The New Normal: Managing Virtual Work From a Human Resources Perspective

ABSTRACT

Human Resources jobs are becoming more and more challenging as the work dynamics are changing during the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The processes of organisations have improved, and machines have become more complicated, but the basic principles of organisational processes remain the same (Wang et al., Appl Psychol 70(1)16–59, 2021). In contrast, Human Resources is about dealing with people who are constantly changing in terms of behaviour, habits, thinking, or according to their circumstances, albeit personal or professional (Hembrom, HR Future32–33, 2020). This makes organisational processes more difficult because, while managing and understanding people, their state of mind is more important when communicating with them (Bui, The roles of leaders in virtual working environment, 2020). Talking to people in person, Human Resources managers can view body language, facial expressions of the employee, among others, which is helpful during communication. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic where the workforce is mostly working virtually from home the situation is a bit more complicated. The turn of events in the 4IR during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been very encouraging for organisations and business being slow and layoffs across the world have brought new Human Resources challenges (Richter, Int J Inf Manage 55102–107, 2020;Rosario, HR Future 2020(10)34–35, 2020). It could be contemplated that it is easier to communicate without paying attention to emotions. However, the impact it has on the employees and their families is immense. Human Resources, known for its empathetic attitude, understanding nature, for offering solace and support to the employees, is now no more than a robot, delivering messages without any feelings by Zoom or WhatsApp, based on a decision taken by the organisation. The aim of this chapter is to conceptualise a new dimension of Human Resources, where a change in strategy is required to manage virtual work in the ‘new normal'. Organisations may never return to the old ways of working. There might be a mix of both office and virtual work. For organisations that prefer to return to the ‘old normal' and do not allow for more flexible and virtual working practices, there is a very real risk that top talent will go elsewhere (Hubbard, Finweek, p 10. www.fin24.com/finweek, 2020;Waizenegger et al., Eur J Inf Syst 29(4)429–442, 2020). © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.