The pandemic tested the employer-employee relationship dramatically over the last two years. Sometimes, these pressures yielded great benefits. Employees performed remarkably and adapted resiliently to challenges posed by the pandemic and with organisation’s help, they showed exemplary results that would have taken years to materialize.However, whether corporations are doing enough to support and protect their employees is a question arising in everyone’s mind.
The present case discusses the influence of Covid-19 on the relationship of employer & employee. A multi-national ABC is an IT Consulting company with approximately 3 Lakh employees who are facing problems for the last two years due to alarming increase in attrition rate. Attrition rate is increasing because of high work pressure and insufficient support from employer, thereby creating a lack of sense of belongingness.Research studies show that employees are not only inclined towards monetary benefits, they also strive for non-monetary benefits such as self-fulfilment and psychological needs.
Organisationfaced backlash and are questioned for their negligence in protecting employees impacted by health and economic recession- unemployment; sharp fall in worker participation and research statistics showing that women who are at 19% more risk than men at employment; company was also questioned for their role in making high- pressure working environment. Research statistics show that 89% of employees’ said that their work life balance is impacted negatively, 85% said that their well-being declined, and 56% said that their work-load has increased.
Employees are reflecting and reconsidering their decision about who they want to work for: with 40% of the manpowerthinking of switching the organisation.Similarly, the organisation has started to introspect their contribution in society and their relationship with employees. And while the employer-employee relationship may be foremost in thoughts for both employees and executives, they may not be sure of its evolution. 63 % of employees felt that their relation with their employer will either improve or continue to be same, while eighty six percentage of executives believedthat employees will have more autonomy than their employers in the future.
To deal with such challenges top management of the organisation decided to incorporate these strategies for creating a purpose led organisation in order to engage employees and thereby creating a strong sense of loyalty.
The instinctive response
The instinctive response
The Instinctive Response
For creating a purpose led organisation the foremost step taken by the company was to take visible stances on social issues so that employees know what is offered to them and their relationship also revolves around purpose. Organisationhired a chief goal officer (CGO), invested visibly into their area of objective andcreated hype around social issues to not only ensure employer branding but also to retain current employees and attract potential ones for the organisation’s well-being.
The Survive Strategy
The survival strategy focused on serving the stakeholder interest. When the purpose was founded, the organisation built a survival strategy by incorporating and integrating purpose into every part of operating the business: its recruitment, marketing, supply chain, production model and governance structure. This helped in building the organisation a ‘Brand’ and assured employees about organisation’s legitimate commitment to the purpose.
The survive strategy
The Thrive Differentiator
The thrive differentiator focused on engaging employees as co-creators of purpose. This helped in creating a sense of belongingness. Co-creation evoked a viable sense of loyalty and established a relation that motivated employees to give their best. Co-creation established a purpose into the work culture. And it’s about motivating a employee’s mindset in which they know that they have the commandover influencing the organisation’s purpose and have rights to take decisions over organisation’s stands and what end-product it wants to achieve and what measures are taken to achieve those results. Hence making employees feeling highly invested in the organisation.
Employers ensured collaboration with employees for co-creation of purpose via several ways, like, forming “action committees” or delegating decision rights by involving them in board discussions or making them a member in board of directors. This motivated employees to work to their fullest potential and achieve results efficiently.
Q1. How has Covid-19 pandemic affected the employer-employee relationship?
Q2. Discuss the challenges faced by ABC company?
Q3. Suggest whether strategies incorporated are the only solution to the challenges faced by the ABC company?
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