Work organization, human resource management and the economic crisis

This chapter examines the impact of ‘crisis’ on individuals and organizations in general and Human Resources Management (HRM) in particular. We examine the nature of the economic crisis that began in 2008, and consider its impact on HRM. We analyse the impact of the crisis on employees through various different elements of their contracts and suggest that crises emphasise the difficult role that HRM has to play – emphasising the need for cost-savings and even cutting staff whilst at the same time attempting to consider the effect on staff and to ameliorate the worst impacts. We argue that paradoxically, retaining a balanced approach to the contradictory forces may be in the long-term interests of the organization, the employees and the HRM function.