As the management is trying to save costs, yet withouttrainings, consulting, and coaching employees could not be developed, which causes problems to HRM function inaccomplishing their goals.

Companies are now attempting to focus merely on survival. "It is no longer a question of profit, but to survivein the market

especiallythe accommodation and food service companies are negatively affected (PwC Georgia, 2020). 63% of surveyedcompanies stated that their revenues dropped by more than 50% in comparison with the last year

Table 5. Level of agreement and disagreement about the strategic HRM and attitude of top-management towards employee wellbeing by Frequency and PercentageStronglyDisagree Disagree Neither Agree StronglyAgreeTop management completely supportsemployees/ HRM 2 4% 0 0% 6 13% 14 29% 26 54%Top management has stressed theimportance of employee emotionalexperience and HRM practice1 2% 1 2% 11 23% 14 29% 21 43%Top management has encouraged HRMpractice to improve employeeswellbeing1 2% 0 0% 10 21% 16 33% 21 44%Employee experience and /or HRMpractice have been a strategic focusarea for my organization during thispandemic crisis2 4% 2 4% 8 17% 19 40% 17 35%Employee experience and / or HRMpractice were a strategic focus area formy organization before this pandemiccrisis1 2% 5 10% 10 21% 17 35% 15 31%

Remote working is accompanying with the flexible working schedule and hence, somemodifications to tasks, duties, workplaces, working hours, team working, and managementsystems are inevitable.

HR managers have toplay a central role as organizations need to help their workforce cope with and adjust to their newlyaltered work environment. This research sheds light on the decisions Georgian organizations tookin times of Covid-19.

On the other hand, the other startups which found a solution might need to recruit new human resources, as it happened for Digikala- the leading online store in Iran. They needed to hire from a big pool of human resources, which was tricky at first glance, but it could have been harder to choose the right individuals.

Moreover, generally, human resources practices were not affordable for these small and fragile entities (Salamzadeh, Tajpour, and Hosseini 2019Salamzadeh, A., M. Tajpour, and E. Hosseini. 2019. “Corporate Entrepreneurship in University of Tehran: Does Human Resources Management Matter?” International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development 10 (3): 276–292. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]).

The lack of team management skills, as a human resources management issue, remained a challenge for Iranian startups. This might be due to the cultural aspects of the country, as Javidan and Dastmalchian (2003Javidan, M., and A. Dastmalchian. 2003. “Culture and Leadership in Iran: The Land of Individual Achievers, Strong Family Ties, and Powerful Elite.” Academy of Management Perspectives 17 (4): 127–142. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]) called it the “Land of Individual Achievers”.

The amounts of rescue packages for small businesses and startups were similar in other countries. For instance, the German and French governments respectively dedicated rescue packages of 2 and 4 billion euros, and the UK established a £500 million Future Fund to support small businesses, half of which came from private sources.

Small firms in Macao tend to involve internal and external stakeholders in the crisis decision process, except for the real estate agency, which mainly relies on internal stakeholders.

However, small firms are more hesitant to make large investments in learning.

During a crisis, small firms need to make decisions and ensure that people understand and accept those decisions without damaging their reputation.

Our research ndings suggested that the COVID-19 outbreak widely impacts SMEs. The most signicantimpacts are demand constraints and HR issues. The SMEs being interviewed show exibility in handlingcrises as small rms have a low degree of bureaucracy, and they are less bound by CSR compliance.

New setup rms, especially those founded by young entrepreneurs and of small size, show advantages interms of exibility and prompt reaction during the COVID-19 outbreak

We also observe that small rms are learning from the crisis. Four out of six rms report the intention ofreforming and strengthening their crisis management plan and strategy.

The pandemic was described as“financially devastating” for Dealer, and they stayed afloat with $750,000 worth of loans. Saleswent from 300 cars (150 used and 120-130 new) per location as a monthly average month beforethe pandemic to having no sales while closed for the first months.

With the merging of home life and work life, employees became slightly more involvedin each other’s personal lives and the workplace became more casual and comfortable.

