CeLOMmr 80 86 > Article 2 Q1 How do you cite this article according to RMIT Harvard Business Referencing style? Step 2: Brief Overview/Description Q2 Indicate the aim of the study Q3 Outline the main argument/s and key theory/ies Step 3: Critical Analysis Q4 What is the main contribution of the manuscript to both the literature and practitioners? Q5 What is the main limitation of the study? Step 4: Statement of Relevance Q6 In what way does the article relate to the concepts outlined in the course? Q7 What is your opinion regarding the argument/s expressed by the authors? U ... F The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1934-8835.htm Rethinking the strategic Strategic management management of human resources: of human lessons learned from Covid-19 resources and the way forward in 215 building resilience Received 29 September 2021 Revised 25 October 2021 Dorothea Roumpi Accepted 3 November 2021 School of Labor and Employment Relations, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA Abstract Purpose - Numerous empirical studies and meta-analyses have offered ample evidence for the relationship between the strategic management of human resources and a variety of important organizational outcomes, such as individual- and firm-level performance. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, steered the discussion away from the traditional performance-related outcomes of the strategic human resource management and brought to the fore the importance of resilience. The purpose of this paper is to identify areas in which strategic human resource management can help organizations to become more resilient. Design/methodology/approach - On the basis of a brief overview of the different phases of the COVID- 19 pandemic and its impact on the management of human resources, this conceptual paper uses the Ability- Motivation-Opportunity framework as the backbone for the development of suggestions for the strategic management of employees to create and maintain organizational resilience. Findings - A series of actionable suggestions regarding the way forward in building organizational resilience through the effective and ethical management of employees are presented and discussed Specifically, the importance of using flexibility-oriented human resource management systems is highlighted. This "flexibility-orientation" involves all functions of human resource management, such as selection, training and compensation. Originality/value - The proposed suggestions can benefit organizations by offering actionable recommendations regarding the management of human resources by taking stock of lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Keywords Resilience, Strategic human resource management, COVID-19, Flexibility-oriented HRM systems Paper type research paper Bridging the strategy and human resource management (HRM) literatures (Boxall, 1992; Roumpi and Delery, 2019), strategic HRM has been broadly defined by Wright and McMahan (1992, p. 208) as "the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals." With more than three decades of research (Jiang and Messersmith, 2018; Lengnick-Hall et al., 2009), strategic HRM International Journal of The author would like to thank Dr Lauren Aydinliyim and Dr Panagiotis Giannakis for their support Organizational Analysis and insights during the development of this conceptual paper. The author would also like to thank Vol. 31 No. 1, 2023 pp. 215 231 Guest Editor Dr George Lodorfos and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback Emerald Publishing Limited 1964-8835 during the course of the review process. DOI 10.1108/1JOA-09-2021-2974... IJOA has offered important insights for both scholars and practitioners regarding the effective 31,1 management of human resources. Most of the relevant research has focused on establishing and explicating the relationship between HRM deployments or systems of HRM practices, such as high-performance work systems, and a variety of organizational-level outcomes (e.g. employee turnover and organizational performance) (Arthur, 1994; Delery and Doty, 1996; Combs et al., 2006) that, ultimately, are critical for the achievement of organizational 216 strategic goals and sustainable competitive advantage (Becker and Gerhart, 1996; Delery and Roumpi, 2017; Lado and Wilson, 1994; Wright et al., 1994). Despite the compelling evidence regarding the effects of HRM systems and practices on individual- and organizational-level outcomes, as the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic emerged, spread and continues to unfold, organizations all over the world were "forced" to reconsider and swiftly adjust the way they manage their human resources (Collings et al., 2021a). As Biron et al. (2021) emphasized, in this "[highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous" (p. 2) environment organizations were expected to adjust their HRM functions almost overnight. Organizations and their HRM departments, in response to the constant and abrupt changes due to COVID-19, had, among others, to change the work design by adopting telework or work-from-home when applicable and, in general, transition into a virtual workplace, implement measures for the health and safety of employees whose jobs required their physical presence in the facilities of their employers, react