Question

Working in a small group (6 members), carefully select an issue which is closely linked to HR policy and practice (for example, we looked together in class at the issue of maternity leave, process of training, bottom-up HR planning, expatriate family issues to have low performance, selection criteria, design for expatriate compensation package. Issues on PCNs (expatriates), HCNs and TCNS face when working in an MNE (you need to link to some key HR activities, such as staffing, training, reward management etc… ). You will be exploring this issue in detail, comparing and contrasting how it is experienced and managed in different countries. It is important you talk through your choice of topic with Dr. Yi before proceeding with your project so that she can advise and guide you on its suitability.

TOPIC IS -  Covid-19 health and safety of HRM

Countries are USA and UAE

• What are the relevant employment laws in each country which influence the HR issue Duet to COVID-19?
• What role does culture play in shaping the key differences between the countries?
• What are the similarities?
• What are the differences?
• What are some of the challenges of HR in this COVID 19 outbreak ?

Answer 1

What are the relevant employment laws in each country which influence the HR issue Duet to COVID-19?

COVID 19 is found to directly affect the hospitality and retail sector where a greater proportion of US workers are employed. Most of the young employees are found to be employed in service sectors who earn an average of $975 per week. Any decisions leading to unemployment can cause greater danger for the country as any layoff due to COVID 19 would encourage young workers who are less paid to seek alternate employment, which can cause a greater threat to the health initiatives of the US government.

The U.S. Department of Labor has circulated resources to help employees and employers tackle the COVID 19 menace which includes, OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 (proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to guide employers with actions to be taken for workplace safety)., Temporary OSHA Guidance on Respiratory Protection Standard ( for resource usage to fight COVID 19 especially for individuals prone to exposure, and COVID-19 Webpage which offers guidelines o employers, employees, and the general public. These guidelines together address the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and leave provisions under the Family and Medical Leave Act. OSHA has set standards for engineering control, Administrative control and personal protective equipment for various classes of individuals at various levels of risk. Many MNCs have adopted Work from home concepts to support PCNs (expatriates), HCNs and TCNS.

UAE has adopted a cap of 30% employee to work from employers premises with strict screening for health and safety throughout the day. Workforce have a greater vulnerability to COVID 19 has been allowed to work from home to mitigate the damages. Leave provisions have been relaxed for employees who are not able to attend duties due to lockdown and who are undergoing self-induced quarantine. Minister of Social Affairs & Labor (MOSAL) has provided guidelines for leave, safeguarding against termination from job and payment of salary during the period through updations in UAE Labour Law to accommodate safety and health provisions

What role does culture play in shaping the key differences between the countries? What are the similarities? What are the differences?

Culture plays a very important role in decision making and practices followed in country. It decides how decisions can be taken by the government or institutions to fight COVID 19 virus spread through policies, guidelines, instructions for public safety and health and social distancing. Hofstede has proposed talked of five dimensions, namely power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs. collectivism and masculinity vs. femininity and long term orientation.

Power distance is high in UAE when compared to the USA, which indicates that the UAE has the capability to put tough norms on people to instill practice which is quite difficult in UAE culture. Especially in COVID 19 outbreak, it is quite easier for UAE to implement strong restrictions on the public than the USA.

Individualism is less in UAE, when compared to the USA hence people socialize and they are less self-reliant and do not display initiative, which is high among the population in the USA.

In terms of Masculinity, where the focus is on achievement. USA and UAE have similar behavioral and cultural orientations.

Uncertainty avoidance specifies the culture of avoiding loss and misfortunes, which are high in the UAE, than USA. Hence UAE being risk-averse fears government rules and misfortunes and hence support COVID 19 initiates more scrupulously than the USA.

Long term orientations where individuals take lessons from the past to take present decisions are high in UAE and lesser in the USA. Which points to the inability of the culture to learn from the experiences of themselves and others.

All cultural orientations have it's own merits and demerits, In terms of Masculinity both UAE and USA displays similarity and in all other cases they show great differences in cultural orientations.

What are some of the challenges of HR in this COVID 19 outbreak?

During times of COVID 19 outbreak, the challenges that HR would face is in terms of driving, safety and health provisions into the lifestyle of employees with different cultural orientations. They have to adopt a tailor-made approach for each individual from different cultural orientations, to drive the message of personal safety and social distancing. Moreover matching organizational policies with that of government regulations in the host country creates an added challenge to organizations