a way to address that without crossing a line when it comes to individual privacy, she said.
Moss, with ARSHRM, said she advises employees working from home for the first time to maintain their regular work schedules and do what they normally would to get ready for a day at the office. She said achieving a work-life balance is more difficult as well. It’s important to stop working at a certain time even though there are things to do sitting in your workspace at home.
It’s also important to continue communicating with your team, Moss said.
The role of HR managers is to check in on workers to make sure they have what they need to be productive, she said.
Both women believe working from home could be here to stay, and Scott added that working from home was trending before COVID-19.
“I can’t see that businesses who have now made this switch and invested, many times invested in technology, invested in computer systems and invested in training their employees, and employees are working from home and gaining a new perspective on work-life balance … I don’t see somebody just flipping a switch and everything going back to the way that was before,” Scott said.
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