1.

How pandemic outbreaks like CoViD-19 affect employer-employee

relationships?

What are the legal provisions in the Ethiopian Labor law proclamation no.377/96?
Also, include experiences of other countries.

The world’s response to COVID-19 has resulted in the most rapid transformation of the
workplace. Working from home has become the new normal, and we’ve gone from
digitizing the relationship between firm and customer to digitizing the relationship between
both employer and employee and among the employees. We have been catapulted forward,
fast-tracking trends such as automation, digitalization, and innovation. In general, employee
relationships reflect the positive interactions between employees in organizations. With the
increase in various forms of remote working and the occupational stress resulting from the
pandemic, employee relations have also been challenged and transformed. The ways of
communication within the organizations have changed, and so are employee relations. In
normal working condition workers who do the same work, by interacting and
communicating with each other and tend to develop the same feelings about certain
elements of the work or working conditions. They tend to develop a personal bond, share a
bit of their personal life, connect intellectually and form a friendship, which help them
create a space to connect outside just the workplace and to have conversations outside the
office work. These activities are as important as having a professional or work relation with
each other. It breaks the monotonous nature of the job and also increase their efficiency. The
pandemic induced remote working has destroyed this important aspect of a workplace.

The relationship between an employer and an employee is of trust and reliance. A lack of
trust between employers and employees has occurred due to work from home because
employers disagree with having employees work remotely. Thereby, employers try to
control and monitor employees more closely than they did before COVID-19, and this leads
employees to feel uncomfortable and have negative feelings about their employers.
Commanding and controlling leadership without consultation or collaboration damages
collaborative working and team relationships. The trust deficiency leads to a negative
outcome of organizational performance. During this pandemic employer or the leaders play
a very crucial role in maintaining a good relationship and communication with the
employees and also encourage a proper communication among the employees. During this
pandemic the employers had to take some very difficult decisions regarding retaining some

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employees, but those actions were something that were necessary to be taken. According to
the Argyle Public Relationships Index, based on a survey of 1590 Canadians during 27–30
March 2020, on the association between employers and employees during COVID-19
pandemic, employees who lost their job did not blame their employers and attempted to
retain a healthy relationship with one another. Even though this pandemic has really
challenged the employer-employee relations to a great extent, we have also seen a lot of
examples where employers have gained the trust and respect of their employees by
supporting them during the tough times and provided them with the right training and
amenities to keep up with their jobs and also helped them financially by retaining their jobs
and providing medical assistance.

As the employees have started working remotely, the traditional way of team-work has
changed to a virtual mode. Team-work has become even more important as the way of
communication has changed completely from physical to virtual. Trust is a pillar of many
areas and processes of organization functioning. In an organizational context, trust is defined
as the mutual relationship between two or more parties. Trust is considered to be a ‘social
bond’ necessary to maintain different organizational structures. This bond and
communication were challenged when all the work was shifted to remote working mode.
Remote working can contribute to employee isolation by limiting interactions, especially
those concerning non-work issues. In a remote working situation, there are fewer
opportunities to ask colleagues about their wellbeing and to build social bonds at work. This
may contribute to depression or deterioration of mental health. As teamwork and employee
relations have strengthened in some workplaces, due to the presence of great leaders and
good communication skill among the employees, some places have seen a devastation in
employee relations due to lack of communication or miscommunication and issues regarding
employee retention during the onset of the lockdowns.

During this pandemic we have seen co-workers supporting each other not only with the new
mode of work but also mentally and emotionally. They have used the online space to retain
the personal communications and have created their own space outside work. This has been
very essential to maintain the relationship among each other and also to get rid of all the
mental stress during these hard times.

Ethiopia has not been spared by the COVID-19 outbreak, nor the consequences for workers.
Many companies have stopped or are likely stop operating and many employees will not be

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working. Employers may not be willing or able to pay wages for non-working employees. In
addition, they may not want to fire valuable staff. Moreover, a temporary reduction of
demand for products and services is not acceptable legal grounds for terminating workers’
contracts under Ethiopian law. From the employee’s perspective, although the employer is
not required to pay wages and other benefits, they may want to ensure they still have a job
once this temporary cessation is over. The question is what are the legal grounds to reconcile
these two positions in a way that benefits both employers and employees.
The rules about the “suspension” of employment contract under new Labour Proclamation
No.1156/2019 appear to be the most sound solution. According to Article 4 of the law, an
employment contract means a contract in which the employee agrees to perform work for the
employer in return for wages. Important elements are that it is created by agreement; the
agreement is for performance of work; the work needs to be performed for and under the
authority of the employer; and the work should be in return for wages.
Article 17 describes “suspension” where the employee will not be required to work, and the
employer will not be bound to pay. Nevertheless, despite suspension, the employment
relationship remains intact. That is to say, it is a mechanism by which the rights and
obligations of the parties may be suspended but the parties remain contractually engaged.
This is of course different to termination, which is a definitive end to the employment
relationship.