to the travel bans that impacted not only business travels but also the flow of talent and talent accessibility, conduct employee training online and, unfortunately, in some cases, implement downsizing activities that involved large-scale furloughs and layoffs (Akkermans et al., 2021; Biron et al., 2021; Harney and Collings, 2021; Oh and Han, 2021; Thomas et al., 2020). Given the uniqueness of this worldwide crisis, it can be argued that significant questions regarding the applicability of what we know about strategic HRM emerged. HRM professionals had to think creatively and innovatively to ensure the continuity of business operations. Thus, as it became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, HRM professionals and departments should not simply be responsible for the implementation of tactics that enable organizations to achieve their strategic goals; they should be strategic partners that inform and participate in the strategic decisions of the organization (Collings et al., 2021a). After all, as aptly noted by Collings et al. (2021b) "[what sets this crisis apart from previous global crises is that, fundamentally, the COVID-19 crisis is a human one" (p. 2) and, consequently, HRM professionals play a key role in helping employers and employees during this unprecedented situation. Acknowledging the unique HRM challenges the COVID-19 pandemic created and continues to create, the aim of this conceptual paper is to focus on "the next day." Specifically, this conceptual paper aims at providing insights regarding two important research questions: What are the "lessons learned" (or the lessons that should be learned) from this HRM crisis that emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic? and How can these lessons change the future of strategic HRM in building resilient workforces and organizations? Starting with a brief overview of the HRM challenges organizations have faced during the different phases of the evolution of the COVID-19 crisis, the paper suggests the importance for both practitioners and scholars to focus more on flexibility-oriented HRM systems (Chang et al., 2013; Wright and Snell, 1998). Flexibility-oriented HRM systems are defined as sets "of internally consistent HRM practices that enable a firm to (a) acquire and develop human resources for a wide range of alternative uses and (b) redeploy those resources quickly and effectively" (Chang et al., 2013, p. 1928) that enable organizations to achieve alignment between their overall organizational strategy and their HRM deployments in uncertain environments that require high levels of responsiveness toSSOOROIBO B > changes (Wright and Snell, 1998). On the basis of the limited research on flexibility-oriented HRM systems and using the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework (Appelbaum ef al, 2000; Purcell and Hutchinson, 2007; Subramony, 2009) as a conceptual framework, the paper offers suggestions regarding the changes that should be considered in managing employees in the post-pandemic world. This conceptual paper contributes to the existing literature and practice in several ways. First, the paper focuses on the underexplored concept of flexibility-oriented HRM systems (Lakshman ef al, 2020). Second, extant literature that explores the role of HRM during the pandemic focuses more on how organizations and their HRM departments reacfed to the rapidly changing landscape of this worldwide crisis. In this paper, an effort is made to take stock and move forward by providing suggestions that will allow HRM to be more proactive and flexible. Finally, from a practical standpoint, this conceptual paper offers actionable suggestions regarding various HRM functions that have the potential of helping organizations to be more agile and resilient in the future. The phases of the unfolding human resource management crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic At the onset of 2020, humanity was faced with an unprecedented crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic. The human death toll due to COVID-19 has surpassed the four million and the number of confirmed cases worldwide is over 210 million (at the time of writing this paper; September 2021). Aside from these gruesome statistics, COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on businesses in all sectors and their employees (Caligiuri ef al, 2020; Collings ef al., 2021b; Diab-Bahman and Al-Enzi, 2020)). This impact can be summarized by some statistics provided by the International Labour Organization (ILO, 2021): during 2020 the total hours worked were reduced by nine percent which is equivalent to 33 million individuals losing their jobs, 81 million deciding to exit the labor market, and approximately 140 million employees remaining in their employment relationship but working fewer or even zero hours. These statistics fortify the argument that \"[alt its core the COVID-19 pandemic is a human crisis\" and that \"human resource (HR) leaders have been central to the response in organizations globally\" (Collings et al,, 2021a, p. 1). To better understand the role of HRM during the COVID-19 pandemic it is important to delve into the main challenges HRM departments and professionals have faced as this crisis unfolds. In particular, it can be argued that there are four phases, so