Page 29 - IMDR EBOOK 20 OCT 2020

"Pandemic and Beyond: Naviga ng the New Normal" E - Book Year 2020

A study on Impact of lockdown on onboarding strategies of various
4 organisations in India

Dr. Parikshit Mahankal – Assistant Professor, DES’s IMDR, Pune
Abstract
The Covid-19 outbreak has forced the world to rethink the way it wants to conduct
business, a key aspect of fresh employee life cycle is the process of onboarding,
Onboarding is the doorway to the organisation as it offers a peek into the work culture,
style, Organisational value system, Work methodology, mentors & colleagues, this is
the process of converting a fresher from an outsider to one of the organisation’s own,
however, due to organisations being shut down and employees working from home the
Organisations have innovated and opted for digital ways to pursue onboarding, this
paper intends to gain insights into the working of these new employees and how digital
onboarding has affected both, the organisations as well as the employees, it also tries to
look towards future trends and scope of digital onboarding continuing in the long term
Key Words: Covid-19, Lockdown, Onboarding, Digital Onboarding, Training,
Online

Introduction
The year 2020 has become a game changing year due to the onset of the Corona virus or
Covid-19 pandemic, till date in excess of 17 lakh people worldwide have been infected
by it and there are number of other prominent issues also which have happened as a
side effect of the Covid-19.
In order to contain the mass spread of Covid-19 also known as community spread, the
governments all across the world have issued “lockdown” orders which effectively
means that all non-essential establishments like malls, gyms, cinema halls, hotels,
alcohol shops, ofces and many other establishments have to shut down production
and operation.

In India, lockdown has been in place effective from 23rd March 2020.This has led to
many issues for the companies, their hiring process froze midways, the march targets
went haywire, the new style of working from home put a restriction on number of
activities that can be done and the companies were also forced to rethink many of their
visions and projections for the future.

The trapped “Fresh recruits”
An unexpected result of the lockdown was that the candidates who were picked up by
the companies before the onset of COVID-19 found themselves in an alien territory,
stuck in a quagmire, they were supposed to join their new organisations in a new
nancial year. Instead they are in a situation where they are now worrying whether the
jobs they are secure.
Some companies have started declaring freeze on hiring, for others, they have refused
to even accept the candidates they had recruited while still others have postponed the
date of joining till future becomes clear.

Only certain companies have gone ahead enthusiastically with their strategy of
onboarding albeit the digital way also known as “Digital Onboarding” This has created
certain opportunities, challenges, trends for the future, the paper intends to explore
this recent phenomenon and how the companies are perceiving it and making use of it.
Objectives
1. To understand benets and issues of Onboarding due to online processes"

2. To understand the impact of digital onboarding on fresh employees
3. To study the view of HR regarding the process

25