Human Resource Management in a Post COVID-19 World

Book excerpt: This book presents a novel viewpoint in HR management: in addition to the macroeconomic factors (demographic development, industry 4.0, digitization, etc.) and its micro-political counterparts (shortage of skilled workers, an aging workforce, shortage of MINTs), personnel policy in the highly developed economic regions of the world can increasingly be seen from the third point of view, which is the ego-perspective. The complexity of the economic world 4.0 is manifesting itself for the employees in a working world of unlimited possibilities, offering almost limitless freedom of choice, especially for younger people. Due to this shift in the balance of power, the influence of the employers decreases and is often reduced to countering the pronounced self-confidence of the employees in asserting their expectations with corresponding company incentives. The author emphasizes that dealing with the challenges of this extremely fragile world of work - currently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic - must by no means be left solely in the hands of overburdened personnel managers. The contribution of the line manager or direct superior is becoming increasingly important. And it is only through close and clearly defined cooperation between the two that the opportunity for effective human resources management lies. This book aims to illustrate this process of division of labor in the individual phases of personnel management.