However, the participant suggested that training has become a more convenient process.Training used to be an in-person event on site where someone would come in for 2 to 3 days inorder to train new hires. By moving this process to an online setting, the time required has beenreduced.

o, HR to me was always like the scary person or place like everybody goesthere to get in trouble. So, I tried to eliminate that stigma by being visual, so I wasalways walking around the office. I always wore a suit. Uh, and I was alwayswalking around the office and meeting people, sitting in meetings and, it wasworking. It was really, really working. People saw me. They were comfortable. Itwas. I wasn't like this scary HR. I was just [Employee Name] in HR. And thenwhen COVID hit, that stopped.

Communication regarding health risks, available resourcesand support for health and safety have been identified by researchers as key concerns for HRMprofessionals as well (Caligiuri et al., 2020).

Other scholars have suggested that emergencies, disasters,and other crises routinely generate HRM challenges related to mental health (Mankin & Perry,2004; Perry & Mankin, 2005).

By incorporating HRM professionals in addressing an emergencyor disaster, local governments are able to identify HRM policies and procedures that are relevantto employee management in times of disaster or crisis (Mann & Islam, 2015).

HRM professionals and community were already in a flurry regarding the practicaleffects of the virus on the work place. Questions regarding the legality of temperature checks andinquiries regarding employee health conditions began to surface

A highly felt need of knowing specifically the impact of Coronavirus disease on employees from the point of Human Resource Management exists.

Evidence focusing on small businesses shows that they widely engage in disaster relief for their community (Bin & Edwards, 2009), clarifying that in addition to governments, entrepreneurs and small businesses also become active (Markman et al., 2019)

First, female owners of small businesses faced a 35% higher probability of experiencing income losses than their male counterparts with the gender gap among the self-employed being largely explained by the fact that women disproportionately work in industries that are more severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (Graeber et al., 2021)

he Small Business Administration (SBA)–administered program provided loans to small businesses through banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions with the goal of keeping small businesses open and retaining employees on the payroll (Fairlie & Fossen, 2021).

It has accelerated the disruption of HRM as well as the implementation of scenarios expected for the future (Hite & McDonald, 2020).

. Some industries were experiencing a sharp decline in their business (Giupponi & Landais, 2020) leading some of them to temporarily close their shops (Bartik et al., 2020), whereas other industries have seen their business flourishing during this pandemic (Giupponi & Landais, 2020).

, HRM practitioners are urged to identify the job positions that can be performed remotely, those which can be performed in the physical workplace, and those positions that need layoff due to the situation provoked by the pandemic.

that making predictions related to the company's business, e.g., the preparation and the allocation of resources might be a complex exercise. In fact, COVID-19 has generated uncertainty.

the main chal-lenge for HRM practitioners might be related to the development of a training program adaptedto the new reality of the organization and the employees and to choose the proper training meth-ods, considering physical distancing measures coupled with the necessity to have employeesquickly operational to sustain the company business. This suggests that managers and HRM prac-titioners need to go beyond the traditional training methods.

Therefore, the repercussions of COVID-19 on staffing differ from one organ-ization to another.In this context, organizations that were facing financial difficulties due to this pandemic haveadopted downskilling by cutting back on recruitment of high-skill jobs more than low-skill jobs,to reduce their costs and try to sustain their business (

HRM practitioners are urged to identify the job positions that can be per-formed remotely, those which can be performed in the physical workplace, and those positionsthat need layoff due to the situation provoked by the pandemic.

no one knows when this virus will end and if its con-sequences on the work patterns in organizations will be temporary or permanent (Bartik, Cullen,Glaeser, Luca, & Stanton, 2020), even after the recent development of different types of vaccines(Yu et al., 2021). Thus, performing strategic planning or implementing the initial one can be chal-lenging for managers and HRM practitioners.

, HR in some organization took initiatives for free distribution of medical equipment like oximeter, thermometer, oxygen cylinder & kit as an emergency crisis management policy to their employees

HR must carry out a Crisis impact assessment and learn practical lessons in handling crisis. Through HR participation in planning and training, the performance of organizations can be enhanced, thus promoting the bottom-line and ability to deal with the future crisis

With the subsequent proliferation of a remote workforce and the need to communicate and collect sensitive health data, many in HR are now finding their current HR and workforce software can’t deliver on the privacy and security they need during the pandemic. What was once an office working from the same  corporate network is now a dispersed group of employees with some in the office or facility, some working remotl;y and some doing a little of both. This inevitably creates vulnerabilities for businesses as hackers innovate on tactics, extending the challenges of ensuring privacy and security beyond the reporting of employees’ health data.