The law lists valid grounds for suspension under Article 18 These can be summarized as
suspension by voluntary agreement of all parties; for public interest; for reasons beyond the
control of the employer (force majeure); and due to disciplinary measures. Clearly, with the
arrival of the pandemic in Ethiopia, force majeure is relevant here.
According to Article 18(5), employment contracts can be suspended due to force majeure for
no less than 10 consecutive days. Once legal grounds for force majeure are determined,
parties to a contract are freed from all obligations.
The first requirement for applying this article is that the activities of the employer should be
at least partially interrupted. A second important element is that the interruption was due
to force majeure. Under Ethiopian law, a force majeure encompasses, but is not limited to,
events such as an unforeseeable act of a third party; an official prohibition preventing the
performance of the contract; a natural catastrophe such as earthquakes or floods; international
or civil war; death or serious accident, or unexpected serious illness.

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Because COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, it can
be considered a force majeure under Ethiopian law. It is evident that due to COVID-19, the
operation of companies will be interrupted at least partially, as has occurred elsewhere, for a
period of more than 10 days. So far major businesses have been relocated, inter-regional
transport banned, and border restrictions are imposed for an undetermined period. The
COVID-19 outbreak is therefore sound legal ground for suspension to be enacted under
Ethiopian labor law.
Suspension of employment contracts due to force majeure is not automatic nor at the sole
discretion of the employer. Rather, it is subject to revision by the federal Ministry of Labour
and Social Affairs and regional labour bureaus. According to Article 19 of the labour
proclamation, in order to suspend employment on the ground of force majeure, the employer
should inform the ministry, or the competent authority, in writing within three working days
of the occurrence of force majeure. Upon receiving such an application, the authority should
determine the matter within three working days.
Where the authorities fail to notify of a decision within three working days, the employer is
deemed to be allowed to suspend per Article 20 of the labor law. However, if the application
is confirmed, the government sets the duration of suspension, which cannot not exceed 90
days. If the ground for suspension is to last longer than 90 days and the parties are unable to
resume performing their obligation, the contract shall be terminated under Article 21.

It should be noted that there are a number of other possible measures in addition to
suspension. For instance, sick leave, annual leave, or unpaid leave, could also be considered.
But because of the nature of COVID-19 and how long it may last, those options are
inappropriate. It should also be noted that COVID-19 is not valid grounds for termination of
employment contracts per Article 28(3)b, as it is a temporary situation.

Due to its novelty, COVID-19 will continue to raise challenges for employment relationships.
To tackle these challenges, suspension of employment contract should be considered as one
of the key measures to help manage the situation.

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, China had been facing slower economic growth and rising
unemployment. Between 2010 and 2019 growth fell from 10.6 to 6.1 per cent and since 2018
there has been a rise in unemployment. This slowdown was partly because the economy had
steadily been restructuring toward higher value manufacturing output, which reflects a
gradual shift from economic expansion to higher quality growth. But China had also been

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under pressure from the disputes over trade. Meanwhile, over the past ten years the number
of college graduates has been increasing each year, putting further pressure on jobs. Then
came COVID-19. The first wave of impact was felt in late January 2020. People were urged
to stay at home, and the majority of businesses closed – effectively shutting down the
domestic economy. The second wave was in mid-March when WHO declared the COVID-19
outbreak a pandemic. In this situation, workers were at risk of losing their jobs or had to
accept reduced working hours, furlough, or extended leave (paid or unpaid).

The COVID-19 crisis has severely affected the employment of women since a large
proportion are working in the hardest-hit sectors. The employment share of women in
accommodation and catering was 55 per cent, in wholesale and retail trade 49 per cent, in
manufacturing 41 per cent, etc. The domestic service sector, which employed 30 million
domestic workers of those 96 per cent are women, lost almost all the orders by the end of
February. Another reason for higher unemployment of women is motherhood and family
care. Many expecting women chose to quit jobs in fear of infection of COVID-19. The
burden of care for older people and children was exacerbated by the lockdown as school
children stayed home and the elderly were mostly kept indoor, resulting in greater care
responsibilities for women.

The impact of the COVID-19 on the labour market as a whole is evident in rising
unemployment. Between January and February 2020, the urban unemployment rate jumped
from 5.3 to 6.2 per cent. In 2019, the urban employed population was 442 million people.
Around one-quarter of these, over 100 million, were affected by COVID-19 (Figure 5). These
comprised three groups: the first and largest were the 76 million workers on furlough – they
may get paid, but have to accept reduced working time, and lower incomes and social
insurance payments. Some of them were on employment retention schemes, such as the
unemployment insurance refunding scheme. Others were on training programmes such as the
internet-plus skills training scheme, and still others were supported by other social assistance
programmes, such as the special maternity scheme, or family care assistance. The second
largest group was the 27 million workers who had exited the labour market, with no desire to
work again, or who wanted to work but were not actively seeking jobs.

