By Henry Okonkwo

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) has tasked HR (human resource) professionals, business leaders, and workers to brace-up for tough post-COVID-19 workplace challenges, as governments continue to reopen the economy after several weeks of lock down.

They made this call during their 12th Special Human Resource Forum (SHRF) which was held recently via a virtual platform.

According to CIPM’s president, Wale Adediran, this year’s SHRF themed, ‘Learning From The Law: Critical Considerations On The New World Realities’, was conceptualised to explore and train their members, and industry experts, on how to navigate through potential legal landmines that could arise in this present COVID-19 environment. “COVID-19 pandemic has indeed changed the world of work, and today everyone and everything is changing. It has brought major disruption to a lot of business models.

Related News

“So we must learn to navigate several new complexities and risks. It is also imperative to ensure we have the knowledge and capabilities to make ‘legally-compliant’ decisions that balance Employee and Employer perspective, as well as the interests and perspectives of other critical stakeholders such as the Government. The present reality makes it crucial for each and every one of us to constantly explore opportunities focused on making our workplace more agile in our strategic and tactical planning, and operational responses in this very volatile, and disrupted world we live and work in today,” he said.

Also, the guest speaker at the forum, Kathy Daniels, an Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor International of the Aston University, Birmingham, alongside other subject matter experts from the private and public sector noticed and raised concerns on the loopholes in Law in adapting to changing situations like today’s COVID-19 situation. The experts urged participants to be tact in handling increased workplace challenges like staff lay-offs, pay cuts, low morale, unpaid salaries, failed contractual agreements, and other issues. Daniels charged them to create a legal balance between the Employer and Employee, to ensure an appropriate work environment, especially in this New Normal. “The law will likely have to grapple with new issues resulting from COVID-19 pandemic, but there is a need for HR to relook Employer-Employee contracts and rejig it to meet global standards,” she said.

Furthermore, the CIPM president also used the forum to unveil the institute’s plans to ensure safety at workplaces by partnering with safety and health professionals. “COVID-19 is a humanitarian crisis that has brought to the fore the need for all organisations to put ‘Safety and People first’ at the center of everything we do. This CIPM has gone into a strategic partnership with the Institution for Occupational Health and Safety (IOSH). We and the world’s leading membership organisation for safety and health professionals would be signing an MOU that covers an array of exciting activities and developmental events that will further help strengthen the profile of our HR Professionals,” he announced.