Impact of COVID-19 induced lockdown to sustain Employee Performance Management Systems in NCR Corporates

ABSTRACT

All hell broke loose in the Corporate world in March 2020 when India went under total lockdown in a matter of days. The equation between Work (How work gets done), Worker (Who does it) and Workplace (Where work gets done) was altered at the fastest pace in Human history. This paradigm shifts also coincided with the Appraisal/Year End Cycle. Most of the Indian corporates follow the Financial Year cycle (April to March) for their annual performance appraisal/management process. Human Resources department was at the forefront of every Board Room's agenda within the corporates of the National Capital Region (NCR) of India. The challenging and interesting part about life of an HR professional is to help business take the hard decisions in the most objective yet humane way possible. Therefore, perhaps rightfully, there wasn't one single solution or a clear thought process emerging across participating organizations. And to borrow from Gabriel Garcia Marquez “Our code of ethics supposes that we doctors are made of wood” - there is similar thinking on HR as well. Hopefully this time it will not be so. This paper presents an overview of the changes to the PMS system and its outcomes undertaken by HR managers in Corporates of National Capital Region. HR managers of 117 corporates were surveyed through a structured questionnaire between the period 5th April, 2020 through 15th April, 2020. The main objective of this publication is to document and contribute to the body of knowledge changes that were introduced due to an unforeseen calamity. © The Electrochemical Society