Employee Engagement and Wellbeing in Times of COVID-19: A Proposal of the 5Cs Model

Sharing Patient Praises With Radiology Staff: Workflow Automation and Impact on Staff

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to develop and evaluate a semi-automated workflow using natural language processing (NLP) for sharing positive patient feedback with radiology staff, assessing its efficiency and impact on radiology staff morale.

METHODS

The HIPAA-compliant, institutional review board-waived implementation study was conducted from April 2022 to June 2023 and introduced a Patient Praises program to distribute positive patient feedback to radiology staff collected from patient surveys. The study transitioned from an initial manual workflow to a hybrid process using an NLP model trained on 1,034 annotated comments and validated on 260 holdout reports. The times to generate Patient Praises e-mails were compared between manual and hybrid workflows. Impact of Patient Praises on radiology staff was measured using a four-question Likert scale survey and an open text feedback box. Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc Dunn's test were performed to evaluate differences in time for different workflows.

RESULTS

From April 2022 to June 2023, the radiology department received 10,643 patient surveys. Of those surveys, 95.6% contained positive comments, with 9.6% (n = 978) shared as Patient Praises to staff. After implementation of the hybrid workflow in March 2023, 45.8% of Patient Praises were sent through the hybrid workflow and 54.2% were sent manually. Time efficiency analysis on 30-case subsets revealed that the hybrid workflow without edits was the most efficient, taking a median of 0.7 min per case. A high proportion of staff found the praises made them feel appreciated (94%) and valued (90%) responding with a 5/5 agreement on 5-point Likert scale responses.

CONCLUSION

A hybrid workflow incorporating NLP significantly improves time efficiency for the Patient Praises program while increasing feelings of acknowledgment and value among staff.

Effect of Government Guidelines and Corporate Governance on Telework Adoption and Occupational Health Measures in Taiwanese-Listed Companies

Background

Telework adoption in Taiwan has surged because of government guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the disclosure practices of Taiwanese-listed companies, assessing their adherence to government telework guidelines and their correlation with corporate governance, focusing on occupational health measures.

Methods

We conducted a guideline-adherent cohort analysis of the 2020 and 2021 sustainability reports of 295 Taiwanese-listed companies. We assessed their disclosure of corporate measures for teleworking in alignment with two government guidelines, specifically occupational health measures. Using the McNemar test and general estimating equation analysis, we compared the 2020 and 2021 responses and examined their associations with corporate governance rankings.

Results

Telework adoption increased significantly from 2020 to 2021, with 68% of companies reporting new work modes. The mentioning of government guidelines also increased to 67% by 2021. Companies with higher governance rankings were more likely to adopt online occupational health measures, including occupational health services (RR = 2.03; 95% CI = 1.41-2.94; p < 0.001) and mental health promotion activities (RR = 2.01; 95% CI = 1.06-3.82; p = 0.032), than those with low rankings. Although on-site and online occupational health services increased, home workspace assessments did not.

Conclusion

Our findings highlight significant upward trends in the disclosure of telework measures following the issuance of government guidelines. Corporate governance is significantly associated with the implementation of occupational health measures. Amid the evolution of teleworking, both government guidelines and corporate governance have become essential for shaping work arrangements and ensuring workforce well-being.

Hair dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate as biomarker of employees' well-being? A longitudinal investigation of support, resilience, and work engagement during COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

Building on the motivational process of the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, in the current research we investigated the longitudinal association between supervisor support/resilience as job/personal resources, work engagement (WE) and hair dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, or DHEA(S), as a possible biomarker of employees' well-being.

Methods

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, 122 workers completed two self-report questionnaires (i.e., psychological data): the former at Time 1 (T1) and the latter three months afterwards, at Time 2 (T2). Participants also collected a strand of hair (i.e., biological data) at T2.

