Background
The most concerning topic in the modern world is COVID-19 (coronavirus), known as SARS-CoV-2. The recently discovered coronavirus species, COVID-19, causes respiratory infections in humans. It started in Wuhan, China, and has since spread widely. Qatar registered the first instance of coronavirus on 27 February 2020. Due to the simultaneous impact of the decrease in oil prices and the consequences of the disease, Qatar’s economy faced challenges throughout 2020 and the first half of 2021, resulting in a 3.7% decline in overall economic output (Suparmono, 2021).
Nevertheless, the recovery is accelerating due to several factors, including the quicker-than-anticipated recovery in energy prices. The pandemic has had a significant impact on the Qatari economy, leaving many sectors unable to recover from their losses. The economy is imploding, destroying livelihoods, wages, and employment opportunities, upending industries and supply chains, and escalating inequalities, suffering, and hardships, particularly for the poor.
Due to a supply outpacing demand, many people lost their jobs, and recent graduates struggled to find employment. By lowering employee salaries, the company can save on the opportunity costs associated with these salaries. The employee had to deal with the financial burden as a result. COVID-19 has a variety of effects on the economy of Qatar companies. Additionally, policies such as lockdowns are being implemented to break the COVID-19 transmission chain.
Although Human Resource Managers (HRMs) were aware of flexible work schedules, they were unaware of how these schedules affected employees’ productivity. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, 800 human resource executives were surveyed, and more than 80% reported having promoted or encouraged workers to work from home (Suparmono, 2021).
To accommodate the new remote work environment, support employees in adjusting to the new norm, and resolve the increased work-life conflicts, HRM leaders who were accustomed to managing employees in the workplace have had to modify their plans and strategies. Thus, the disease has posed numerous challenges to HRM (Suparmono, 2021). The primary goal of HR leaders is now to focus on evaluating emerging work trends. Some of the recent HR trends are merely an acceleration of existing shifts.
Significant Elements of Qatar’s Economy
Oil and Gas
The Qatar Oil and Gas Market experienced extraordinary events in the first half of 2020 that had never been seen before in the industry. Qatar was compelled to issue lockdown orders, travel restrictions, and stay-at-home guidelines due to the spread of the coronavirus. The use of automobiles, industry, shipping, and transportation has significantly decreased due to the restrictions on movement. This had an immediate impact on Qatar’s demand for gas and oil.
In April 2020, demand in Qatar was predicted to fall by more than 30% (Alagon, 2021). There was insufficient physical demand, resulting in a rapid decline in crude oil prices. Working from home has significantly decreased Qatar’s electricity consumption, further lowering LNG prices, which were already pressured by weak fundamentals.
As of the end of mid-June 2020, the market is gradually returning to normal conditions due to the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions. Even though the nation’s lockdown restrictions are being lifted, it has not yet been seen that fuel consumption has fully returned to its pre-COVID-19 levels. The Qatar report focuses on how COVID-19 will affect the supply and demand of LNG, oil, and gas. Economic activity is resuming in Qatar following the lifting of the lockdown order, and fuel demand is rising (Suparmono, 2021). It is anticipated that Qatar’s oil and gas demand will recover to 2019 levels by 2023 or 2024. However, an early recovery is expected due to the country’s access to the vaccine.
Tourism
Tourism and travel are the most significant foreign exchange earners for Qatar’s economy, thus accounting for 12% of Qatar’s non-oil GDP in 2019 (Alagon, 2021). This commercial activity sustained 278,000 jobs. Although not as well-developed as some of the more renowned travel destinations in Europe, North America, and other countries, COVID-19 has significantly impacted Qatar’s tourism industry. According to statistics, tourist arrivals decreased by 78% in March, and it is anticipated that the numbers for April and May will be even worse (Suparmono, 2021). It is unclear how many of the nation’s eateries and local tourist attractions will survive the pandemic with lockdown measures still firmly in place.
Unemployment
Qatar’s unemployment rate reached its highest record during the pandemic. According to the Qatar Department of Statistics, the figure reached 5.3% in May 2020. Unemployment occurred when companies attempted to reduce their workforce as a cost-saving measure due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The unemployment issue directly impacts unemployed individuals (Alagon, 2021). The unemployed lose earnings and income. They have low purchasing power and are unable to buy many goods, thereby contributing to lower output and GDP. In the long term, the employed suffer from signs of mental health, including depression and anxiety, which may lead to suicide. According to the New Straits Times, suicide cases have increased among the employed in Qatar since implementing the Movement Control Order due to the loss of jobs and income.
