Definition: crisis in the workplace
A crisis in a company is an event or series of events that disrupts the organisation and its operations, creating an uncertain social climate. The origin of the crisis may be intrinsic to the company or stem from an external factor. A company crisis can result from:
- the absence of a leader or poor management;
- a merger with another company;
- a reduction in headcount;
- a labour shortage;
- a change in business strategy / reorganisation;
- a site closure;
- a social conflict / strike;
- a climatic, political or economic event;
- a health crisis, as experienced in 2020 with Covid.
HR functions at the heart of crisis management in companies
When a crisis occurs, human resources are at the heart of crisis management because the impact on employees is the first consequence of the crisis. HR must act in the short, medium and long term by managing the crisis in the present while also anticipating the exit from the crisis and the post-crisis period. HR’s spearhead during crisis management: maintaining employee engagement and motivation by projecting them toward the resolution of the crisis.
HR therefore occupies both an operational and strategic position in crisis management since they must:
- engage employees by maintaining the company’s culture and values;
- support managers in crisis management;
- accelerate the digitalisation of HR processes to speed up the exit from the crisis and prepare for the post-crisis period;
- all while continuing their usual administrative and legal tasks.
Engaging employees during a crisis
As mentioned above, human resources must maintain their usual activities while integrating the additional factors linked to the crisis that may affect employees: psychosocial risk management, implementation of short-time working or remote working, for example. Protocols change almost daily during a company crisis, thereby reinforcing the role of human resources whose employee-facing responsibilities become more complex in order to keep them engaged.
Their key role in crisis management is maintaining dialogue and the company’s social climate to preserve employee engagement and commitment. HR must remain attentive to situations and deploy communication at all levels to adapt to each stakeholder: executives, managers, elected representatives, unions and employees. For the latter, HR supports managers who serve as their relay to employees.
Supporting managers and employees: crisis management
HR supports managers to help them keep their teams engaged during the period of uncertainty linked to the crisis. HR ensures that working conditions remain optimal (for example in the case of imposed remote working) or that employee safety is maintained (for example in the case of a technological or climatic incident).
HR provides genuine support for managers who are on the front line during a crisis, helping them implement the right tools and solutions to ensure employee well-being. Indeed, during and after a crisis, employee expectations evolve. The crisis allows a renewed focus on people; trust must be rebuilt, the collective must be rethought, and a new work organisation must be considered. At that point, the notion of meaning at work becomes central, and HR has a strong role in assessing engagement or disengagement, which can have significant human and financial consequences. Thus, HR offers managers, and the company in general, tailored solutions that emerge from listening to situations and individuals, while relying on the legal and regulatory framework.
Crisis management and HR innovation
Crises are also tremendous catalysts for opportunities. It is during crises that companies reinvent themselves, as they are compelled to innovate to improve the efficiency of their processes. This may involve digitalisation, outsourcing or the integration of resources such as interim managers. Similarly, to successfully carry out these three major missions and the complex role of managing people, administration, technical and legal matters during periods of crisis, HR can rely on transition managers who specialise in the HR function: interim HR Directors.
Interim management and crisis management
Why engage an interim HR Director for crisis management in a company?
The interim HR Director is a transition manager who specialises in the HR function. This is an HR Director external to the company who intervenes on a temporary basis to carry out a mission with high strategic stakes. Their proven expertise enables them to lead the transition mission entrusted to them, even under urgent circumstances. They demonstrate responsiveness and flexibility to meet the needs of the company in which they intervene. Through their experience and skills, they have particular expertise in crisis management within companies.
A transitional Human Resources Manager (HRM) can also support the HR Director or the interim HR Director in carrying out the crisis management procedure: leading significant change management, implementing new processes, assisting with the digitalisation of the company’s HR function, managing human resources during a merger… Whatever the origin or nature of the crisis, these interim managers are true allies of the company and the existing HR team in steering crisis management.
The role of the interim HR Director in crisis management
Experienced in handling urgent situations, interim HR Directors are capable of quickly analysing a situation and then implementing and deploying a crisis management procedure. Their objective: to preserve a calm social climate, maintain employee engagement throughout the crisis and prepare for the post-crisis period.
The role of the interim manager / HR Director during a crisis will notably include:
- Restoring and/or maintaining social dialogue
- Re-establishing communication with employees and more generally ensuring regular internal communication throughout the crisis
- Conducting a Plan de Sauvegarde de l’Emploi (PSE – Employment Protection Plan)
- Implementing the Business Continuity Plan (PCA*)
- Ensuring the continuity of daily operations
- Preserving the company’s image and employer brand
- Leading a risk prevention policy to limit Psychosocial Risks (PSR)
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OUR EXPERTISE AT YOUR SERVICE
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR INTERIM MANAGER?
EXPERT OPINION
Veronique – HR DIRECTOR AT BOOST’RH GROUPE
According to our expert, interim HR Directors are the ideal people to support a company’s HR department when a crisis occurs. Indeed, they have proven expertise and methodologies: a health crisis is not managed the same way as an industrial crisis. You need to have experienced these types of situations to be able to better handle and understand them; that is the true added value of interim HR Directors. Depending on the sector, whether industry or services, the interim HR Director will therefore differ.
During a crisis, the company expects a great deal from the interim HR Director, who will know how to identify needs and priorities. The preliminary phase for the interim HR Director is to hear all stakeholders in order to analyse, understand the situation, and thus define priorities and challenge them against the brief received from the company. In some cases, the interim HR Director may even define their own scope when the existing HR or management no longer has strategic vision or in the case of a vacant position.
However, the interim HR Director is not a magician. They must frame the delegation with the client regarding what they can and should do. They bring their perspective, analysis and outside view; that is what makes an interim HR Director strong. Care must therefore be taken not to over-direct them; they should not become a mere executor.
Finally, it is they who set the pace. By virtue of their function, they are authorised to ask many questions and request information. This strength must be leveraged to maintain a sustained pace while communicating and sharing initial results. This sustained communication is essential to build trust within a short timeframe.
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Summary
In 3 Questions
1
Why use interim management during a company crisis?
Interim management (notably through the interim HR Director or HRM) provides an experienced and immediately operational human resource to support the company in crisis in implementing its Business Continuity Plan (PCA) and conducting the crisis management procedure.
2
What is the role of the interim HR Director in crisis management?
Thanks to their outside perspective and experience, the interim HR Director manages all aspects of crisis management: maintaining social dialogue, internal communication, dialogue and negotiation with unions, employee well-being… They also ensure compliance with or adaptation of the HR crisis management procedure, if necessary.
3
What is the role of human resources in the post-crisis period?
The crisis serves as a catalyst for opportunities. Human resources must leverage the crisis to continue innovating and reviewing their processes. Coming out of a crisis, HR departments can use the services of time-sharing HR Directors or HR professionals to free themselves from operational tasks and focus on deploying changes that emerged from the crisis, for example. HR must remain vigilant when managing the aftermath of the crisis and always think about employment (headcount and skills). It is essential to support employees through changes in positions, roles, or even geographic locations.