Results

Results from path analysis showed that both SS and resilience at T1 were positively related to WE at T2, which, in its turn, was positively related to hair DHEA(S) at T2. Both SS and resilience at T1 had a positive indirect effect on hair DHEA(S) at T2 through WE at T2, which fully mediated the association between job/personal resources and hair DHEA(S).

Discussion

Overall, results are consistent with the motivational process of the JD-R. Furthermore, this study provides preliminary evidence for the role of hair DHEA(S) as a biomarker of WE, a type of work-related subjective well-being that plays a central role in the motivational process of the JD-R, leading to favorable personal and organizational outcomes. Finally, the article outlines practical implications for organizations and professionals to foster WE within the workplace.

How Can Organizations Support a Culture of Care?

Providing care is central to the operations of health care organizations. This article discusses how organizations can create a culture of care. It also identifies key elements that health care organizations can implement to build a culture that nurtures both patients and employees. Additionally, the article examines the benefits of implementing practices that demonstrate compassion toward both employees and patients. This article explores the significance of creating and supporting a culture of care for both patients and employees in health care organizations. Finally, the article identifies prevalent practices that contribute to a culture of care.

The intention to leave among academics in Iran: an examination of their work-life quality and satisfaction

BACKGROUND

Despite the importance of faculty retention, there is little understanding of how demographic variables, professional and institutional work-life issues, and satisfaction interact to explain faculty intentions to leave. This study aimed to investigate the intention to leave among academics and their Work-Life Quality and Satisfaction.

METHODS

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted by 8 faculties affiliated to Urmia University of Medical Sciences located in Urmia, West Azarbaijan province, Iran. The participants in the study were 120 faculty members from Nursing and Midwifery, Medicine, Allied health professions, and Health management and medical information faculties. The Work-Life Quality and Satisfaction scale, and the intension to leave scale were used for data collection. Uni- and multivariable linear regression analyses were employed to determine predictors of the intention to leave (P-values < 0.05).

RESULTS

The mean scores of all dimensions of Work-Life Quality and Satisfaction scale, and intention to leave were in an average level. There is a negative correlation between Work-Life Quality and Satisfaction subscales, along with demographic factors, and the intention to leave (P < 0.05), while multivariate analysis showed that work experience and Discipline were significant independent predictors of intention to leave (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

In order to improve education in universities, it is necessary to pay attention to the conditions of creating job satisfaction in academics. Considering the high intention to leave among Nursing lecturers, without sufficient support of nursing schools in terms of human resources, it may suffer by the lack of academic staff; eventually the quality of education will reduce in undergraduate nursing in the long term.

Crossover of Engagement Among Academic Staff and Students During COVID-19

Purpose

Globally, the pandemic had adverse consequences on the engagement and overall well-being of individuals. From a positive psychological perspective, this study drew on processes of social exchange, Kahn's theory on personal engagement and crossover theory, to explore the impact of mutual influences among academic staff and students on the engagement of both parties. Subsequently, the study explored the positive outcomes of engagement for both academic staff and students.

Participants and Methods

Purposive, non-probability sampling was used, and cross-sectional data were collected through electronic surveys. The sample consisted of a total of 1594 students who were nested within 160 academic staff members.

Results

Findings highlighted the influence of interpersonal factors such as high student leader-member exchange on student engagement and the impact of students' lack of reciprocity on the emotional engagement of academic staff. Findings further revealed that student engagement was positively related to a deep-learning approach and negatively related to a surface-learning approach. Furthermore, this study found a positive significant association between the emotional engagement and the psychological well-being of academic staff.

Conclusion

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and to reduce the negative psychological and behavioural challenges resulting from the pandemic, this research intended to inform policy-makers in higher education of the impact that mutual influences among academic staff and students have on their engagement and the benefits of engagement in cultivating a culture of life-long learning among students and improving the psychological well-being of academic staff.

