Impact of COVID-19 induced lockdown to sustain Employee Performance Management Systems in NCR Corporates

Abstract: All hell broke loose in the Corporate world in March 2020 when India went under total lockdown in a matter of days. The equation between Work (How work gets done), Worker (Who does it) and Workplace (Where work gets done) was altered at the fastest pace in Human history. This paradigm shifts also coincided with the Appraisal / Year End Cycle. Most of the Indian corporates follow the Financial Year cycle (April to March) for their annual performance appraisal / management process. Human Resources department was at the forefront of every Board Room’s agenda within the corporates of the National Capital Region (NCR) of India. The challenging and interesting part about life of an HR professional is to help business take the hard decisions in the most objective yet humane way possible. Therefore, perhaps rightfully, there wasn’t one single solution or a clear thought process emerging across participating organizations. And to borrow from Gabriel Garcia Marquez “Our code of ethics supposes that we doctors are made of wood” – there is similar thinking on HR as well. Hopefully this time it will not be so.

This paper presents an overview of the changes to the PMS system and its outcomes undertaken by HR managers in Corporates of National Capital Region. HR managers of 117 corporates were surveyed through a structured questionnaire between the period 5th April, 2020 through 15th April, 2020. The main objective of this publication is to document and contribute to the body of knowledge changes that were introduced due to an unforeseen calamity

摘要：2020年3月，印度在数日内实施全面封锁，企业界顿时陷入空前混乱。工作（即工作开展方式）、劳动者（即执行工作的主体）与工作场所（即工作开展地点）三者的关系模式，以人类历史上前所未有的速度发生了颠覆性改变。这一范式转变恰好与年度绩效考核周期重合。印度多数企业的年度绩效评估与管理流程均遵循财年周期（每年4月至次年3月）。在印度国家首都辖区（National Capital Region，NCR）的各类企业中，人力资源（Human Resources）部门始终位列董事会议事日程的核心位置。人力资源从业者的工作兼具挑战性与趣味性：他们需协助业务部门以尽可能客观且人性化的方式做出艰难决策。因此，参与调研的各企业并未形成统一的解决方案或清晰的思路脉络，这或许不无道理。正如加夫列尔·加西亚·马尔克斯所言："我们的伦理准则假定我们医生是木头做的"，人力资源领域亦存在类似的认知误区。但愿此番情况能有所改观。

本研究概述了印度国家首都辖区企业人力资源管理者对绩效管理系统（Performance Management System，PMS）所做的调整及其实施成效。研究于2020年4月5日至4月15日期间，通过结构化问卷对117家企业的人力资源管理者开展了调研。本研究的核心目标在于记录此次突发灾难所引发的管理变革，并为相关知识体系的完善贡献力量。