On June 7, 2020 the Government launched a white paper: Fighting COVID-19: China
in Action. This divided the process into five stages:

1. Rapid response to the public health emergency (27 Dec19 Jan)

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2. Containing the spread of COVID and turning the tide (20 Jan-20 Feb)
3. New cases drop to single digits (21 Feb to 17 March).
4. COVID-19 effectively controlled in Wuhan city and Hubei Province (18 March to 24
April)
5. Prevention and control of COVID-19 across the country come into a normal (29 April
onwards).
In developing its strategy, the Government had to strike a balance between containing the
COVID-19 epidemic and protecting the economy and employment. In stage 1, during the
lockdown, employment was addressed primarily through schemes for job retention,
vocational training, and social assistance. In stage 2, after the epidemic had been brought
under control, the State Council issued national guidelines for resumption of production
while ensuring the safety and health of workers. This has three interrelated components: an
integrated approach, phased resumption of production, and supportive measures.
On 18 March 2020, the Government announced its COVID19 employment policy framework
aiming to control the epidemic while reopening the economy, which in principle was based
on the policy launched in 2019 to address the employment challenge brought by the
international trade disputes. The framework comprises six pillars. The importance of
employment security was further stressed in the Work Report delivered by Premier Li
Keqiang at the third session of the thirteenth National People's Congress on 22 May 2020 –
which said that employment policies would be reviewed and updated, adapting to the rapidly
evolving situation.
To sustain employment during lockdown, as well as post lockdown policies to regain
employment, a number of measures have been used.
● Social insurance and subsidies – A phased reduction and exemption of the payment of
pension, unemployment and work injury. SMEs and enterprises in Hubei Province are
exempted for five months, large enterprises for three months. Enterprises hit hard by the
epidemic are allowed to postpone the payment of social security premiums. These policies
are valid until the end of 2020. Return the unemployment insurance fund to enterprises: a
total of 12-month contribution of the enterprise and its employees in the previous year. This
policy has no time limit but is conditional on enterprise still facing difficulties in production;
there are also subsidies for vocational training, wages, job seeking, and business start-ups,
etc. The subsidy policy has a rotation period of three years.

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● Tax and business costs –Tax and fee reduction policies are to be implemented until the
end of 2020. Income tax payments for SMEs and individual businesses were to be
postponed to 2021. Electricity and broadband charges were to be reduced, and property
owners were encouraged to reduce or postpone rent payments. Loans to SMEs were to be
extended and increased.
● Resuming production – Support services were provided for major projects and key export
enterprises – in manufacturing, construction, logistics, public service and agriculture, and
through enterprises in low-risk regions. Disease prevention and control were identified as a
priority in workplaces, canteens and dormitories
Policies and measures have been taken to create more jobs. These include:
● A National Economic and Social Development Plan – This has been announced and was
the first economic plan that did not have a GDP target but instead emphasized employment.
It was launched on 20 May 2020 with six priorities: stabilizing employment, ensuring basic
livelihoods, supporting SMEs, food and energy safety, and supply chains, and providing
essential public services.
● Fiscal stimulus – A fiscal stimulus of more than 6 per cent of GDP was announced in May
at the third session of the thirteenth National People's Congress. This envisaged a CNY one
trillion deficit in 2020, along with anti-coronavirus special bonds issued by national (CNY 1
trillion) and local governments (CNY 1.6 trillion). There were also reductions and exemption
of CNY 2.5 trillion in taxes, fees and social insurance premiums.
● Monetary policy – Policy is to be more flexible and moderate while aiming for a stable
exchange rate. There were to be reductions in reserve ratios and interest rates, along with
re-lending to increase M2 money supply, and social financing. Enterprises were to have
better accesses to loans.
● Links to employment – Investment was to be supported in employment-intensive sectors,
with policies that are both employment- and environment-friendly. All major sectors were
to carry out employment impact assessments and set employment targets. Enterprises were
encouraged to relocate from coastal areas to the central and western regions.
● Entrepreneurship development – The Government was to improve procedures for
business start-up including business registration, licensing, etc., and support venture capital
enterprises that can create jobs. There will be loans for entrepreneurship development and

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support for workers to run their own businesses, which can amount to CNY 200,000
maximum. Workers who were affected by the coronavirus have priority to claim this policy.
2. Our Nation, Ethiopia, is experiencing many changes in this century. One of the
changes is in Managing Human Resources at national and firms’ level. To
mention some of the challenges; the population number is too high, as a result
the unemployment rate is high too, even if we are too many in number we luck
skilled Labour source; as a result, we hire expatriates for some projects, there is
high FDI flow but some of them are capital intensive using advanced technology
and needs less Labor. And also, there are many other challenges. So as MBA
candidate figure out the HRM Challenges in Ethiopia in the 21st Century,
describe the role of the government in general and the role of ministry of
work and labor specifically, the role of HRM, the role of Higher education
institutions and the role of each citizens.