The Moderating Effects of Social Responsibility Climate and Safety Climate in Keeping Healthcare Workers' Engagement during COVID-19

OBJECTIVE

The outbreak of COVID-19 brings an overload of physical and mental demands to healthcare professionals. Keeping healthcare professionals sustainable, engaged, and performing at their highest levels becomes critical and nonetheless difficult. The objective of this research is to link the literature on organizational climates, corporate social responsibility, safety science, and work engagement, and propose a research framework that investigates the factors influencing healthcare professionals' engagement during COVID-19.

METHODOLOGY

We propose that when healthcare workers' career callings are triggered by COVID-19, it influences their perceptions of the work's meaningfulness, which ultimately enhances their work engagement. We argue that creating a social responsibility climate and a safety climate inside the hospital facilitates the process of turning healthcare workers' perceived work meaningfulness into work engagement. We collected data from 112 healthcare professionals, including nurses, doctors, and executive staff, from 16 wards in a public hospital in China to test our hypotheses.

RESULTS

Hierarchical linear regression analysis provided empirical support for our research model. We find that healthcare professionals' career callings during COVID-19 enhanced their perceived work meaningfulness, which results in increased work engagement. Moreover, a social responsibility climate and a safety climate strengthens the link between work meaningfulness and work engagement among participants.

CONCLUSIONS

Creating a social responsibility climate and a safety climate in the workplace are effective management approaches to realize healthcare workers' feelings of work meaningfulness and turn them into work engagement.

Sociomateriality in Action

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an enforced ‘big bang’ adoption of working from home, involving the rapid implementation and diffusion of digital collaboration technologies. This radical shift to enforced working from home led to substantial changes in the practice of work. Using a qualitative research approach and drawing on the interview accounts of 29 knowledge workers required to work from home during the pandemic, the study identified five sociomaterial practices that were significantly disrupted and required reconfiguration of their constitutive social and material elements to renew them. The paper further shows evidence of the ongoing evolution of those sociomaterial practices among the participants, as temporary breakdowns in their performance led to further adjustments and fine-tuning. The study extends the body of knowledge on working from home and provides a fine-grained analysis of specific complexities of sociomaterial practice and change as actors utilize conceptual and contextual sensemaking to perceive and exploit possibilities for action in their unfolding practice of work. Against the backdrop of the increasing adoption of hybrid working in the aftermath of the pandemic, the paper offers four pillars derived from the findings that support the establishment of a conducive working from home environment.

The influence of high-quality workplace relational systems and mindfulness on employee work engagement at the time of crises

Workplace relational systems move the organizational processes therefore, the influence on employee work behavior is inevitable. Drawing on the relational systems and broaden & build theory, this study aimed to examine the impact of high-quality workplace relational systems and trait of mindfulness on employee work engagement. This study also posits that psychological capital mediates this relationship and negative affectivity plays a moderating role. Data was collected from 331 employees associated with the public and private sectors. PLS-SEM, Higher Component Modeling technique employed to analyze the data. Results showed a positive association between high-quality workplace relational systems and mindfulness with employee work engagement. Data also support the mediating role of psychological capital. This study contributes to understanding the internal mechanism of how workplace relational systems and mindfulness affect work engagement through mediating effect of psychological capital. The findings of this study showed that high-quality workplace relational systems and mindfulness are workplace factors that induce employees' work engagement. The present study advances the knowledge on the flourishment of the work environment. The findings of this study also contribute to further focusing research on the relational work environment in its response to employee behavioral dimension.

Digital Transformation: Inevitable Change or Sizable Opportunity? The Strategic Role of HR Management in Industry 4.0

Background: The impact of technologies on workers has been a recurring theme in occupational health psychology. In particular, the sudden digital transformation of the last two decades, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has stressed the urgency to investigate new ways of working that are characterized by flexibility and a constant increase of autonomy. In this perspective, this study aims to investigate the state of the art of the innovation process in Italian factories, explore whether and how digitalization can be seen as an opportunity, and imagine a new way of working characterized by adaptability, resilience, and openness to change. Methods: Thirty in-depth interviews of Italian experts in HR management were collected and analyzed using a mix-method approach. Results: The findings underline the Italian HR experts’ perceptions of the risks associated with rapid changes required by technological progress in terms of workers’ wellbeing and satisfaction and suggest how important it is that organizations rapidly set up learning and training programs to guide workers to the acquisition of new skills required by Industry 4.0. Conclusions: Future workplaces will be characterized by extreme versatility, which requires workers to increasingly have both technical and soft skills as well as the ability to collaborate and build functional relationships.

