Effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in woking life: Example of OECD countries

Epidemic diseases have influenced human history in many areas, including social, economic and political aspects from past to present, and have played an active role in the emergence of changes and transformations. In the historical process, pandemics dating back to the years before Christ have repeated themselves by changing shape and mutating for many years in certain periods. The Covid-19 pandemic, which is frequently heard today and continues its impact in many areas on a global scale, emerged in China towards the end of 2019, spread all over the world and entered the pandemic diseases. Despite the developing world and the advancement of science and technology, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has put the whole world in a state of panic and caused many people to lose their lives and get caught in the epidemic. This situation has caused the world to experience a pandemic crisis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on working life. The population of the study consists of OECD member countries. In the methodology of the study, qualitative research method was used and relevant sources, data and statistics were obtained from primary sources. Classification and ranking methods were applied by evaluating the sources and statistics obtained by scanning the sources. For the data obtained, deductive method was applied at the classification stage, and the data obtained in the conclusion part were evaluated through the inductive method. According to the findings from the SWOT analysis, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected working life in many ways. For example, it has caused an increase in unemployment rates. According to OECD data, while the unemployment rate was 5.5% in March 2020, this rate reached 8.8% in April as the size of the pandemic grew. Due to quarantine practices, remote working model was adopted and meetings were held over digital platforms. Temporary articles were added to labor law and social security law to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. In this process, trade unions in almost all OECD countries took actions to protect the health of employees. In addition, states have taken many financial measures and incentives against the devastation caused by the pandemic. The findings obtained in the research were classified by SWOT analysis and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the pandemic and working life were evaluated. Among the strengths, developments in information technologies, developments in the health sector, financial measures and incentives by governments, creativity and innovation were mentioned. Weaknesses include the global spread of Covid-19, quarantine practices, economic uncertainty and lack of face-to-face communication. As weaknesses, the global spread of Covid-19, quarantine practices, economic uncertainty and lack of face-to-face communication were mentioned. As opportunities created by Covid-19 in working life, remote working, the development of certain sectors, the importance of hygiene habits and the digitalization of HRM were discussed. As threats, the continuation of pandemics, increase in unemployment and decrease in wages were evaluated. As a result of the study, suggestions were made for measures that can be taken against new pandemics that may occur in the future.