SUSTAINING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization's risk assessment research, COVID-19 poses a very high danger on a worldwide scale. New HR practices were created to answer the challenges presented during the epidemic because Human Resources (HR) plays such an important role in balancing employee protection and organizational success. Even if HR procedures were implemented to react to challenges that arose during the epidemic, organizations must assess the impact on employee engagement. The main purpose of this study is to explore the factors influencing sustaining an adequate level of employee engagement. This study is qualitative and structured interviews were used to gather primary data. The study population is the executive-level employees in a selected bank. The researchers conducted thirty interviews with executive-level employees, and Word Frequency Analysis was conducted using Word Clouds for qualitative analysis to achieve the objective. Firstly, the analysis shows that the decentralization, flexibility, transport arrangements, IT facilities, work flexibility, disaster resilience plan, recognition of employees, empathy, stress, communication, tackle issues as strategies that the HR Department could use to sustain employees' engagement during COVID-19