Productivity loss and productivity loss costs to United States employers due to priority conditions: a systematic review

AIMS

To summarize published studies evaluating productivity loss and productivity loss costs associated with cancer, chronic lung disease, depression, pain, and cardiometabolic disease among US employees.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A PubMed search from the past 10 years was conducted using the terms productivity, absenteeism, presenteeism, cancer, bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depression, pain, heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes (limited to English-language publications and studies of adults aged 19-64). Study endpoints included annual incremental time (work hours lost and Work Productivity and Impairment [WPAI] questionnaire overall work impairment) and monetary estimates of productivity loss. Studies were critically appraised using a modified Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) Quality Rating Scheme.

RESULTS

Of 2,037 records identified from the search, 183 studies were included. The most common observed condition leading to productivity loss was pain (24%), followed by cancer (22%), chronic lung disease (17%), cardiometabolic disease (16%), and depression (16%). Nearly three-quarters of the studies (n = 133, 72.7%) were case-control/retrospective cohort studies (OCEBM quality rating 3); the remainder were case series/cross-sectional studies (n = 28, 15.3%; quality rating 4), randomized clinical trials (n = 18, 9.8%; quality rating 1); and controlled trials without randomization/prospective comparative cohort trials (n = 4, 2.2%; quality rating 2). Samples sizes ranged from 18 patients to millions of patients for studies using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Most studies found employees lost up to 80 annual incremental work hours; employees with cancer and cardiometabolic disease had the greatest number of work hours lost. Overall percentage work impairment ranged from 10% to 70% and was higher for pain and depression. Annual incremental costs of lost work productivity ranged from $100 to $10,000 and were higher for cancer, pain, and depression.

LIMITATIONS

Study heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite some gaps in evidence for the cost of productivity loss, sufficient data highlight the substantial employer burden of lost productivity among priority conditions.

Authentic Leadership, Employee Work Engagement, Trust in the Leader, and Workplace Well-Being: A Moderated Mediation Model

Purpose

This study proposes a model based on social contagion theory to evaluate the impacts of authentic leadership on employee work engagement (WE) and trust in the leader (TL), integrating the mediating effect of TL and the moderating effect of workplace well-being (WW). Authentic leadership is disaggregated into its subscales: relational transparency (RT), internalized moral perspective (IMP), balanced processing (BP), and self-awareness (SA).

Methods

Dubai hotel employees completed 476 surveys. Applying the bootstrapping technique, SmartPLS 4 software was utilized to test the hypotheses in a mediation model.

Results

The findings indicate (1) that three subscales of authentic leadership (RT, IMP, and BP) positively impact WE; (2) that RT, IMP, and SA positively impact TL; (3) that TL positively impacts WE; (4) that TL mediates the relationship between RT, IMP, SA, and WE; (5) and that WW moderates the relationship between RT, BP, and WE.