far, that are characterized by different HRM challenges: the initial \"shock\[JOA 31,1 218 Table 1. The four phases of HRM challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic SSOOROIBO B > 0 Phase Main HRM challenges The initial \"shock\" (1) Continuing business operations within the uncertainty climate (2) Dealing with emplovees\" health and safety concerns (3) Exploring alternative ways for conducting business: e.g. online options for continuing operations, redesign of the workspace, using more shifts and offering protective gear The prolonged business shutdowns (1) Making difficult decisions: furloughs and downsizing (2) Finding ways to help employees who have been laid off Finding and embracing the \"new (1) Virtual hiring and onboarding of new employees normal\" (2) Maintaining the organizational culture (3) Dealing with work-life balance issues Back to the office (or maybe not) (1) Returning to the office (2) Mandating (or not) vaccines (3) Dealing with high employee turnover limited specific country- or state-level regulations as the scientific community was still exploring how COVID-19 spreads and what would be the most effective protective measures, HRM professionals had to work together with the leadership of organizations and decide their course of action. Thus, the biggest HRM challenges during this phase were centered around the ability of the organizations to continue their operations within this climate of uncertainty and respond to employees' health and safety concerns. HRM professionals during this phase were starting to explore alternative ways for conducting business that would eliminate or, at least, minimize employees' health and safety concerns. At this point, organizations started exploring the possibility of and the feasibility for some or all employees to work from home, adjusting the shifts so that fewer employees will be simultaneously in the offices and, in general, the organizations' facilities, redesigning the workspace (e.g. creating more physical distance among employees) and offering protective gear (e.g. masks and hand sanitizers) to emplovees (Hu ef al, 2021). Overall, this phase highlighted how unprepared organizations and HRM departments were to deal with such a crisis. Phase 2: the prolonged business shutdowns As most countries imposed business shutdowns and even restricted the movement within the country (Dunford ef al, 2020), organizations were faced with heightened uncertainty. Processes that organizations and HRM departments had put in place on a voluntary basis to protect their employees' health and safety while ensuring the continuation of business operations were substituted by government-enforced prolonged business shutdowns. As the timeframe of these prolonged mandatory shutdowns was uncertain and organizations had already started experiencing the financial impact of COVID-19, some of them were forced to make difficult and, in some cases, unavoidable decisions: to reduce pay and hours worked and furlough or even fire employees (Rudolph ef al, 2021; Szulc and Smith, 2021). Furloughs, in particular, were unfortunately a very commonly used tactic during this phase (Szulc and Smith, 2021) as employers were able to reduce their labor costs by placing their workers on temporary leave (Lee and Sanders, 2013). By October 2020, for instance, Exxon laid off approximately 1,600 employees in Europe and American Airlines furloughed almost 19,000 of its employees (Borden ef al., 2020). Along with these tough calls for redundancies and furloughs, HRM departments had to find ways to help these individuals who were influenced by such cost-cutting activities. SSOOROIBO B > U Specifically, some organizations adopted practices such as providing guidelines regarding how to apply for unemployment benefits, connecting impacted individuals with other sources/institutions that provide relief assistance, offering career services (e.g. providing help with resumes and connecting them with employment agencies) and keeping clear and continuous communication with individuals who have been furloughed (e.g. providing information about expectations regarding when they will be able to work again for the company) (Zeidner, 2020). Phase 3: finding and embracing the \"new normal\" The third phase finds most organizations having adopted a virtual/digital working environment that allowed them to continue their business operations. In this digitalized \"new normal\" HRM professionals had to adjust almost all HRM functions. A particular challenge is the hiring and onboarding process of new employees. The aim of the onboarding process is to introduce \"new employees into the organizational culture\" and, essentially, \"to show new employees \"how things are done around here\" and to instill in them a sense of pride in their new affiliation\" (Cable ef al, 2013, p. 23). Typically, this socialization process (\"the primary process by which people adapt to new jobs and organizational roles; Chao et al, 1994, p. 730) was taking place both formally (e.g. formal onboarding programs) and informally (e.g. observing and networking with other employees) (Cooper-Thomas ef al, 2012). As expected, onboarding of new employees during this stage was also required to be conducted remotely/virtually (Carlos and Muralles, 2021). In this virtual/digital working