Changes in the City in Response to Economic Strains During COVID-19 Proposal

Introduction

Since the pandemic outbreak in early 2020, the city government has been at the forefront of managing the health crisis and its social and economic consequences. Urgent social care demands from vulnerable populations, especially the elderly, disabled, homeless, children, and those living with other diseases, have dramatically increased since they are highly dependent on social services. The city has been burdened by managing hospitals, which account for about a quarter of the total health expenditure (Arcega, 2021). Furthermore, employers have to protect their staff and create safe environments. Residents expect seamlessness in essential services such as waste collection, water distribution, sanitation, street cleaning, public order, and transport (Arcega, 2021). All these issues and expectations create a major burden for the city regarding funding and unpredictable expenses.

Purpose

Despite COVID-19-related challenges, the department is responsible for retaining vital training standards and supporting society. Expected from special departments to reflect the constraints that the city is facing due to the economic crisis created by the pandemic and develop new budget plans. There should be some efforts to demonstrate the importance of effective leadership in controlling the economic situation under new training and hiring conditions (Arcega, 2021). This proposal aims to evaluate the situation in the city, focusing on community needs, employee motivation, and recruiting model examination.

Timeline

COVID-19 is never simple, and all related changes are hard to predict or understand because of limited experience and poor knowledge. Thus, the creation of a timeline for a proposal is a critical step that helps identify the way how a new program can be developed:

1. There is a starting point when social and economic challenges emerge and provoke new expectations (one month)
2. Communities have their needs that should be evaluated, including assessments, data collection, training, and team-building (one month)
3. Employees have to be motivated through teamwork, engagement, communication, discussions, and fair decision-making processes (two months)
4. Finally, model changes are promoted by assessing the recruiting model, reviewing recent achievements, learning technological reports, and researching new talents and skills (two months).

Community Needs Evaluation

The city’s mission is to ensure that all services provided to citizens meet their needs and expectations. The community wants to see and feel support from the government. According to Arcega (2021), the major needs include waste collection, water distribution, sanitation, street cleaning, hygiene, safety, public order, transport, and administrative services. On its part, the administration wants to have a plan and a strategy to understand how to provide all these services to the community seamlessly.

The first thing is to develop a plan with several steps to be taken. There are five integral tasks to complete as part of this proposal:

1. The creation of a planning group with stakeholders who reflect the diversity in the community and assess the needs of the community.
2. Adequate training is needed to ensure the correct completion of all tasks and the promotion of the necessary knowledge.
3. Data collection and analysis methods could be changed due to the pandemic, and the group has to make correct decisions (Pattnaik & Jena, 2020).
4. Team-building is an integral step to promote trust, support, and respect between people.
5. Communication cannot be ignored to exchange opinions and share recent achievements in the project.

Employee Motivation

Creating a healthy work environment for employees will be the department’s priority. The general look and ambiance of the workplace and the internal behaviors of managers and supervisors will be reviewed and implemented. During this critical period, crises are generally unavoidable and must be mitigated and managed accordingly (Pattnaik & Jena, 2020). The department seeks to create a culture of teamwork with strong working teams for the employees where everyone will know and appreciate individual roles, share opinions, and form symbiotic relationships to solve problems. Leaders should acknowledge and appreciate employees to increase and maintain employees’ morale, support their confidence, and promote mutual respect (Arcega, 2021). The department will also need to ensure satisfaction and interest in working processes through engagement to improve decision-making.

City leaders develop new motivation strategies and promote no fear in front of unexpected and unavoidable changes. Since the onset of the pandemic, city employees have been working under pressure and in a relatively new environment that requires more work and strengthened relationships (Arcega, 2021). Leaders have to stay in touch with employees, and the idea to get frequent feedback is a sure method of understanding and responding to challenges (Arcega, 2021). Employees will feel that the city works for them in the same manner they work for residents. They rely on their knowledge and skills to make decisions, control their jobs, and define their responsibilities (Arcega, 2021). Therefore, they are likely to gain the ability to achieve high levels of performance and productivity in providing services to city residents.

Recruitment Model Changes

Because of sudden workplace changes due to COVID-19, the department underlines the importance of examining current recruitment models. There will be new areas of interest and priorities when hiring and recruitment (Pattnaik & Jena, 2020). People should prove themselves as confident computer users and accept the possibility of compensation as a means to protect organizations. There is also a need to review the current recruitment calendar and ensure that it reflects the needs of the city in terms of workforce availability and skills.

Recruitment model changes may occur in different ways, and leaders have to analyze the best practices and templates for recruitment globally and consider the challenges created by the pandemic. The rationale is to ensure that the best practices in the new strategy will reflect the new challenges that have emerged from the impact of the health crisis. The use of technologies in line with the new work environment that the pandemic has created is inevitable. These technological shifts will allow candidates to attend interviews online, examine the job market distantly, and take training courses. Furthermore, the department will consider adding the application of job boards to its recruitment model. For example, the city can utilize such technological platforms as Glassdoor to expand talent and skill search.

Conclusion

In general, this presentation proves that COVID-19 has severe consequences on society and the economy of many countries. People were not ready for such health challenges, and modern companies had to reshape their strategies in a short period. New budget plans are created to find additional funding and solve financial problems. People set high expectations from the government and want their needs to be met. Employees underline their knowledge and experience to choose safe workplaces, and leaders analyze their recruiting models to find the best solution for their business.

References

Arcega, W. (2021). Improving employee morale in the new normal through sustainable employee engagement in institutional banking. Animo Repository. Web.

Pattnaik, L., & Jena, L. K. (2020). Mindfulness, remote engagement and employee morale: Conceptual analysis to address the “new normal”. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 29(4), 873-890.