Conclusion

Authentic leadership and its subscales are proven to be an excellent tool for achieving employee WE and TL. TL is crucial for effective hotel operation, as it impacts employee WE and acts as a mediator between three subscales of authentic leadership and WE. WW moderates the relationship between two authentic leadership subscales and WE but does not interact in the relationship between TL and WE. Both researchers and hotel managers can benefit from these new findings, which also provide a foundation on which to build future investigations.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on CSR Activities of Healthcare Providers

(1) Background: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important for every company that cares for sustainable structures. Healthcare providers especially have made social responsibility their goal. However, crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted different activities within the healthcare sector including CSR and its monitoring. However, theory-driven CSR research within the healthcare sector is scarce and monitoring requires a structured understanding of the processes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the CSR practices and activities which healthcare providers have implemented in an exemplified country namely Germany and the effect of the pandemic in this process. (2) Methods: Participants were sampled based on their field of care (general, psychiatric, or rehabilitation), the type of organization (public, private, or non-profit), and group membership. A total of 18 healthcare providers were initially recruited, out of which nine participated in the interviews. They represent companies with yearly revenue of between EUR 110 million and EUR 6 billion, and have between 900 and 73,000 employees. (3) Results: CSR-related activities were postponed due to times of crisis. There was a necessity to rapidly digitalize processes. Frequent and precise communication turned out to be important for keeping employees' well-being, motivation, and satisfaction levels high. Environmental efforts were counteracted by new hygienic requirements and a shift in priorities. Many study participants expressed the hope that after the pandemic, newly established methods, processes, and structures (e.g., digital meetings, quicker and more inclusive communication) would be maintained and developed further. (4) Conclusions: The pandemic has been challenging and at the same time, these challenges also created opportunities to strike a new path using the learnings to overcome future health-related or economic crises.

Employee engagement during COVID-19 in Malaysia

This objective of this study was to examine the effects of communication, training and development, and transformational leadership on employee engagement during COVID-19 in Malaysia. Four hundred individuals were recruited, and data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Communication, training and development, and transformational leadership were found to positively affect employee engagement. In the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, this study investigated the aforementioned factors as part of the reciprocal process between the employee and the employer and their effects on employee engagement, thereby making original theoretical contributions. This study also provides vital insights for businesses to consider when designing effective employee engagement plans for future well-being in the workplace.

Motivational profiles of kindergarten teachers in minority areas of China and their association with outcomes

Academic discourses regarding teacher motivation have been on-going for decades for those who teach in ethnic minority areas. Yet research findings failed to provide a consistent conclusion regarding if kindergarten teachers’ motivation pattern would vary based on a case-to-case scenario. Therefore, further studies are needed to probe the motivation patterns among this population. The study firstly examined kindergarten teachers’ motivational profiles based on Expectancy Value Theory (EVT), and then examined how teachers’ motivation related to outcome variables (work engagement, workplace wellbeing, and retention intention). Participants included 1,199 kindergarten teachers from ethnic minority areas in China. Latent profile analysis identified three motivation profiles for teachers: low value-high cost (profile 1), moderate all (profile 2), and high value-low cost (profile 3). Teacher with different motivation profiles had significant differences in work engagement, workplace wellbeing, and retention intention. In addition, chain mediation analysis revealed that work engagement and workplace wellbeing mediated the relationship between motivation profiles and retention intention. The implications of the findings for study are discussed.

Consequences of COVID-19 on Employees in Remote Working: Challenges, Risks and Opportunities An Evidence-Based Literature Review

The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations across all sectors and sizes to undertake crucial changes in order to remain productive during the emergency. Among these, the shift towards remote working arrangements is still present in our workplaces, impacting employees' well-being and productivity. This systematic review aims to describe the pandemic's consequences on work organization by analyzing whether and how the shift towards remote or home-working impacted employees' productivity, performance, and well-being. Furthermore, it describes the role of individual and organizational factors in determining employees' adjustment to remote work. Sixty-seven peer-reviewed papers published from 2020 to 2022, written in English, were selected through the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Findings describe how remote working arrangements, the workplace and organizational factors, and the employees' individual traits and skills impacted employees' productivity and well-being. Furthermore, they provide a description of the organizational enforcement actions reported in the literature. Managerial and practical implications, such as enforcement actions, team management strategies, and initiatives to promote employees' physical and mental health, will be discussed in the paper.