environment, the socialization process and, especially, the informal socialization, are more difficult to occur effectively. This 15 a significant 1ssue as the socialization process is linked to important employee and organizational outcomes, such as performance, engagement and turnover (Mujtaba and Sims, 2006). Interestingly, a recent study showed a link between the COVID-19 context and the engagement levels of new hires (Ployhart et al, 2021). Thus, during this phase, it became particularly challenging for HRM professionals to ensure the effective onboarding and socialization process of their new organizational members (Nyberg ef al, 2021). In a similar vein, as organizations operated in this virtual/digital working environment, it became particularly challenging for HRM professionals to help their organizations maintain their organizational culture. As Spicer (2020) aptly noted, the COVID-19 pandemic put organizational culture on a test and made organizations question \"just how resilient organisational cultures actually are\" (p. 1738). HRM professionals, to ensure the resilience of the organizational culture had to think creatively and engage employees in social activities that would reinforce employees' understanding of and commitment to their employers' culture. In addition, during this phase employees who participate in telework are experiencing the unique effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their work-life balance. First, as several scholars report, employees who telework experience significant violations of their work-life boundaries as the work and family domains become significantly intertwined (Allen ef al, 2020; Kerman ef al, 2021). Thus, HRM professionals had to better support their employees in drawing clearer boundaries between their work and non-work lives (e.g. not allowing corporate communications to take place after 5 p.m.). Second, an important tool employees use to replenish their resources and achieve work-life balance comes from the interactions with others. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the social interactions, especially among coworkers, were minimized. HRM professionals had to engage in activities such as using various communication channels, and to emphasize the importance of maintaining and strengthening the interpersonal connectedness among team members (Landmann and Rohmann, 2021; Levin and Kurtzberg, 2020). Strategic management of human resources 219 e OLOROBO B > _ 0 [JOA Phase 4: back lo the office (or maybe not) 811 As the vaccination rates increase and governments relax their COVID-19 protective ' measures, HRM professionals are facing a host of new challenges. First, organizations need to make a decision regarding whether they will require their employees to return to the workplace, allow them to continue teleworking, or permit hyvbrid work arrangements. As a survey by Gallup reveals, 44% of employees in the USA prefer to continue working 290 remotely and 17% want to continue working remotely due to the continuing COVID-19 threat (Saad and Hickman, 2021). In a similar study, the Great Place to Work showed that 88% of the respondents preferred to work remotely at least partially (Hastwell, 2021). Similarly, many companies, such as Dropbox, have already announced that they are planning to permit telework indefinitely (Stroller, 2021). Another important HRM challenge during this phase involves organizations' decision to mandate or not vaccines for their employees. Several big companies, such as Citigroup, Deloitte, and Google, have already decided to require vaccines for employees who will be returning to their offices (Messenger, 2021). Significant questions arise regarding the conditions under which organizations mandate vaccines and how to deal with vaccine resistance. HRM professionals need to focus on establishing clear guidelines, communicating those, and, in some cases, consider methods that will encourage employees to receive the vaccine without mandating it (e.g. providing incentives) (Miller ef al, 2021). Finally, a very popular ongoing discussion in the press revolves around the expected increase in employee turnover (Vanderbloemen, 2021). Explanations for this projected trend include the fact that the extent to which employees feel connected to their employers has decreased significantly and so has employee engagement (Mauer, 2021), as well as employees' desire to continue teleworking (Meln and Egkolfopoulou, 2021). It becomes imperative, therefore, for HRM professionals to better understand the roots of employees' tuwnover intentions and to find solutions that will help them retain their valued human capital. Concluding remarks The HRM challenges that emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic bring to the fore various critiques regarding the role of HRM in organizations and its potential demise. Central to such criticisms 1s the 1ssue of legitimacy (Stuart ef al, 2021). As summarized by Dundon and Rafferty (2018, p. 377), this potential demise can be attributed to the domination of the \"pro- market\" logic mstead of a \"pro-business\" logic that focuses \"on longer-term sustamability of both organisations and people, rather than just immediate shareholder interests of profit- sharing.