We expect that COVID-19 will have many lasting impacts on the world of work and human capital processes, and we wanted to capture what human capital professionals are thinking today as they look to the future. To gauge how organizations are reacting to the changing business environment in the context of their workforces, we conducted an online survey in April 2020 with more than 150 human capital executives, mostly in large companies. Our accompanying chartbook shares the survey findings about remote work and the cost-reduction actions that have already been taken, as well as HR priorities for the recovery phase.
As a result of COVID-19, US organizations had to respond quickly in February and March 2020 to protect the health and safety of their workers. Many organizations immediately required their knowledge workers to work remotely and laid off or furloughed some workers. Many others have had to close their businesses at least temporarily.
The April 2020 Jobs Report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent, possibly putting the US in the deepest recession since the Great Depression. The report also shows a staggering loss of 20.5 million jobs, the largest monthly loss in recorded history. If this crisis is similar to those in the past, we can expect it to have a long-lasting impact on the economy and businesses. While many busin
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