Introduction to the Covid-19 Special Issue

ABSTRACT

Nicola Green, David Tappin and Tim Bentley explore the topic, drawing on existing research, highlighting key implications that should inform organisations as they deal with virtual working, and weigh up whether to make this an enduring part of their practices. Continuing a related theme, Sanna Malinen, Jennifer Hoi Ki Wong and Katharina Näswall draw on past research on employee wellbeing in crisis contexts, along with preliminary evidence from the Covid-19 context, to identify ways in which organisations can support employees' wellbeing in times of extended crises. In this Special Issue, Stephen Blumenfield, Gordon Anderson, and Val Hooper explore this contentious issue in the New Zealand context, addressing dimensions such as the law, employee responses, the erosion of trust, and the role of unions, While a pandemic potentially affects all of society to some degree, the effects are not equally distributed. Continuing the theme of critical evaluation and new directions, Matthew Scobie and Anna Sturman explore the implications of Covid-19 and its response in terms of the potential effect in Māori communities.