Retail
Compared to other vital real estate segments, rental trends in Qatar’s organized retail industry have historically remained stronger. The organized retail stock was expected to reach around 2.67 million sqm of the leasable area by 2020. This organized retail leasable space is one of the highest in the area, at 0.74 per person and 1.81 per household. Approximately 10,500 establishments, including retail and wholesale, make up Qatar’s retail sector (Tooze, 2021).
More than 210,000 people work for it. Retail and wholesale trade account for about 7-8% of the total GDP. After expanding at a CAGR of 4.2% over the preceding six years, the retail and wholesale industry was predicted to be valued at QAR 172.5 billion by the end of 2019. (Tooze, 2021). Retail malls are struggling due to the pandemic’s countermeasures, which have forced the closure of most stores, with few exceptions, such as pharmacies and supermarkets.
Most of Qatar’s retail properties are brand-new and heavily leveraged. Due to this, mall owners are only partially able to reduce tenants’ rent. While a few malls have offered this assistance, it will be challenging for them to continue doing so without government funding. To maintain health, safety, and hygiene standards and demonstrate that the mall is “fit to use” for customers after COVID-19, it may be necessary to obtain some green certification. Following the 2006 Asian Games, Qatar underwent a retail revolution.
Today, the nation is home to over 25 shopping centers, several high-street retail neighborhoods, and shopping districts. Due to the lack of traffic congestion and excellent road infrastructure, customers have prioritized leaving their homes to visit these facilities, fulfilling their shopping and recreational needs. Other aspects include a peaceful living environment, increased penetration of private vehicles, and simple access to transportation (Ben-Hamadou, 2021). However, it seems like the situation is about to change. Despite the ongoing pandemic restricting families’ freedom of movement and forcing them to use online shopping options, essential retail is still operating.
This can have a potentially significant impact, as it may fundamentally alter consumer purchasing behavior. Such a development might transform the retail industry, affecting the supply chain, operations, purchasing, marketing, and workforce competencies (Tooze, 2021). The retail sector is currently facing challenges related to managing debt loads, cash flow, supply chains, maintaining health, safety, and hygiene standards for both customers and employees, providing doorstep deliveries, and adapting to anticipated changes in consumer behavior and preferences.
Managing Remote Workforce
HR managers should identify the skills required for employees to perform and collaborate remotely, as managing a hybrid workforce has emerged as a key HR trend. They should attempt to modify employee experience strategies. According to a Gartner survey, 48% of employees are likely to work remotely intermittently after the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 30% before the pandemic (Tooze, 2021).
HRM should limit goal-setting and performance assessment to fit the new remote context. The epidemic has destroyed the concept of office work. Work-at-home arrangements and social distancing are the primary safety measures employed by most organizations. Even as they start to plan their recovery strategies, the above factors will continue to be a vital component of the post-pandemic future of work, posing new challenges for HR managers.
E-Learning and E-Training
According to psychological literature, the need for competence is one of the primary motivators of human behavior. Employees forced to work from home due to the pandemic often lack professional support, leading them to become more self-directed in their pursuit of professional development. LinkedIn usage and online classes climbed by nearly 40% during the stay-at-home time (Alagon, 2021). Organizations should seize this opportunity to enhance employees’ skills and maintain their motivation by providing access to online training or reimbursing their expenses, given the increased need for employees to develop and demonstrate their competence.
Expanded Data Collection
Companies are increasingly relying on technology to supervise staff members, encouraging virtual involvement, assessing their engagement and well-being, and monitoring performance. As a result, the information presented above helps employers understand the employee experience (Huang et al., 2019). Although these technologies were in use even before the pandemic, they will be used much more quickly to administrate and monitor remote staff and gather information on their physical and psychological health after COVID-19. Human resource management should adhere to best practices to ensure virtual security, effective and smooth contemporary work processes, and the responsible use of employee data and statistics.
Contingent Worker Expansion
Downsizing is one of the primary effects of the pandemic’s economic uncertainty; many workers have lost their jobs, and businesses are reevaluating their job models to adapt to the unpredictable pandemic environment. Organizations are increasingly utilizing contingent workers to reduce costs, increase flexibility, and respond quickly to the pandemic’s effects. Implementing innovative work arrangements, such as talent sharing and worker rentals, is becoming increasingly important. This is largely due to the pandemic’s impact on the business environment and the resulting increase in the number of companies seeking applicants (Yamaguchi & Nishimura, 2018). Companies struggle to reskill their current workforces to meet these demands quickly.
