Remote Work and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Human Resource Management

The global outbreak of the coronavirus in 2019 spread across the world in record time, prompting a rapid shift to remote work due to health and safety reasons and resulting in the largest shift in the labour market since WWII. Human resource managers were forced to quickly adapt to the abrupt digitalization of the recruitment process. Even though it was introduced during a very chaotic period, remote work has many benefits which will come to light more clearly if it becomes a part of common practice in the post-pandemic period. Benefits for workers include less stress, less disruptions, a better work-life balance, and better mental health. On the other hand, benefits for employers are more financially directed, including cost reduction, higher productivity of workers and lower employee turnover. While some companies went completely remote and others split their time between home and office, changes were instantly seen in activities such as team meetings and job interviews as well as the whole recruitment process. Projections for the next few years show significant expected increase in remote work in comparison to the pre-pandemic time. Research was conducted for the purpose of these paper in order to better understand how real-life companies dealt with the pandemic, the positive and negative effects it had on their business practices and the company morale as well as the lessons learnt from that experience. The case study revolved around an elementary school in Pula, which was forced to work remotely during the pandemic under strict instructions from the Ministry. The principal of the school, who in that role also takes on the role of the HR manager, provided insight into their experience