Psychological empowerment and employee engagement: role of job satisfaction and religiosity in Nigeria

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between psychological empowerment and employee engagement. There is also an investigation of the moderating effect of religiosity on psychological empowerment and job satisfaction as well as job satisfaction and employee engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from 265 employees working in the service industry in Nigeria. The hypotheses were tested and analysed using structural equation modelling and bootstrapping procedure.

Findings

The results show that the direct relationship between psychological empowerment and employee engagement was partially mediated by job satisfaction. Intrinsic religiosity (IR) was found to have a moderating effect on job satisfaction and employee engagement. IR and extrinsic religiosity (ER) does not moderate the impact of psychological empowerment on job satisfaction and employee engagement. ER was found to have a negative insignificant moderating effect on job satisfaction and employee engagement.

Research limitations/implications

A cross-sectional study reveals the relationship between variables at one point in a time. As such this study may not precisely predict the dominant pattern of the association over time. Future research can use longitudinal study to establish a dominant pattern of relationships.

Practical implications

This study informs human resource practitioners and scholars by demonstrating that religiosity and job satisfaction are important factors that should be considered in managing and keeping employees engaged.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first atte`mpts to enrich the literature in the fields of psychological empowerment and employee engagement by highlighting organisational mechanisms that amplify the relationship.

Contributing Factors of Presenteeism among Portuguese and Swiss Nurses: A Qualitative Study Using Focus Groups

Evidence of nurse presenteeism has mainly focused on quantifying its prevalence and consequences on productivity, quality of care, and patient safety. Few data exist on nurses’ perceptions of their presenteeism and its related causes. We explored concepts of presenteeism and its contributing factors with frontline nurses and nurse managers in different healthcare settings in Portugal and Switzerland. Our qualitative study design involved 8 online focus groups involving 55 participants. The transcribed data was explored using thematic analysis. Three main reasons for presenteeism were identified: unfamiliar terminology; the paradoxical effect of `being present’ but absent; and presenteeism as a survival strategy. Six contributing factors were also recognized: (a) institutional disinterest toward employees; (b) paradigm shift: the tension between person-centered and task-centered care; (c) sudden changes in care practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic; (d) a lack of shared work perspectives with hierarchical superiors; (e) the financial burden of being absent from work; and (f) misfit of human responses. This study generates valuable, in-depth knowledge about the concepts and causes of presenteeism, and significant suggestions for the broader audience of nurse managers and leaders seeking to improve the quality of care.

A Two-Stage SEM-Artificial Neural Network Analysis of the Engagement Impact on Employees' Well-Being

Employees' engagement (EE) and well-being (WB) are considered two interesting issues by many scientific researchers and practitioners within organizations. Most research confirms a positive correlation between EE and WB. EE is an essential premise for specific dimensions of employees' WB. At the same time, satisfied and physically and mentally healthy employees increase EE, both EE and WB thus being fundamental to individual and organizational performance. This paper aims to evaluate the relationships between EE and WB and between the dimensions of these two complex constructs. These relationships were assessed based on data obtained from a sample of 269 employees in Romania, using as a method a mix of analyses based on structural equation modeling (SEM) and artificial neural network analysis (ANN). The results highlighted a positive two-way relationship between EE and WB. Among the dimensions of EE, motivation and work environment are those that ensure a more pronounced perception of WB by the employee. Emotional WB, occupational WB, and social WB are the dimensions of WB with a significant influence on the general level of EE.