The Emergence of New Top Tier Employees
Their workforce and respective candidates will evaluate employers’ treatment of employees throughout the epidemic. HRM should deliberate with senior management the impact of each decision made to address an urgent issue during the pandemic on the organization’s brand (Kokoroko & Sanda, 2019). For instance, when making judgments on executive pay cuts, ensure that executives, rather than the entire employee base, bear the financial burden. Regardless of cost-cutting strategies, firms should be open and honest with their employees about how they can help them.
Plan for Resilience vs. Efficiency
Agility is one of the most crucial HR talents being assessed. HR departments should understand how to allocate authority, integrate activity, and create real-time data gathering, listening, and communication initiatives. The pandemic came to turn all the working beliefs and mindsets upside down. While organizations’ systems, workflows, and operations were previously focused mainly on increasing efficiency, the focus should now shift to flexibility, agility, resilience, and the capability to respond swiftly to changes and take an accurate course.
HR managers should focus on developing more responsive, flexible, and adaptable employees with a diverse range of skills. Provide employees with varied cross-functional knowledge and training (Tooze, 2021). After the pandemic outbreak, many employees worldwide shifted to working from home. This helped managers start thinking about simpler, faster, and cheaper business methods.
(De-)Humanization of Employees
Managing work-from-home employees has given business leaders higher visibility into employees’ personal lives, and, accordingly, they have realized that supporting them in their whole life experience will directly impact their performance at work. HRM must focus more on the well-being of workers and treat them decently, as human beings, before treating them as workers. Administrators should be aware of the calamities initiated by the epidemic and recognize the potential risks they may expose their workers to if they do not prioritize their well-being and safety (Lu, 2019). The current situation has changed the way employers perceive their employees’ experiences. Above all, personal factors take priority for organizations and personnel.
Mental Health and Employee Well-Being
According to the World Health Organization, mental health is a state of well-being that is recognized through self-awareness, the ability to cope with daily stresses, and the capacity for dynamic and productive effort, as well as the ability to contribute to one’s community. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the top priorities of organizations and HR professionals have shifted, with mental health and well-being now taking center stage. The impact of insecurities, illness, financial difficulty, social isolation and instability, and fear of losing loved ones (Alagon, 2021).
All of this harms employees’ mental health, so managing and controlling employee fears and insecurities and enhancing their mental health and well-being have become a priority for HRM to increase employees’ productivity and contribute to the survival and achievement of organizational goals. Employees experienced stress and conflict due to the increased job autonomy on the one hand and work-family balance issues on the other, which harmed their health and well-being at work.
Working from home has blurred the lines between work and family responsibilities, particularly with the lockdown and closure of schools, which has increased the number of family responsibilities on parents and employees. In this scenario, HRM is essential in educating personnel on establishing a safe working environment from home, as well as on the policies and recommendations to follow for staff well-being. Single employees were not exempt either; due to the lockdown, they experienced loneliness, a lack of purpose, and feelings of exclusion that negatively affected their well-being.
Expanded Employer Role
The pandemic has highlighted more than ever the critical role that HRM plays in managing the health and safety of the global workforce. The novelty of the pandemic situation and its implications, including the uncertain business and economic climate, health risks, rising death rates, and the new “work from home” environment, have significantly increased the stress employees are under. Thus, this has made it more urgent for HRM to take immediate action to reduce that stress (Ben-Hamadou, 2021). Due to the pandemic, mental health has become a significant problem, encouraging businesses to invest more in their workers’ economic, social, and psychological health.
Implementation of Policies
To facilitate remote work and study, Qatar has focused on developing infrastructure and implementing tax regulations. They are putting a lot of effort into developing infrastructure to stop the coronavirus from spreading. If necessary, they are equipped to house at least 18,000 individuals in an isolation facility (Alagon, 2021). The government announced its cooperation with Microsoft in developing cutting-edge workplace solutions, such as Microsoft Teams, to enhance efficiency by enabling staff to work from home. The change will encourage collaboration and communication among state agencies, ensuring the continuous provision of services to citizens and businesses, as outlined in some of the implementations listed below.