Human resource management is a broad and vital function in public as well as

private organization. This most significant function of management faces different
challenges in present businesses and organization. There are many challenges in
present business circumstances, including globalization, workforce diversity,
technological advances and changes in political and legal environment change in
information technology.

Irshad (2008) on his research on challenges on human resource management in large

organizations in Pakistan identified different challenges of human resource
management, including inappropriate training and development program, Low job
satisfaction and lack of motivation due to lack of proper compensation and benefit,
inability to create a conducive working environment, high rate of turnover,
technological knowhow and globalization.

Also Ikemefuna and Mbah (2011) on their research finding in Nigeria identified
diversity of work place, the effect of technology on workplace, upgrading the skill of
professional (professional development), training and development program, human
resource management and politics (polarization of HRM), business change and
globalization as challenges of human resource management.

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 All these challenges increase the pressure on HR managers to attract, retain and
cultivate talented employee who copes with these challenges. It is difficult for
human resource managers to pay no attention to these challenges rather they have to
design and execute innovative mechanisms of developing skills and competencies of
human resources to prepare them to accept the emerging challenges. Hence, one can
say that the role of the Human Resource Manager is developing with the change in
competitive market environment and Human Resource.

The field of health human resources deals with issues such as workforce planning,
merit based recruitment, onboarding, training and development, performance
management, promotion, management, retention, human resources for health
information management, and research on human resources for health care sector.

HR deals with many issues, but probably the biggest challenges facing HR
Departments today are Recruitment, Retention & Motivation, Leadership
Development and Corporate Culture. As HR works to move to a more strategic role,
addressing these issues has become a continual and time-consuming process.

Some of the HRH challenges that Ethiopia faces include

 health worker shortages,
 low retention, and
 weak human resource management systems. Strong and effective human
resource management systems are required to overcome these
challenges.

Many organizations have restructured in the past few years in order to become more
competitive. Also, mergers and acquisitions of firms in the same industries have been made
to ensure global competitiveness. One of the challenges for human resource management is
dealing with the human consequences of change

Effective human resource management is a critical function in today's public sector. HRM in
the public sector has been characterized by the creation of structures that are more flexible
and processes, the elimination of highly centralized agencies and service-wide consistency
of rules and greater responsibility accorded to line managers and supervisors in the
management of employees through flatter management structures and programmes of
decentralization and devolution. At the job level, broader and multi-skilled jobs were
introduced. There was also a greater concentration on performance and output measures

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(Brown, 2004: 307). According to Olowu and Adamolekun (1999:87), the practical
importance of the recent HRM orientation for African public administration systems is that,
it underlines the transformation of personnel departments in public sector organizations
from a preoccupation with inactive roles of administering obsolete rules to actively
developing and pursuing policies for synergizing the personnel function with overall
proactive strategic management within the organization, focused on among other things
recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, training and development, and reward
system.

Goals and Role of Human Resource Management in Education The goals of human resource
management in education are to develop the workers and to contribute to goal achievement.
Human resource management has some specific roles to play. These are strategic and
operational roles. Strategic Role: Human resources are critical for effective educational
functioning. Human resources were once relegated to second-class status, but its importance
has grown dramatically in the last two decade. Again, its new importance stem from
adequately recruited, selected and supervised, inducted and adequately rewarded, provided
for, properly develop, appraised and promoted on the job. They will be committed to the
job, remain dedicated and productive in the education system. It also represents a significant
investment of the educational efforts. If managed well, human resources can be a source of
competitive strength for the education. Strategically, human resources must be viewed in the
same context as the financial, technological and other resources that are managed in any
organization (Onah, 2008). Operational Role: According to Mathis and Jackson (1997).
Operational activities are both tactical and administrative in nature. Griffin (1997) sees
operational role from the legal perspective because some have regulated various aspects of
employee-employer relations. Human resources management is therefore, interested in
compliance with equal employment opportunities and observation of labour laws; examples;
applicants must be oriented to the organizations, supervisors must be trained, safety
problems must be resolved; wages and salaries must be administered. A wide range of
activities typically associated with the day-to-day management of people as provided by
laws and regulations must be performed efficiently. It is this collection of activities that has
often been referred to as the personnel function, and the newer strategic focus of human
resources management has not eliminated.In summary, it is difficult to produce one general
interpretation of what human resource management means today.

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Local government human resources, including municipal HR and county HR
professionals, provide recruitment, hiring, and other human capital management support.
This includes hiring the agency's workforce, managing benefit plans, and providing
professional development opportunities.

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