\" The COVID-19 crisis can be viewed as a wake-up call for organizations and HRM professionals reminding everyone that, even though profits are important, employees' treatment and well-being, as well as other stakeholders (e.g. society and the environment) are equally important. Moreover, the central role HRM professionals were asked to play in dealing with this crisis underscores the need for HRM professionals to participate more in informing and designing the organizational strategies. It is also important to highlight that this proposed four-phase analysis of the HRM challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic does not necessarily apply universally. First, the boundaries and the timing of each phase are not necessarily distinct. Second, these phases are a simplified generalization of the crisis that occurred and continues to evolve globally. Each country has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic in a different way and, consequently, the societal and economic effects of this crisis differ significantly. For instance, New Zealand arguably managed to control the spread of the pandemic relatively more efficiently than other nations by implementing strict lockdowns early on, leading to a faster economic recovery, which has resulted to subsequent increases in the gross domestic OTTO OI product (GDP) (Menon, 2021). In general, the impact of the pandemic on the economy of each Strategic country depends largely on both the structure of the economy of the country and the extent management to which it depended on other countries (Rudan, 2021). Third, not all organizations were of human impacted the same way by COVID-19. By default, factors such as the size, the industry and the financial performance of the organization prior to the pandemic, play an important role resources in the organization's ability to withstand the economic impact of COVID-19, as well as the course of action taken (e.g. implementing redundancies to reduce costs and implementing 221 telework). In addition, the impact of COVID-19 on organizations does not occur in a vacuum. In tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are several other factors that have influenced business operations at a local, country or global level. Even though the examination of such factors is beyond the scope of this conceptual paper, three important elements that are influencing HRM departments along with COVID-19, namely, Brexit, climate change and technological advancements, are briefly discussed here. In the UK, Brexit has influenced significantly the country's society and economy. As Collings and Isichei (2018) and Ridgway (2019) highlight, Brexit has created a ripple effect in terms of organizations' ability to attract and retain employees. Specifically, the immigration restrictions for individuals coming from the European Economic Area calls for important changes in job design (e.g. re-skilling roles or adopting flexible work arrangement) and the identification of alternative sources of human capital (Ridgway, 2019). However, the impact of Brexit is not just limited to the geographical boarders of the UK. European Union (E.U.) citizens may need to find employment in other countries within the E.U. or repatriate and UK-based organizations may seek to fill their human resource gaps from non-E.U. countries (Ridgway, 2019). Thus, Brexit is expected to cause significant labor market disruptions and a shift in the global migration of skilled and lower-skilled workers. Likewise, climate change leads (or should lead) to important changes in the HRM functions of organizations and the emergence of green HRM (GHRM). GHRM has been defined as "phenomena relevant to understanding relationships between organizational activities that impact the natural environment and the design, evolution, implementation and influence of HRM systems" (Ren et al., 2018, p. 778). GHRM entails all functions of HRM. As Guerci and Carollo (2016) argue, for example, the environmental sustainability focus of HRM can be reflecting in selection by including interview questions that focus on environmental sustainability issues, training by enhancing employees' understanding of the importance of sustainability, and motivation by offering monetary and non-monetary rewards for promoting employees' environmental-friendly activities. Another important factor that influences HRM activities is technological advancement. Technology, in the form of automation, gamification, the use of sensors, artificial intelligence (Al), and data analytics, is gradually shaping the future of work (Connelly et al., 2021; Harney and Collings, 2021). As several scholars have noted, it is unclear yet what the impact of these technological advancements will be; they might simply assist organizations in better decision making through the use of human capital analytics (Minbaeva, 2018), or technological advancements may pose significant ethical debates, such as the loss of lower- skilled jobs due to automation and the privacy of employee data while still reaping the benefits of human capital analytics (Connelly et al., 2021; Harney and Collings, 2021). Technological advancements are also changing organizational demands in terms of the knowledge, skills and abilities of the workforce (Roumpi and Delery, 2019), as well as the nature of HRM practices, such as recruitment and compensation (Stone et al., 2015; Stone and Deadrick, 