Economic Stimulus Measures
Leading telecommunications firms, such as Ooredoo and Vodafone, have backed government efforts to ensure public safety by enhancing the capabilities of the existing infrastructure, ensuring that everyone remains connected when working remotely. Thus, centering on increasing data speeds without incurring additional costs (Herron, 2019). To support learning institutions in engaging with learners and parents/guardians, and delivering digital information during these challenging times, the Ministry of Education for Higher Education has announced the use of Microsoft Teams, as well as Learning Management System software.
The Qatar Finance and Business Academy began a program to support businesses during times of crisis. This aims to mitigate the significant tactical risks associated with the virus in the financial sector and help enterprises implement effective threat management operations during the current global crisis (Ben-Hamadou, 2021). The initiative’s main objective is to educate quality and up-and-coming entrepreneurs from the Qatari community.
The Qatar Mobile Payment System, which offers a new and secure method for instant automated payments, was launched by H.E. Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud Al Thani, Governor of the Qatar Central Bank. The above move followed the closure of the facilities and all specifications of the main structure for digital money at the government level, utilizing the finest global methods in mobile payment services.
Article Analysis
The situation in Qatar remains unprecedented, according to the article “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” by the Qatar Ministry of Public Health. The virus’s influence continues to force citizens to modify many elements of their existence entirely, producing uneasiness (Pathan et al., 2021). Medical personnel are working diligently to halt the spread of the disease and ensure that anyone infected with COVID-19 receives the most effective medical care possible to alleviate their physical symptoms. The ministry believes that prioritizing patients’ quality of life is critical at all times.
Many individuals are reasonably concerned about the present situation and may feel scared, confused, apprehensive, or depressed (Ministry of Public Health, 2022). The indications of diseases such as depression and anxiety are often unnoticed, but their influence on an individual should not be ignored. Even under normal conditions, many people experience stress or mental anguish. However, the advent of COVID-19 and its influence on human life can be a significant source of worry and despair. As a result, the department anticipates that these challenging times will soon come to an end and business will return to normal.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented HRM with several challenges: HR managers had to adapt to a new, uncertain, and unknown environment. With firms being compelled to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, 2020 undoubtedly turned company strategies, priorities, and plans on their head. HR is at the frontline, responding to a wide range of internal and external transformative trends and designing strategic plans to accommodate the new workforce models (hybrid workforce) and to assure employees’ mental health and well-being.
Thousands of HR officials concluded that their teams must first prioritize people over economics, create cross-organizational quick-response teams, distribute power to distant professionals, and swiftly coordinate activities. Secondly, collect data in real-time to pinpoint the specific location of problems and swiftly create initiatives to empower individuals to work from home. Thirdly, adapt to rapidly changing situations and loosen restrictions regarding hours, compensation, and vacation.
Fourthly, swiftly determine whose positions will be eliminated, then begin to reassign workers to new places. Fifthly, maintain an optimistic outlook despite the uncertainty and change, and communicate a growth-oriented attitude. After the pandemic, there would be two different sorts of businesses. Enterprises that anticipate the post-COVID prospects and invest in them will be the ones that survive. Thus, they could retain their talent and recruit high-caliber individuals once the situation has stabilized. However, those who fail to adapt quickly to the new conditions and to find their way to survive and thrive will be overtaken.
References
Alagon, M., C., N. (2021). The impact of the tourism sector of a country’s economic downturn: Pre and post COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Research Publications, 68(1).
Ben-Hamadou, R. (2021). Food Security in Qatar during COVID-19 Pandemic. Food Science & Nutrition Technology, 6(2), 1-4.
Herron, J. (2019). Cognitive control depletion reduces pre-stimulus and recollection-related measures of strategic retrieval. Welcome Open Research, 4, 120.
Huang, H., Lin, J., & Lin, C. (2019). Data re-identification—A case of retrieving masked data from electronic toll collection. Symmetry, 11(4), 550.
Kokoroko, E., & Sanda, M. (2019). Effect of workload on job stress of Ghanaian OPD nurses: The role of coworker support. Safety and Health at Work, 10(3), 341-346.
Lu, X. (2019). The Humanization of Technology. Landscape Architecture Frontiers, 7(2), 144.
Ministry of Public Health. (2022). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
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Suparmono, S. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on economic growth. Wahana: Jurnal Ekonomi, Manajemen Dan Akuntansi, 24(1), 1-11.
Tooze, A. (2021). Shutdown: How COVID shook the world’s economy. Allen Lane.
Yamaguchi, M., & Nishimura, A. (2018). Modulating proactive cognitive control by reward: Differential anticipatory effects of performance-contingent and non-contingent rewards. Psychological Research, 83(2), 258-274.