Perceived Risk of COVID-19 and Employee Decision-Making: How Psychological Distress during the Pandemic Increases Negative Performance Outcomes among Healthcare Workers

In this research, we examined how COVID-19 impacts employee decision-making and performance, knowing that this virus has negatively affected public health, crippled economies, and transformed social and business environments across the globe. To quantitatively test our specific hypotheses regarding the effects of employees’ perceived risk of COVID-19 and psychological distress on negative performance outcomes, we surveyed 443 healthcare workers who were employed by a group of private hospitals in Zimbabwe. These essential workers were delivering day-to-day frontline services with high exposure to COVID-19 during the pandemic. We find that employees’ perceived risk of COVID-19 increases their disengagement, turnover intention, burnout, and low morale at a p < 0.05 significance level. These latter relationships are mediated by employees’ psychological distress at a p < 0.05 significance level. Our findings shed light on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the cognitions and behaviors of the frontline workers who are vulnerable to this contagious disease. Turnover intentions are amplified among healthcare employees, due to their perceived risk of COVID-19 and the resulting psychological distress. Similarly, burnout becomes predominant as these workers worry about contracting the coronavirus due to the poor working conditions they face. As such, our research confirms that the pandemic has intensified the precariousness of work and challenge of managing employee performance, especially for frontline healthcare workers.

COVID-19 oriented HRM strategies influence on job and organizational performance through job-related attitudes

The COVID-19 crisis forced many changes to occur within organizations, which were necessary to keep the continuance of the organization's operations. Job performance seems to be an important factor determining such continuance, through its influence on the performance of entire organization. Shaping and keeping job performance in times of COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge for organizations, due to its negative impact on employees, causing their stress or lack of sense of security. There is a growing role of HRM specialists in appropriately shaping HRM strategies that can positively shape job-related attitudes, resulting in enhanced job performance during such difficult times. Therefore, this study aims to explain the role of COVID-19 oriented HRM strategies in shaping job performance through job-related attitudes such as work motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment in a time of crisis occurring in the organization due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted among 378 organizations operating in Poland during 2nd wave of COVID-19 pandemic. To verify the hypotheses, descriptive statistics were calculated using IBM SPSS and path analysis was performed using IBM AMOS. The result shows that combined set of "hard" HRM strategies related to the financial aspects and "soft" HRM strategies related to keeping employees' wellbeing during the crisis gives the best results in shaping job performance through job-related attitudes and consequently strengthening organizational performance. This study contributes to the knowledge concerning the development of COVID-19 oriented HRM strategies, which may also have practical application.

Workplace spirituality as panacea for waning well-being during the pandemic crisis: A SDT perspective

The present study explores the association between workplace spirituality and wellbeing of employees working in the hospitality sector during the COVID 19 pandemic crisis. Workforce agility and organisational identification were taken as parallel mediators for the relationship between workplace spirituality and employee wellbeing. The hypothesized research model was examined in the light of SDT perspective of psychological needs. Data was collected through questionnaire survey using standardized instruments. The study surveyed 322 hotel employees of the northern region of India and utilized Structural Equation Modeling to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings confirmed a positive association between workplace spirituality and wellbeing, and established the role of workforce agility and organizational identification as parallel mediators in this relationship. COVID 19 significantly affected employees in the hospitality sector due to unprecedented uncertainties and economic hardships, which has taken a toll on mental health and wellbeing of the employees. Supportive organizational practices and systems are essential to ensure flexibility, adaptability and promptness in reacting to disrupting situations. Hotels should provide mental and emotional support to their staff during the crisis situation. This study is the first of its kind to explore the linkage between workplace spirituality and wellbeing of hotel employees, with the positive effect of workforce agility and organizational identification. The paper makes a significant contribution in the emerging debate on the crisis within the hospitality sector by examining critical factors that influence long-term health and safety of employees.

Modelling the COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Employees' Health and Performance: A PLS-SEM Mediation Approach

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the imposition of certain changes in the management of organizations and in the behavior and actions of employees. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic effects on employees' health and mental well-being, as well as on their working performance. Moreover, the paper aims to highlight whether health- and work-related stress factors mediate the above relations. For the purpose of data collection, a structured questionnaire was used. The first results of the study showed that the pandemic effects felt by employees did not directly affect their mental and physical well-being. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic effects felt by employees affected their general work performance. The findings of the study may provide a useful perspective for organizations and their employees in order to adopt the most effective measures to minimize the effects generated by the pandemic.