As it turns out, COVID-19 (or Coronavirus) isn’t going away on its own. As many schools, universities, and workplaces transition to either weeks off or working or learning from home in the U.S., it has tested the resolve and preparedness of HR leaders across the nation. In countries like Italy, the conditions are even more severe, grinding activity to a virtual halt.
Companies in travel, tourism, and hospitality are obviously feeling the pinch in extreme ways, with massive cancellations and disruptions. Healthcare and the public sector are feeling a different kind of disruption as they gear up for what could be a very long spring. The stock markets have also spoken their piece about the uncertainty.
Two weeks ago, which admittedly feels like an eternity, we gave some guidance in this very column about considerations every organization should be thinking about. That’s a good starting point, but the situation has clearly evolved. In many states and localities, government officials are asking those who can work from home to do so and to limit gathering sizes at both work and public and private events. Like hundreds of other conferences and meetings, events focused on HR and recruiting, like SourceCon (run by TLNT’s parent company ERE Media) and UNLEASH Spring, have moved to digital or are postponing or canceling.
This time of year, we get inundated with comical stories about how NCAA basketball’s March Madness will negatively affect businesses. Now, a real March madness is upon organizations, and people are already feeling the real impact of the pandemic.
Nobody said HR was for the faint of heart.
Amplify Talent founder Lars Schmidt’s shared Google Document crowdsourcing information about the COVID-19 response has been immensely helpful for HR leaders and companies wanting to understand exactly how other organizations are reacting to the pandemic. For example, at the time of this writing, it has 17 COVID-19 response plans publicly shared from companies like ADP, Lattice, and Duolingo. The document is, in fact, so busy that it’s sometimes difficult to access.
We’ll continue to dedicate a portion of our coverage to COVID-19. In today’s quick hits, I’ll be covering an exhaustive list of Coronavirus and remote work articles from all over the web.
The weekly wrap is where TLNT shares the stories that didn’t quite make it into a full post this week. We’ll also share links to some of our favorite things we read this week about HR, people development, the future of work, and more.