Consequences of global pandemic on workplace and HRM practices in digital start-up companies in Berlin
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2021
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Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many governments worldwide to impose numerous restrictions. The impact of these restrictions also affected the organizational practised by requiring many employees to work remotely from home. This paper analyses the implications of Covid-19 crisis on digital/IT-related start-up companies. Digital professionals are accustomed to flexible working arrangements, but not all of them remotely and for a long continuing time. In total 20 written interviews were conducted. Ten among them with HR managers of the start-up companies in Berlin and other ten with employees of a medium-big internationally active IoT start-up also based in Berlin. Findings revealed that the main implication of Covid-19 crisis for HRM practises affected onboarding processes, followed by employee engagement activities, while performance evaluation and training practises were affected in a lesser degree. Due to virtual onboarding practises, it takes now more time to educate and introduce new hires to the company. Limited virtual engagement activities lead to lack of personal communication between employees and decrease sense of belonginess. On the other side, results have shown that employees are more productive, independent and focused on the job while in the home office. Overall, current study concludes that managing the remote work of digital professionals was not a significant challenge for HR managers in start-up companies