2015).... IJOA Strategic human resource management: the way forward 31,1 The strategic HRM research is dominated by studies that link systems of HRM practices with superior organizational outcomes (Roumpi and Delery, 2019). In particular, several conceptual and empirical papers have offered ample support for the relationship between high-performance work systems and different forms of organizational performance (Arthur, 1994; Combs et al., 2006; Delery and Doty, 1996; Delery and Roumpi, 2017; Huselid, 1995; 222 Takeuchi et al., 2009). High performance work systems have been defined as a "system of HR practices designed to enhance employees' skills, commitment, and productivity in such a way that employees become a source of sustainable competitive advantage" (Datta, et al., 2005, p. 136). Despite the scholarly and practical importance of high-performance work systems, the COVID-19 crisis and the HRM challenges that emerged due to the pandemic gave rise to questions regarding the effectiveness of the existing systems of HRM practices during such situations. More importantly, questions surfaced regarding what HRM departments could have done differently to be better prepared for such a crisis. Even though it would be difficult for any organization and HRM department to be prepared for such an unprecedented crisis in the 21st century, this pandemic has clearly signaled that organizations need to be more flexible to adjust swiftly (Collings et al., 2021a). HRM departments, therefore, could benefit from focusing more on flexibility-oriented HRM systems, which enable organizations to adapt to the changing external and internal organizational environments (Chang et al., 2013; Wright and Snell, 1998). According to Chang et al. (2013), flexibility-oriented HRM systems have two dimensions: resource- flexibility and coordination-flexibility. Resource-flexibility "refers to the range of HRM practices that together enable a firm to acquire and develop human resources for a wide range of alternative uses", whereas coordination-flexibility "refers to the range of HRM practices that together enable a firm to redeploy those resources quickly and effectively" (Chang et al., 2013, p. 1928). The limited research on flexibility-oriented HRM systems has shown that such systems are linked directly or indirectly to organizational absorptive capacity, organizational ambidexterity, responsiveness to the external environment, firm performance and innovativeness (Chang et al., 2013; Lakshman et al., 2020; Ubeda-Garcia et al., 2017). As the research on flexibility-oriented HRM systems is very limited (Lakshman et al., 2020), in this section specific suggestions are discussed about how the COVID-19 pandemic can inform the practices included in such a system of HRM deployments (Table 2). Specifically, the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity is used as the backbone of this discussion. The Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework (Appelbaum et al., 2000; Delery and Shaw, 2001; Purcell and Hutchinson, 2007) has been viewed in the extant literature as the common denominator of the majority of the conceptualized types of HRM systems (Delery and Roumpi, 2017; Kehoe and Wright, 2013) as it suggests that HRM systems should include practices that "have an impact on employees' abilities (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics), motivation (the direction of employees' efforts) and opportunity or empowerment" (Roumpi and Delery, 2019, pp. 423-424). Suggestions regarding employees' ability Two of the most commonly cited HRM functions that are linked to employees' ability are staffing and training (Delery and Roumpi, 2017; Kehoe and Bentley, 2019; Subramony, 2009). Essentially, through the selection process organizations try to identify individuals with desired knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) and through training organizations can help employees learn new KSAOs or further develop theirSSOOTRIBO B h4 AM-O framework Suggestions Ability (1) Staffing: Focusing on selecting individuals with a broad set of generic/general human capital that will allow them to be more flexible (2) Training: Invest in training employees for both firm-specific (linked to higher performance) and generic/general human capital (linked to higher adaptability and flexibility) Motivation (1) Compensation: Strive for a balance between pay volatility and pay stability (2) Job security: Considering alternatives to redundancies and significant long-term pay cuts (3) Wellness programs: Consider including a vaccination mandate and develop a plan for communicating and implementing the plan Opportunity (1) Flexible work arrangements: Give more flexibility to employees to decide which mode (in person, virtual or hybrid) works better for them, strengthen organizational diversity and inclusion existing KSAOs. Oh and Han (2021) emphasize, however, that staffing and training focus on different types of KSAQOs: staffing focuses on generic or general human capital whereas training aims at developing firm-specific human capital. This distinction is very important as generic or general human capital has been defined as KSAOs that \"are useful across a broad range of economic settings\" (Molloy and Barney, 2015, p. 310) and firm-specific human capital refers to KSAOs that are so unique that could potentially create value only for the focal firm (Delery and Roumpi, 2019; Sturman ef al., 2008). Even though research shows the relationship between firm-specific human capital and performance is significantly stronger than the relationship between generic or general human capital and performance (Crook ef al, 2011), in the context of COVID-19 this relationship might be reversed (Oh and Han, 2021). Specifically, as Oh and Han (2021) aptly note, during the COVID-19 crisis employees need to have KSAOs that will allow them to be creative and, most importantly, flexible. Generic or general human capital, as it is broader and less tied to the existing processes of the organization, is more likely to lead to creativity and flexibility, whereas firm-specific human capital, in some extreme cases, can even hinder the ability of employees to be flexible and adjust to changes (Kim and Ployhart, 2014; Oh and Han, 2021). Thus, it can be argued that organizations aiming to enhance their resilience and flexibility should focus on selecting individuals with a broad set of generic or general KSAOs, but also ensure that they offer training (e.g. cross-training) that will allow them to build both generic or general and firm-specific human capital. Suggestion regarding employees'\" motivation In regards to employees' motivation, it is well established in the HRM and organizational behavior literature that pay policies are particularly important and, specifically, the link between pay-for-performance and motivation has received ample support (Park and Conroy, 2020; Gerhart et al., 2009). Even though pay-for-performance can take different forms (e.g. commissions, merit pay and team-based bonuses) (Conroy and Gupta, 2016), the common thread across all these different forms of pay-for-performance is that employees' compensation is tied to some type of performance outcome (Park and Conroy, 2020). Therefore, the notion of variability is inherent in pay-for-performance compensation plans. Within-person variability in pay can be a source of increased sense of risk and decreased sense of stability in terms of spending ability for employees (Mas and Pallais, 2017). This, in turn, can have significant effects on employees' motivation and other important U Strategic management of human resources 223 Table 2. Strategic HRM: Suggestions for the way forward [JOA al,l 224 organizational outcomes. Conroy ef al. (2021), for instance, showed that pay volatility is linked to actual turnover in a sample of truck drivers who are paid on the basis of their total miles driven, such as the more substantial the fluctuations in the employees' pay the more likely the employee is to leave the organization. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees whose pay was based on their performance (e.g. individuals who work in sales) experienced significant fluctuations mn their pay due to the business shutdowns. Thus, it is important for organizations to develop compensation schemes that create a better balance between pay stability and pay volatility for employees to feel motivated and also give them a sense of security regarding their spending ability. In other words, it is important for organizations to help employees feel that a significant portion of their compensation is not influenced by factors outside of their own control. Motivation at work, however, is not only influenced by compensation. The COVID-19 pandemic brought attention to one of the most basic motivators: job security. Job security has been defined as an \"employee's expectations about the stability and longevity of their job in an organization\" (Lu ef @l, 2017, p. 30). In many cases the uncertainty surrounding the development of COVID-19 and the prolonged lockdowns cultivated fear and job insecurity among employees globally (Lin ef af, 2021). In the context of COVID-19 job msecurity 1s not just critical due to the potential loss of income, but also due to the limited alternative employment opportunities and the loss of other benefits, such as health care. Within this context, alternatives to redundancies emerged with the most prominent solution being furloughs. As Stuart ef el (2021) summarize, furloughs can be viewed as a retention program that enhances employees' sense of security and, consequently, motivation. Even though furloughs are not a panacea and have been linked to negative outcomes for the affected employees (e.g. decreased life satisfaction, decrease perceived well-being and burnout; Baranik ef al, 2019; Escuredo-Castillo ef al, 2021), they are an important first step in the discussion regarding the identification of alternative solutions to redundancies and significant long-term pay cuts in times of crises (Stuart ef al, 2021). Finally, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis stressed the responsibility of employers to offer a safe working environment for their employees. While there is still a lot of debate in many countries about whether employers should (legally and ethically) mandate vaccines for the employees in an effort to protect their emplovees and customers and to return to normal business operations, employers have taken several steps to promote vaccination against COVID-19 among their employees and include it in their wellness programs. Among these steps are the financial incentives offered to enhance COVID-19 vaccinations among employees. As a study by Campos-Mercade et al (2021) reveals, even modest financial incentives can influence vaccination rates. However, such policies raise questions regarding their sustainability and whether such incentives should be government- or employer-led. Another relevant step is the implementation of surcharges for unvaccinated employees' health-care coverage, but such a policy leads to a host of compliance challenges (Lazzarotti and Lewis, 2021). Levin-Scherz and Orszag (2021) suggest that keys for the success of a wellness program that includes vaccination against COVID-19 are to require employers to implement a straightforward policy about the mandate and to have a clear communication plan that begins with a thorough justification of why the organization has chosen to introduce and implement the vaccination mandate. Suggestion regarding employees' opportunity Opportunity (or empowerment according to some scholars; Delery and Shaw, 2001) refers to the extent to which employees have \"the discretion to decide how to perform (their) tasks\" (Delery and Roumpi, 2017, p. 9). One HRM practice that relates to opportunity and > dominated the workplaces worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic is telework. Telework Strategic (often referred to as flexplace, virtual work and telecommuting) allows employees to management complete their job-related tasks without being physically present in the workplace, often via of human the use of technology (Allen et al., 2015; Raghuram et al., 2019). As employers (at the time of writing this paper) are considering whether they will require their employees to return to the resources workplace, allow them to continue teleworking, or permit hybrid work arrangements, it is important to consider factors that should inform such a decision. First, statistics indicate a 225 significant percentage of employees nowadays prefer to work remotely (Saad and Hickman, 2021) and the inability to do so would make them consider leaving their employers (Melin and Egkolfopoulou, 2021). Second, research has offered support for the relationship between flextime and various organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, absenteeism, productivity, organizational attraction and turnover intentions (Baltes et al., 1999; Gajendran and Harrison, 2007; Thompson et al, 2015). Finally, significant considerations exist regarding the potentially negative relationship between telework and work-life balance due to the blurring and the violations of employees' work-life boundaries (Allen et al., 2020; Kerman et al., 2021). However, the COVID-19 pandemic is a very unique context. As Waples and Brock Baskin (2021) highlight, the ineffectiveness of flextime during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of reducing employees perceived work-family conflict can be attributed to the lack of choice (employees were required to telecommute). In addition, as Rudolph et al. (2021) emphasized, during the COVID-19 crisis additional factors that could potentially impact employees' work-family balance were present: schools were closed, childcare services were limited, parents took on to a great extent the responsibility of schooling their children, and often, multiple people within the same household were trying to work simultaneously from home. If these factors are removed from the equation and employees have again the option to choose telework (and/or other forms of flexible work arrangements), employees and employers might be able to seize significant benefits from telework. Lastly, an important factor that needs to be taken into account as organizations consider telework and other forms of flexible work arrangements is the opportunity such organizational deployments offer to enhance the diversity and inclusion in organizations. This massive adoption of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that job-related tasks can be completed virtually. As such, individuals who otherwise would choose to exit or not even enter the labor market due to their inability to commute with ease (e.g. having a disability) or other life demands (e.g. taking care of children or other family members), now have the opportunity to work. This aligns with research in social entrepreneurship that suggests that flexible work arrangements allow "disempowered" individuals or "individuals who have been traditionally excluded from the labor market" (Roumpi et al., 2020, p. 2) to enter and retain employment relationships (Magrizos and Roumpi, 2020). Conclusion In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic created many HRM challenges for organizations but should also be viewed as an opportunity to reassess the role of HRM in organizations. The COVID-19 crisis brought to the fore the importance of HRM to become a real strategic partner in organizations that will participate in forming the strategies of the organization rather than simply implementing them (Collings et al., 2021a). In addition, the fast-paced changes in the external environment of the organization and, consequently, the internal processes make evident the need for strategic HRM scholars and practitioners to enhance their focus on flexibility and to find the balance between old and new ways of conducting business