The success of reopening workplaces is contingent upon employee trust. Employees need to trust that their workplace has devised a sufficient strategy in order to maximize participation in safety protocols.

Gone are the days when Human Resources just meant happy hours, policy violations, employee relations, benefits, and recruiting. With COVID-19 came a wave of change that many are still trying to wrap their heads around, but no one is feeling the weight of that change more than HR managers.

it is imperative for HR managers to be well equipped in order to be able to handle the challenges as they emerge.

HR practitioners now have to worry about the efficient and effective functionality of the organization towards the achievement of organizational goals despite the restrictions of movement, inability to hold physical meetings, appraise employees despite remote working, effective ways to sensitize employee on the corona virus and its effects, maintenance of personal hygiene, psychological state of employee to function effectively etc.

HR professionals need to be expert at advising managers how to effectively manage performance of a remote workforce, while the issue of micro-management is often a cover for the lack of trust managers have towards their staff once they are ‘invisible’.

For example, employee willingness to collaborate with each other and with human resource professionals and departments in making changes, and employee willingness to be flexible and adaptable; complying with necessary changes to safety measures and; a willingness to learn and upskill quickly.

Issues being highlighted by our respondents include the more prosaic issues of ensuring that staff have functioning technology at home as well as ensuring effective communication, supervision, productivity and performance management, employee engagement and support, re-aligning employee benefits and re-designing policies in relation to remote working. The role of HR professionals and their expertise has increased in significance in many organisations as they seek to make agile and effective adaptations in the Australian context.

For some companies, human resources is viewed as a necessary add-on, whereas if the skills are utilised properly, it should become an essential part of the business that sits within the senior executive team. Putting people first will always put a company in good stead.

HR leaders are taking on more and more responsibilities – ones which outstrip their past duties. Were once we were seen as the ‘admin arm’ of the company, we’re now a key strategic player in organisational strategy – something which took a global pandemic to really come into fruition.

Employers began paying more attention to employees’ lives outside of work as well. For example, at Medidata, which is a New York City-based company with 3,500 employees that provides a cloud-based platform for clinical medical trials, Bhateja encouraged his staff “to think about a day in the life of an employee,” from the moment they awoke to the time they went to bed, as a guide to determine what help the company could provide.

HR professionals have long tended to employees’ physical and mental health, but now they’re being more proactive about it, says Bryan Hancock, a partner and the global leader of McKinsey & Co.’s talent management practice. That means noting how employees feel as well as developing skills to detect problems early and to help. Doing so requires HR to demonstrate more emotional intelligence, notes Holly Maurer-Klein, SHRM-SCP, a vice president at HR/Advantage Advisory in Pittsburgh. “I think it’s going to change what companies look for in HR professionals,” she says.

HR needs to “understand the life experiences employees are going through, to support them not just in their experience as workers but in their lives,” he explains. 

Essential businesses were more likely to report difficulty acquiring supplies

Essential businesses were less likely than nonessential businesses to reduce employment and pay; 25.8 percent of essential businesses told employees not to work, with or without pay, compared with 34.5 percent of nonessential businesses.

Organisations should allow employees to arrange a flexible presence in the office to keep them linked to their jobs, while also assuring the presence of effective health and safety measures. Because the lines between personal and professional life are blurring, managers should communicate and discuss the organisation's performance expectations with its personnel.

COVID-19 has caused significant obstacles for managers and HRM practitioners, but it has also opened the door to prospects worth knowing about and comprehending, which can aid businesses in their future activities. Indeed, according to Demirkaya and Aydn, a crisis can present organisations with unforeseen chances. COVID-19 has pushed organisations to be more creative and innovative, as well as encourage talks about the future of work.

For many employees, there is still a lot of worry about their loved ones' health, their job security in the future, and high levels of general concern about world events.

Not Reverting to Old Habits: