Denise Zvipo Machowani

 MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AN ASSESMENT OF THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING AT CARIBBEA BAY RESORT. BY R172773H SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF A BSC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT HONOURS DEGREE August 2021 ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic struck the whole word by surprise and it has led to quite a number of changes in technological systems, environmental systems, social systems but most of all the work systems.Covid-19 had a deeper impact on the Hotel sector considering its vulnerability to external factors. The hotel sector was affected due to the regulatory implications caused by Covid-19 like national lockdowns, banning of social gatherings, closing of international borders and social distancing. These implications are the pivot of hotel business because in a hotel it’s all about traveling, social gatherings, social interaction and adventure and people staying in due to the lockdowns is bad for hotel business and this led to a decline in revenue, employees and also led to a number of changes in the hotel sector. The researcher observed that in the human resource department Human Resource Planning was affected the most as HR functions could not be carried out the same as it was done before the Covid-19 pandemic, hence this particular study. The main objective of this dissertation was to analyze the effects of the Covid-19 on Human Resource Planning in the hotel sector. This study used a qualitative research approach. A sample size of 13 managers and supervisors was drawn from 60 employees, however there were a total of 8 respondents. Online interviews, Semi structured questionnaires, open ended questionnaires where used for this study utilizing available platforms for data collection. The main effects of the Covid-19 on human Resource Planning that were discovered were, retrenchment exercise, reduction of salaries, letting go of best performers, job insecurity, loss of organisational commitment and changes in human resource policies. It was discovered and recommended that managers should consider the replacement of human labor with robot technology, digitalization of human resource policies and reinstalling loyalty in employees. Table of Contents ABSTRACTii DEFINITION OF KEY TERMSv LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONSv LIST OF TABLES/FIGURESvi 1.1 INTRODUCTION1 1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY3 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT4 1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES5 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS5 1.6 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY.6 1.7 LIMITATIONS7 1.8 DELIMITATIONS7 1.9 ORGANISATION OF STUDY8 1.10 CHAPTER SUMMARY9 2.1 INTRODUCTION10 2.2 THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING10 2.3 THEORIES OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING15 2.4 THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING17 2.5 CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED IN HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.22 2.6 PLANS AND PRACTICES ADOPTED BY HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS DURING THE COVID-19?25 2.7 CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK.28 2.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY.29 3.1 INTRODUCTION30 3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH30 3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN31 3.4 SAMPLING31 3.5 DATA COLLECTION35 3.6 RESEARCH METHOD36 3.7 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD37 3.8 RELIABITILI AND VILIDITY37 3.9 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS38 4.1 INTRODUCTION39 4.2 DEMOGRAFIC INFORMATION39 4.3. DATA PRESENTATION43 4.4 DATA ANALYSIS50 4.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY57 5.1 INTRODUCTION58 5.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS58 5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS59 5.4. CONCLUSION62 References63 APPENDICES69 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Human Resource Planning According to Armstrong (2001), cited by Riza .A. et all (2015), who defined human resource management as a strategic approach to decision making and planning firm associated with employment (employment relationship) and the strategy, policies and practices of recruitment, training, development, performance management, compensation and relationships between employees who are integrated with each other horizontally (with other functions) and vertical (corporate strategy). Covid-19 The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), caused by an acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, is a highly dangerous and readily spread virus. Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence is the ability to copy from something that is natural, in terms of acquiring and applying knowledge and skills. Now this ability of copying is done by a machine or a computer NaziaHasan, et al (2019) LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS HRM Human Resources Management HRPHuman Resources Planning IPMZInstitute of People Management Zimbabwe CBRCaribbea Bay Resort F`NBFood and Beverages FO Front Office LIST OF TABLES/FIGURES Figure 1 ………………………………………………………15 Figure 2 ………………………………………………………16 Figure 3 ………………………………………………………20 Figure 4 ………………………………………………………25 Figure 5 ………………………………………………………29 Figure 6 ………………………………………………………55 Figure 7 ………………………………………………………61 Table 1 ……………………………………………………….33 Table 2 ………………………………………………………34 Table 3 ………………………………………………………41 Table 4 ………………………………………………… CHAPTER ONE 1.1 INTRODUCTION The Covid-19 pandemic is a disaster that has affected the normal operations of almost everything around the globe and worse in the world of work it has turned everything upside down since it came accompanied by a very long lockdown that has chased everyone into their homes locked away from company buildings. Most organisation and industries if not all have been greatly affected by this pandemic as some has opted to other ways of operating from what they originally were doing and this has been a hard phase for almost everyone in the workplace in all industries from the government to the employer to the employee to stake holders and even to the NEC and trade unions, however the Covid-19 affected mostly the hotel and catering industry. The hospitality industry employs a lot of people and put up a lot of money to the global economy, due to the fame of tourism and fast food restaurants. Unfortunately, the hospitality and tourism sector is vulnerable to the increasing frequency, and severity of natural disasters and pandemics, which often result in substantial financial loses (Hall, 2010; Kim, Lee, & Tang, 2020).Covid-19 caused a complete shutdown of business in most hotels especially in the third world with countries like Zimbabwe and Malawi since it went and blocked all pivotal points of business which are social interactions ,social gatherings ,traveling and international links. There were fears that, given the demands for social distancing, the restaurant industry was one of the worst affected industries by the COVID-19 pandemic (Gössling, Scott, & Hall, 2020).In the African Sun hotels, it caused a lot of changes in all the hotels under it namely The Holiday inn Harare, The Holiday inn Mutare, the Holiday in Bulawayo, Monomutapa hotel, The Victoria Falls hotel, The Kingdom hotel, Elephant Hills hotel, Great Zimbabwe hotel,Traughtbeck Resort,Hwange Safari Lodge and the Caribea Bay resort which will be the center area of the researcher`s study. Human resource planning is a continuous process of planning ahead to make the best use of an organization's most valuable resource: competent employees. Human resource planning has traditionally been used by organisations to ensure that the right person is in the right job at the right time (Jackson et al, 1990). HRP ensures that employees and jobs are a good match while minimizing underemployment and overemployment. At Caribea Bay Resort, human resource planning entails being adaptable enough to address short-term staffing issues while also adjusting to changing business conditions and in this case in the overall dynamic environment and not only the business environment so the Covid-19 pandemic at CBR came and changed a lot in human resource planning for an example they could not recruit employees since there was no business in the hotel but rather they had to cut on the ones that they had, training was to be done now majorly focusing on health and safety and also performance and reward management was now rather not easy to carry out since performance on remote working could not be measured accurately. This make this study very interesting and fresh because the Covid-19 pandemic hit directly on the systematic processes of human resource planning in the hotel and catering industry at CBR 1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY According to David J Cennimo(2020)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a novel coronavirus now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus ,which was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The Covid-19 affected everything worldwide, some in a negative way and some in a positive way. Due to the need to stop or minimize the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic all boarders to every country in the globe were closed, travelling was banned, lockdowns were introduced in almost every country to keep everyone in their homes, international trading was banned also to avoid spreading of the virus through traded items, online shopping facilities boosted and door to door deliveries also to make sure that movements were minimized between individuals for different reasons. The Covid-19 also hit hard on the world of work as most industries where affected in a way. In the health and safety industry is one of the industries that incurred a lot of changes as they had to hire more man power to cater for the Covid-19 patients, they had to hire people to train communities on issues to do with personal safety and also other workers to spray around disinfections and vaccinating. The most affected and crippled industry was the Hotel and Catering industry worldwide. Unfortunately, the hospitality and tourism sector is vulnerable to the increasing frequency, and severity of natural disasters and pandemics, which often result in substantial financial loses Hall, (2010) and Kim, Lee and Tang, (2020).These financial losses came from demands for social distancing, banning of social interactions, social gathering which is the main or focal points of business in the hotel and catering industry. The changing environment in the hotel and catering industry, affected also Human resource planning since human resource managers had to make changes like retrenchments and terminations to adapt to the changing work environment. The Organisation of choice is Caribea bay resort which is one of the many hotels owned by African sun hotels.CBR is located in Kariba on the shores of the lake Kariba. It is a three star hotel, offers accommodation, great restaurant, conference center and also touring facilities and also has 83 rooms in total with two restaurants, two bars and a great view of the lake Kariba. 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has had a significant impact on the hotel and catering sector, there is a need to investigate and assess the impacts of the Covid-19 on human resource planning in the hotel and catering business, with a focus on Caribea Bay Resort. This is so because the Hotel and Catering industry is vulnerable and it was the most affected industry by the Covid-19 since Covid-19 affected the most crucial points of hotel business which is interaction of people, traveling, social gatherings and functions. Guest bookings reduced tremendously since travelling was prohibited. The decrease of business in the hotel business meant that staff also had to be reduced to balance with the changes in workload. In support of these factors The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) cited in an article by Richard Seifman (2020) reckon that the tourism industry contributes to the world’s GDP by 10% and jobs will reduce by an estimated 25% in 2020 and cast off 50 million jobs. They also went on to say is global traveling is prohibited for only three months in 2020 there would be a reduction in jobs of between 12% and 14%. This affected HRP in terms of employee numbers, recruitment and selection, training and development, industrial relations and remuneration as HR managers had to be flexible e enough to adapt swiftly to the changing conditions in terms of their planning, hence the need to research and explore on the topic with Caribea B ay Resort being the focus area of research. 1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Main Objective To assess the footprints of Covid-19 on human resource planning at Caribea Bay Resort. Specific Objectives To identify the challenges that were encountered in Human Resource Planning caused by the Covid-19. To identify plans and practices the adopted by Human resource managers during the Covid-19 period. To proffer recommendations on how the challenges caused by the Covid-19 can be permanently resolved in human resource planning from a futuristic point of view since the work environment if still dynamic? 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS What are the effects of Covid-19 on human resource planning at Caribea Bay Resort? What challenges where encountered in Human Resource Planning caused by the Covid-19 pandemic? Which specific plans and practices were adopted by Human resource managers during the Covid-19 period? What recommendations would you suggest on how the challenges caused by the Covid-19 can be permanently resolved in human resource planning from a futuristic point of view since the work environment if still dynamic? 1.6 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY. Importance to the Researcher The researcher benefited in terms of value addition due to this study as it was of a great help and impact in her learning because it is a new topic that not a lot of people have analyzed, so the fact that it is new enhanced the researcher`s research capabilities and skills by pushing the researcher to be innovative and creative in order to come up with the best and fresh study for intellects, that they haven’t heard of before. Another value addition fact about this dissertation is that, since there are just a few articles out there, maybe nun other researches like the researcher`s, it reduced the researcher`s chances of plagiarizing which will be very helpful in allowing her mental abilities to stretch and reach deeper levels of thinking and coming up with deeper solutions to problems.Covid19 is real and have changed a lot of HR functions in the world of work. This research had a very significant role in the researcher`s career as an HR practitioner as a lot of things are going to change permanently in the world of work and this research is going to come up with permanent solution to way of dealing with human resource planning and the researcher also will be able to apply the same solutions where ever she will be in her career as an HR practitioner. Importance to the Institution To the institution, this research assisted in adding information to the school data base that was used by students who were exploring on the same topics and this study was the best since it contained first-hand information that is practical and the experiences are actually happening to actual people in actual organisations. Since Covid-19 is a global pandemic taking place currently, this research is fresh and new information was introduced in the school data base. Importance to the Organisation under study This research was significant and was used to Caribea Bay Resort as it exposed the areas that were affected by the Covid-19 in their human resource department in terms of planning for an example Covid-19 in the hotel industry led to a decline in revenue and this decline demanded the organisations to cut on the organisational headcount which they did and now there is a need to assess and predict the future in order to be flexible and prepare for what is to come instead of being reactive ,so this research provided that deeper view on the current situation and predicted what was to come in the near future. This assisted the organisation a lot since Covid-19 in still here and the need for flexibility is still required which was provided by this research. Adding on this research provided CBR with solutions to the problems that they were facing in human resource planning and take the company to a better place than they are operating on in HRP 1.7 LIMITATIONS 1. Traveling during the lockdown was prohibited and this was a major limitation to the research because the researcher was not able to move and travel to Kariba for data collection 2. Social interactions during the Covid-19 were banned so it was another limitation as the researcher was supposed to carry out face to face interviews for the research which was a major drawback. 3. Due to communication barriers that were caused by the Covid-19 for an example social distancing, the researcher had to opt for telephone interviews which had its own challenges like network issues and the issue of calls being expensive. 4. Online communications that the researcher conducted also had challenges and limitations as the researcher was not be able to get clear explanations with facial expressions and gestures that help in understanding misunderstood explanations hence conversations were be flat. 1.8 DELIMITATIONS The researcher was limited by boundaries in connection with the research study, however they were based on the researcher’s decision of what to include and what not to exclude in the research. They narrowed the research and made it more manageable and relevant to what the researcher wanted to highlight and prove. The first delimitation was that the study was limited to only focus on one case study which is on one organisation, hence the researcher decided to choose Caribea bay resort as the organisation of choice mainly because that was where the researcher was able to access information easily since that is where the researcher was attached, and in doing so the researcher excluded other African sun hotels like holiday in Harare, Kingdom hotel, Monomutapa hotel and other hotels not mentioned. The researcher was limited by choice to study on the effects of Covid-19 on human resource planning at Caribea bay resort, yet there are other concepts that were affected and disturbed by the Covid-19 pandemic. These concepts include HR policies, operations, performance, reward systems and normal day to day activities in the human resource department .All these other affected areas were side lined to only focus on Human Resource planning. This was so because Human resource planning is an HR function that is broader compared to other functions because it involves the planning part of most of the HR functions and that was why the researcher decided to do the research on HR planning. 1.9 ORGANISATION OF STUDY The research was organized with a total of 5 chapters. Chapter 1 contained the introduction which introduced the main focus of the research. It also contained the background of the study which enabled the positioning of the specific problem that the study seeks to address within the broader historical, theoretical and practical context and followed by the problem statement that Supported by evidence, followed the research objectives, research questions, justification of study, limitations, delimitations and organisation of study. Chapter 2 consisted of the literature review of the study and the conceptual frame work, next is Chapter 3 which consisted of the research methodology that describes the appropriate methods that addresses the study objectives then moving on to chapter 4 which presented, evaluated and in it was a discussion of the findings, guided by research objectives, questions and the problem that the study sought to address and finally is chapter 5 with a summary of the findings , recommendations are proposed and the conclusion of the study is stated in a concise way. At the end of the research was reference list. 1.10 CHAPTER SUMMARY Chapter 1 focused on introducing the topic under study .It contained the background of study which highlighted the independent and dependent variables explained separately with full details. It also gave an overview of Caribea Bay Resort in terms of number of its structure and the workload. It also included a problem statement with proof, as well as objectives and research questions, as well as rationale for the study. Finally, the study's limitations and delimitations were discussed. The literature review and the research's conceptual framework will be fully examined in the next chapter. CHAPTER TWO 2.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter reviewed relevant literature on the concept and origin of the Covid-19, the effects of Covid-19 in the hotel and catering sector and challenges faced by human resource managers in HRP that were caused by the Covid-19. Furthermore, specific facets of HRP that were affected by the Covid-19 and the recommendations on how HRP can adapt to the changes on a futuristic point of view. Lastly a conceptual framework with the researcher`s own theory based on the researcher`s understanding of the topic. 2.2 THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING Human Resource Planning is an aspect of HRM in which an organization's human resource needs are determined in order for it to accomplish its objectives. Bulla and Scott (1994) cited in Armstrong (2001: 357) defined it as, “The process of ensuring that the human resource requirements of an organisation are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements” this in tells that HRP looks at how many employees the business will require in the future and the type of workers that are required in the organisation be it in terms of qualifications of skills for an example they can be graduate trainees, supervisors or general hand. HRP ensures the organisation has the right employee ad for the right job to have the workforce and jobs in order to avoiding under employment and over employment. Human resource planning in the hotel industry is about being adaptive enough to solve and fix short-term employment challenges at the same time flexibly changing conditions in the business environment and in this case in the overall dynamic environment and not only the business environment so the Covid-19 pandemic in the hotel sector came and changed a lot in human resource planning for an example they could not recruit employees since there was no business in the hotels but rather they had to cut on the ones that they had, training was to be done now majorly focusing on health and safety and also performance and reward management was now rather not easy to carry out since performance on remote working could not be measured accurately and new ways to do it had to be implemented. According to the Institute of Personnel Management Zimbabwe (IPMZ) HRP is part and parcel of an organisation`s strategic planning as it includes three main elements which are forecasting, evaluating supply and balancing of supply and demand of workforce. This means that when there is a shortfall on the workforce HRP deals with recruitment, promotions and redevelopment. When there is oversupply it ensures that retrenchment, down cutting and reduction of hours are done, also when employees lark required skills and there are quality shortfalls employees must be trained, multi skilled and developed, all these are roles of HRP in an organisation. The Institute of Personnel Management Zimbabwe (IPMZ), argues that HRP is encompasses three key steps which are HR forecasting, Inventory and auditing, HR plan. According to Nyanhete and Mkandatsama, (2017) there are four stages which include investigation and analysis stage, forecasting stage, planning and resourcing stage, Implementation and control stage. 2.2.1Three main elements of HRP 2.2.1.1 Forecasting Forecasting is a level of human resource planning that deals with anticipating future human resource demands in terms of both actual numbers and skills and competences, which is necessary to guarantee optimal efficiency in the organization. There are several methods for forecasting an organization's needs in order to determine how many people are required to complete a given project or fill specific jobs. In the case of Covid-19, it is merely hard or impossible to carry out HR forecasting considering the fact that were we are now as humans or as a nation, no one really knows what the future of the world holds or even predict anything because the environment is unstable and the waves of the Covid-19 keeps coming stronger each time there are signs of stability showing. When forecasting, consider the state of the economy, internal organizational finances, and demand for your products or services, as well as natural catastrophes and pandemics, and the company's short- and long-term growth aspirations. According to Pilbeam and Corbridge (2010) cited by Nyanhete and Mkandatsama (2017) HR gaps are identified by the forecasts where deficit of employees will imply that an organisation should recruit from outside or invest in the available skills while a surplus of human resource may suggest redeployment of the human resource. When predicting staffing needs or succession planning, there is a need to examine the current workforce to discover which individuals are most likely to move into new positions within the firm, as well as how many people are most likely to depart in search of outside alternatives. In times like the Covid-19 pandemic era in the hotel and catering industry, HR practitioners should consider the fact that hotel jobs are no longer attractive as it has been exposed to not have job security when working in a hotel because of its vulnerability. The reduction of the attractiveness of hospitality occupations is likely to be one of the negative long term implications of the Covid-19 in the hotel business (Baum and Hai, 2020). 2.2.1.2 Inventory and Audit The HR practitioner must next participate in a process of inventory analysis and auditing at this stage in order to assess the HR requirements essential for the organization to accomplish its goals. According to Rajesh K and Nishant D.,(2013) ,HR Audit is a process that sets the stage for a true transformation in HR strategy .The HR Audit and Inventory stage is involves taking a stock take of what the organisation already has currently in the organisation. The inventory and analysis stage determines whether and to what extent there is a disparity between our existing HR position and our future needs. Human resource practitioners in the hotel sector due to the unclear future of the hotel sector will not be able to come up with the accurate results even where the hotel sector will be in five years is unknown due to the uncertainty of the future and even the current state or situation is at its worst and the hotel sector has not recovered from the losses encountered during the Covid-19 pandemic yet. There are three ways in which the inventory and audit stage is done which is; Managerial inventory and auditing Skills inventory and auditing General numbers inventory and auditing According to Armstrong (2011) cited by Nyanhete and Mkandatsama (2017) human resource gaps might also occur in terms of knowledge or skills which will require an organisation to engage in recruitment and selection, promotions and also training and development. Therefore the inventory stage is there to identify those human resource gaps that are currently in the organisation. 2.2.1.3 Human Resource Plan and Resource The last stage of the human resources planning model is the HR plan ad resource stage where HR practitioners are going to balance the demand existing and the supply of employees available. Planning for HR needs will help to ensure your employees have the skills and competencies your business needs to succeed according to Rajesh K and Nishant D.,(2013).This basically is when the HR practitioners works on a plan to address the findings at the inventory and audit stage. Nyantete and Mkandatsama (2017) asserts that if there is a shortage of employees, this will determine what type of recruiting efforts the organisation must participate in to attract the employees it needs to fill needs within the company. If there are too many employees, managers must consider layoffs, retirements, and circumstances when individuals must be demoted or moved to a lateral job rather than obtaining a promotion. Furthermore, if it was revealed at the audit and inventory stage that 5% of the managers had retired, the company would have been fined. A career management or recruitment plan will made or if it was discovered that a certain percentage of the staff lack the required skills an appropriate HR plan based on training will be put in place. The process of Human Resource Management Figure-1; the process of human resource management 2.3 THEORIES OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING The contingency model The contingency theory is a theory that is of the view that there is no best way to organize a company or to lead an organisation, planning ahead and making decisions than to make decisions based on or dependent on the internal or external situation. The theory upholds an approach to the study of organizational behavior in which explanations are given as to how contingent factors such as technology, culture and the external environment influence the design and function of organizations (Bastian & Andreas, 2012). And in this case of the Covid-19 HR Planning is designed depending on the external environment and government regulations on the pandemic. Contingency approach alludes to a strategy of decision‐making regularly applied in concocting appropriate human resource techniques to use with the best fit approach in contrast with best practice approaches. This theory clearly shows that the structure and plans of an organisation are shaped by the internal and external factors that is the organisation`s environment for example influencers can be organization size, natural disasters, type of technology, geographic location and labor market, management skills and preferences, industry sector and economic conditions Contingency VariablesOther Causes Fit Performance + OrganisationalLess satisfying Figure 2 Structural Adaptation to Regain Fit Adopted from Donaldson, (2006) It is also criticized that is not sensible for organizations to move into a fit with their contingencies, because while the organization is changing its structure to fit the contingencies, the contingencies themselves change so that the organizational structural change does not produce fit (Donaldson, 2006). The Harvard model of HRM The Harvard Model by Beer M.et (1984) at Harvard University, is also termed the outline of HRM territory. Inside the organization, the Harvard model recognizes the presence of several partners. Shareholders, various groups of workers, the government, and the general public are among the numerous partners. This means that the stakeholders must be considered before any decision or strategy is made. The HR planning idea is in sync with the nature of the firm. Planning is based on the relationship between stakeholders in the Harvard model. Only a few HR planning models include stakeholder contributions, but the Harvard model believes that partners and stakeholder satisfaction are just as vital as employee growth. Employees are satisfied with the long-term planning, but there is a constant input loop between HR and the stakeholders. And in the case of Covid-19 and other pandemics to come, since they always come, it is important to value and consider the safety of the stakeholders’ .Pandemics are not new and have occurred at different stages in human history (Ferguson et al., 2020). 2.4 THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING According to Zhao and Xu, (2020), these findings has immensely reduced the attractiveness of hospitality occupations. The pandemic swept the globe in a matter of weeks, putting millions of people's health and lives at jeopardy and this outbreak affected the Hotel and Catering industry immensely, it has taken the industry to a place way beyond its normal business processes hence a need arises to explore and evaluate the effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning in the hotel and catering industry focusing on Caribea Bay Resort. The Hotel and Catering industry is vulnerable and it was the most affected sector by the Covid-19 since the pandemic affected the most crucial points of hotel business which is interaction of people, traveling, social gatherings and functions .Ivan Ka and Jose weng, (2020) implies that, there are not many studies focused on the hotel sector, especially on how to cope up with an epidemic crisis like Covid-19. Intellects and managers in the hotel sector are now seeking for crisis management techniques in reaction to the epidemic and to be proactive in the future. This raised an urgent need to fill in the research gaps. Guest bookings reduced tremendously since travelling was prohibited. The decrease of business in the hotel business meant that staff also had to be reduced to balance with the changes in workload. 2.4.1.1 Effects on forecasting It became an issue when it comes to forecasting on HRP due to lack of organisational commitment amongst employees. As the Covid-19 have exposed the major weakness of hotel occupations which is lack of job security, majority of employees have lost organisational commitment as they now prefer other sectors or industries that guarantee job security, hence forecasting for the future has been affected as Human Resource Practitioner can do a forecast for the next five years to come but by then majority would have left the sector. According to Viachaslau .F.et al, (2020) increasing organisational commitment of employees is, therefore, most likely to represent a critical task for hotel owners, shareholders post pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has also exposed the effectiveness of robots over humans in hotel services. In the hotel and catering business, robots and artificial intelligence are becoming more prevalent. This is because, as a result of a number of experimental investigations, visitors currently have a variety of alternatives including both human and robot services. When Covid-19 was present, most studies revealed that visitors had a more favorable view toward robots rather than humans... These Robotic or automation technologies combine facial recognition technology, robots, wearable technology, and voiceover technology that can be implemented in the manufacture and delivery of products and services (Ivanov, 2020) .The findings were now different from earlier studies conducted prior to the Covid-19 epidemic. Since perceived threat had a big influence in consumers' choice for robot-staffed hotels. This hence is leading to the many hotels in time preferring to use more robots in their services and less humans as it would be best and more convenient for their services whether in crisis or not. However this would be a disadvantage to employees in the sector as their jobs will be replaced by robots which will be a better option for the employer to use in terms of production. According to the BBC, robots could replace 20 million jobs worldwide by 2030 (BBC, 2020), and also, one common point of view is that robots will disrupt the job market, with modified jobs and skills being required (Webster and Ivanov, 2020). This has been made possible through focusing on the future considering the fact that the current situation is becoming the new normal in the world of work. Below is a diagram showing the preference of robot service over human service during the Covid-19 and after. Robot over Human service Figure 3, Adopted from Seongseop .K. et al (2021) The above diagram on fig 3 is showing how during the Covid-19 employees in the hotel and catering industry preferred a robot staffed hotel over humans. The first bar which is dark shows that preference for a robot staffed hotel during the Covid-19 era was 3.90 compared to when the Covid-19 was over or before which was at 2.45. 2.4.1.2 Effects on Audit and Inventory HR Audit is a process that sets the stage for a true transformation in HR strategy and service as alluded by Rajesh K and Nishant D.,(2013). As previously stated, the Covid-19 significantly lowered the attractiveness of hotel jobs, leading most hotel employees to rethink their reasons for remaining in the sector owing to a lack of job security, resulting in a rise in the rate of labor turnover. Hotel employees especially those with administrative occupations for example accountants and HR managers are now opting for other sectors with job security. According to Hall, 2010 and Yu et al., 2020 apart from the dynamic structure of the hotel industry, it is one of the industries that the most affected by the crisis and global outbreaks compared to other industries. Labor turnover at this rate is affecting audit and inventory stage of HRP in the sense that, a stock take of current human resource can be conducted today and the next day a person would have retired and at the end of the week two and even more as the organisation approaches a month. This does nothing but just sabotage the process of audit and inventory in the organisation. 2.4.1.3 Effects on HR Plan and Resource The HR plan and resource stage is when the HR practitioners will be balancing the demand on resources with the supply .It is the stage where plans are made on how the organisation is going to achieve those goals identified through forecasting and HR gaps that where identified in the audit and inventory stage. If on the audit stage it is discovered that there is a shortage or under employment the HR practitioners consider options like recruitment and promotion and if there is over supply or over employment the HR practitioners will consider retrenchments and when there are quality shortfalls training and multi-tasking is considered .With the covid19 pandemic prevailing in the world of work there has been a lost changes on HRP ,the hotel industry is vulnerable to threats from unexpected catastrophes such as epidemics and natural disasters Chan and Lam, (2013).Due to the vulnerability of the hotel sector it was one of the most affected sectors by the Covid-19 worldwide. Hotel managers and HR practitioners especially at CBR have realized that not a lot of workers are required to perform duties at the hotel, and this has been exposed since more multi-tasking by less employees is being implemented. Moving on, Recruitment and promotion in the organisation has been affected indeed, this is highlighted by the fact that it is not easy to recruit in the Covid-19 era because of the lock down and social distancing regulation that are living the HR practitioners with no other option but online recruitment and these online interviews can be deceitful when it comes to presenting accurate information about a candidate and also recruitment will be affected considering the fact that hotel occupations have become unattractive and it was not easy even before due to less income . Staff recruitment and retention was a major challenge for hotel management in a pre-pandemic world (McGinley et al., 2017). During an online interview a candidate might be confident and seem perfect for a position but the curse would be different in person. Promotions also are not easy to carry out because identification of the right candidate is now hard due to a decrease in organisational commitment. Commitment can be defined as the attachment, identification, or loyalty to the entity of commitment (Singh and Gupta, 2015). .An employee can be promoted and not work as expected of him if he does not have organisational commitment and the employee also will not hesitate to leave the organisation at any given point, and the same applies to training where an organisation can train an employee today on a particular aspect and in no time that employees would have resigned before the organisation is able to reap its fruits of training due to lack of organisational commitment. Many hotel in the world of work retrenched their workers during the Covid-19 era and these hotels include CBR. Retrenchments where done because of the less workload that was there in the hotel and there was no need at all for the workers to continue working with the social distancing regulations and zero guest bookings that where put in place. According to Turgay Bucak, Serkan Yigit (2021) the emergence of the COVID-19 outbreak, decreased hotel occupancy rate. 2.5 CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED IN HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. Given the spread of Covid-19, which has lasted for over a year and is still expanding, the influence of Covid-19 on HR concerns and planning will endure in the long run. According to Yifan .Z.et al, (2021) the great challenge organisations are facing today is not a single event but a new normal that offers different research venues for organisational scholars and practitioners. In the African sun at CBR a lot of challenges were faced which include cancellation of trainings, financial plans affected, letting go of committed workforce and succession plans changing. These challenges are just a few amongst many. Other challenges include performance adjustment and employee wellbeing according to Carnevale and Hatak (2020) cited by Yifan .Z.et al, (2021); the difficulty of organisations to pay the same salary to employees given that employees cannot perform as effectively as they could before COVID-19 by Demyen and Lala-Popa (2013) cited by Yifan .Z.et al, (2021); difficulty in instilling confidence in employees Montague et al. (2016) cited by Yifan .Z.et al, (2021). 2.5.1.1 Challenges on Employee Safety Covid-19 spreads primarily through respiratory droplets and contact with contaminated surfaces according to the World Health Organisation (2020). High risk of infection occur at the workplace especially in a public area which a lot of interaction like a hotel. Employees are exposed on their way to work, during meal service, during job-related travel to functions, and in any area of the hotel where people congregate. Employees while performing their routine at the hotel are prone to get infected with the Covid-19 virus. Occupational health and safety is a subset of human resource management that is in charge of assuring the health and safety of all employees in most businesses. Employees are precious assets, and their health and safety are vital to any hotel's success. Human resource management confronts a challenge in ensuring that all staff are healthy enough to execute their tasks successfully and efficiently, particularly at a hotel like CBR where guests from all over the world visit Kariba, a tourism destination. 2.5.1.2 Challenges on letting go of committed employees The Covid-19 struck everywhere worldwide and changed a lot of operations in occupational sectors, however it struck mostly the Hotel sector. The hotel sector is vulnerable and it had to let go of some workers in order to remain financially functioning, just as a boat throw away the heavy load when signs of sinking are showing. In human resources planning HR practitioners have to be flexible to recruit or cut on employee depending on the workload available in the organisation. During the Covid-19, business dropped dramatically and practitioners had to respond swiftly to the changing environment and retrench employees and also terminate some of the employees in the organisation even those that are committed and hard to let go of. As mentioned before, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) cited in an article by Richard Seifman (2020) estimated that the Hotel industry contributes to the world’s GDP by 10% .,meaning also that these changes in staffing affected the world GDP. Adding on to their statement, jobs percentage will reduce by an estimated 25% in 2020 and cast off 50 million job and in 2020 there would be a reduction in jobs of between 12% and 14% if global traveling is prohibited for only three months. These percentages of dropping employment is inclusive of those employees that are of greater value to the organisation which was a great challenge to HR practitioners at CBR. 2.5.1.3 Challenges on Financial Plans Fig 4; Statistics on hotel occupancy rate. Viswanath RT (2021) The above diagram shows an estimated decline in the occupancies of the hotel industry, it’s a model representing all hotels. The occupancy rate is showing relatively low and changing occupancy rate from January week four to February week four. These are the months when the Covid-19 and lockdown were still in the introductory stages. At this stage financial plans were already being affected since hotel performance was low already, trainings where canceled and also conferences. As early as the first week of March, occupancy dropped tremendously below 0 % to week two and going forward. This also reduced the financial stature of hotels especially at CBR and it was a great problem even in HRP as it is the responsibility of the HR practitioners to balance the payroll percentage over revenue of the organisation. 2.5.1.4 Challenges on loss of confidence and organisational commitment of employees Montague et al (2016) asserts that it is difficult to instill lost confidence in employees. Especially after a disaster like Covid-19 hit the industry the hotel employees have lost confidence in the hotel sector and their choices of being employed in a hotel. There is no organisational commitment anymore among the hotel employees, staying in a sector that does not guarantee job security is out of the question. Promotion of organisational commitment of hotel employees especially those in managerial positions and administrative positions is, therefore, likely to represent a critical task for General Managers and HR managers post pandemic. These insecurities of the sector and fragility may negatively affect future recruitment of hotel staff (Mao et al., 2020). 2.6 PLANS AND PRACTICES ADOPTED BY HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS DURING THE COVID-19? According to Promila Agarwal (2021) Covid-19 is expected to cost the tourism sector at least USD 22 billion as the travel sector is anticipated to shrink by up to 25 percent in 2020, resulting in a loss of 50 million jobs and also International tourist arrivals are expected to decline by 1–3 percent in 2020 globally, resulting in anticipated losses of USD 30 billion to USD 50 billion in international visitor spending (World Tourism Organisation, 2020).These alarming facts in the hotel sector led to the HR practitioners to plan on practices they needed to engage in in order to minimize their loses and adapt to the changing environment in the world of work.HR practitioners at CBR adjusted on the following ,compensation and incentives ,training and development ,corporate social responsibility and flexibility. 2.6.1.1 Compensation and incentives Most hotels including CBR removed all incentives and benefits that were previously being offered to employees as additional income to motivate them to continue working hard. These hotels also had to cut approximately 50–60% of all employees’ pay in order to balance to revenue of the organisation with the payroll percentage as revenue had dramatically dropped following the dropping of the hotel occupancy. Hotel occupancy in all countries has declined by 50 % or more Gossling et al. (2020). As a show of appreciation, senior management wrote handwritten letters to lower-level staff. 2.6.1.2 Training and development Hotels allegedly expanded the amount of trainings available to staff due to a growing requirement to complete the trainings however they had to conduct these training online since traveling of the trainers were prohibited and other trainings where done by the managers themselves. All trainings were online and these trainings were of a great help. Employee training and development during the Covid-19 epidemic era improved their capacities and was extremely motivating for them. Employees' psychological resources to execute their work duties were increased as a result of training. Because of the online trainings, the workers of the hotels that performed these trainings felt less scared and more confident. There are new training topics introduced besides one that are regularly conducted .Drawing from an argument by Promila Agarwal (2021) new training topics included COVID-19 safety training, coping with stress and anxiety, and lifestyle-based training. These trainings have resulted in substantial development and enhancement of HR roles and employee lives, since they have never done so many trainings in such a short period of time in the past. And this has helped them much, as have the workers who have benefited greatly from the hotel's training programs. 2.6.1.3 Corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility is one of the other practices done by the African sun in order to adapt to the changing environment. On the 26th of July 2020 the African Sun Supporting the fight against COVID-19 in Midlands Province donated blankets, sheets, cups and pillow cases as their way of serving the community. Handover was led by African Sun Limited Managing Director, Ed Shangwa .According to Promila Agarwal (2021), hotels with a history of extensively engaging in CSR and hotels that supported underprivileged people during COVID-19 had a positive influence on employees. Corporate social responsibility being one of the function of HR is one of the many ways used by HR practitioners to the Covid-19 environment. 2.6.1.4 Flexibility The Covid-19 situation in Hotels demanded managers to be flexible enough to move together with the dynamic environment. CBR and other hotels benefitted from flexible HRM practices. Flexibility in HRM practices alludes to the “extent to which they are adjusted to an assortment of circumstances and how rapidly the practices are resynthesized, reconfigured and redeployed” Wright and Snell, (1998). Flexibility makes it easier for hotels to manage their employees by reducing the stress and anxiety associated with uncertainty and vulnerability during the Covid-19 times. Hotels may also lay off staff or place them on unpaid leave. Employees were dismissed based on the hotels' financial situation. 2.7 CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK. The Covid-19 pandemic affected a lot and most functions of the hotel and catering industry especially in the human resource department as the department is the backbone of the organisation ,amongst the affected variables if Human Resources planning. The Covid-19 pandemic affected the hotel and catering industry badly due to its vulnerability to external factors like natural disasters. Unfortunately, the hospitality and tourism sector is vulnerable to the increasing frequency, and severity of natural disasters and pandemics, which often result in substantial financial loses, Hall, (2010) and Kim, Lee and Tang, (2020).The three elements of HRP mentioned by the Institute of Personnel Management Zimbabwe (IPMZ),which are forecasting, audit and inventory and human resource plan faced great changes due to the implications of the Covid-19 .The Covid-19 being the dependent variable made a lot of changes to human resource planning in the hotel sector, for example forecasting could not be done properly considering the uncertainty of the future of the hotel sector, Audit and inventory done without actually knowing what’s on the ground hence it was more of estimating stock take and there were huge financial losses that to even think of HR planning was out of the question. The effects are one directional as Covid-19 is affecting Human Resource Planning and not HRP affecting Covid-19.The diagram below illustrates the relationship and effects caused by Covid-19 on HRP g HRP Forecasting -uncertainty Of the future Audit and Inventory-new Changes recorded on a daily Basis Fig 5; Conceptual Frame WorkHR Plan-Financial losses 2.8 CHAPTER SUMMARY. This study is there to assess the footprints of Covid-19 on human resource planning in the hotel and catering industry as Covid-19 affected the major parts of HRP in the hotel sector like forecasting, inventory and auditing and planning. It caused a number of challenges for the HR practitioners like the cancellation of meetings, financial planning affected, succession planning changed, letting go of committed workers and performance management. CHAPTER THREE 3.1 INTRODUCTION The chapter focused on research methodology used in the study. Essentially, research methodology refers to tactics that follow a specific order in order to achieve the study objectives. It includes an explanation of the research strategy and design that was used. It covers the purposive approach used to choose the sample in order to gather primary data for the research. The data sources that were utilized were also investigated. Interviews, questionnaires, and qualitative instruments were utilized to collect data. Data analysis techniques and ethical considerations are also explored. 3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH A research approach is a plan and procedure for the study that encompasses all the stages i.e. from extensive assumptions to exhaustive methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation (Creswell, 2003).They are two research approaches that are available for use in the world of research which is qualitative and quantitative approaches. Quantitative gathering tools rely on numbers and are partly supported by words in collecting data; examples include charts ,graphs, observations and official statistics like census while on other hand qualitative data gathering tools mainly use words and meanings in collecting data, examples include diaries, interviews and focus groups (Thomas 2009). For this specific research on the effects of Covid-19 on human resource planning, qualitative approach was used. This decision was caused by the fact that, human resource planning being the dependent variable has to be measured using qualitative approaches for an example in order to reach a point to analyzing the down cutting of headcounts human resource have to measure the payroll percentage on revenue, they have to measure the employees per rooms ratio that is the employees against the available workload in order to effectively pan. Also qualitative approach will come in addition because there is a need to conduct interviews with the HR manager at CBR to find out the meaning, the explanations, the reasons as to how Covid-19 affected the HRP of the organisation and the challenges they faced and the way forward. 3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN Research design are plans that guide the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure (Babie, E, and Mounton, J.2001). A case study was utilized in this study because case studies are detailed contextual investigations of events or circumstances and their relationships... Another reason why a case study was used is to avoid generalization in the findings since a case study is more practical and supported by strong evidence, this also means that the information collected was valid since they are practical experience that are actually happening to actual people in the organisation. Best and Kahn (2007) assert that the case studies afford respondents sufficient time to think over their responses while in their setting, thus giving a richer result. The use of the case study design permitted for an in-depth study to be carried out at CBR. 3.4 SAMPLING Sampling is the process of selecting units from a population of interest, so that they can be representative of the entire population. This means that the researcher may fairly generalize results obtained from studying the sample, back to the population from which they were chosen (Denzin, and Lincoln, 1994). In this study, it was decided to use the purposive sampling technique to select a group of about 13 managers from an aggregate population of 60 employees who have a role to play on HRP, because HRP is every manager's role, and use the results to represent the overall picture/situation at Caribea Bay Resort. 3.4.1 SAMPLING FRAME Babbie (2007) defines a research population as the sum total of units from which the representative sample is to be selected. Since the research in on human resource planning which is a management role, the sample frame only consisted of managers and supervisors only and a sample of 13 managers was selected. Department managers Total number Total Sample Number Human Resources 1 1 Front office 2 2 House Keeping 2 2 Food and beverage 5 5 Facilities 2 2 General manager 1 1 13 Total 13 Table 1; Sample Frame 3.4.2 SAMPLING SIZE Out of a total population of 13 managers at CBR, 13 were chosen to form the sample size. De Paulo (2011) points out that, for qualitative research sample sizes are generally small as the main objective is quality or gravity of information gathered, hence for the qualitative part of the research all managers and supervisors were interviewed since 13 is already a small number and also the sample size is perfect for qualitative approach since the number is not too small but just perfect since qualitative approach require a reasonable number to come up with accurate results. To guarantee reliable results, the sample included important factors such as gender, age, years of service, and connectivity to CBR's human resource planning, as well as solely management workers because HRP is a managerial activity. Designation Total Number General Manager 1 HR Manager/HR Trainee 1 Food and Beverage 5 Front Office 2 House Keeping 2 Facilities 2 TOTAL 13 Table 2: Sample Size 3.4.3 SAMPLING METHOD The researcher employed a non-probability sampling method known as purposeful sampling. This is also known as judgment sampling, and it entails the researcher using his or her own expertise to select a sample that best serves the research's principal aim.. This sampling technique enabled the researcher to gain detailed knowledge about a specific phenomenon and in this case about how Covid-19 affected human resource planning at Caribbea Bay Resort and also due to the fact that the population or sample size was very small consisting of only 13 managers and supervisors so it had to be specific. The purposive sample that was used had a clear criteria and rationale for inclusion from the researcher`s side. The researcher used purposive sampling because gaining detailed knowledge about human resource planning and the Covid-19 pandemic at Caribea Bay Resort was the researcher`s main aim rather than make statistical inferences, and also when the population is limited and particular, necessitating the selection of a sample that was most beneficial for the research's goals. It enabled the researcher to get more accurate findings by guaranteeing that the groups chosen are for a specified purpose, namely managers and supervisors. 3.5 DATA COLLECTION Primary sources Primary sources gives the researcher direct evidence about the people, events, or case that he/she is researching. If the researcher is investigating anything current, the main sources can either be qualitative or quantitative data that can be acquired by the researcher, such as through interviews, surveys, experiments, or sources created by individuals directly interested in the issue. Respondents were given a well-structured questionnaire to fill out in order to collect primary data for the study. Managerial staff were also interviewed through online and WhatsApp to confirm information gathered from the questionnaire. However, in this study, depending exclusively on primary sources of data was detrimental since the researcher relied solely her own expertise and judgment. That was not enough to extract as much value as possible from the original materials, necessitating the use of secondary sources such as CBR reports and business review documents. Secondary sources aim to expand upon the material in primary sources, providing a lot more context and meaning, so the researcher used both primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources Secondary sources include anything that discusses, interprets, assesses, or analyzes material from primary sources. Books and encyclopedias are common examples. Reviews and essays in which material is evaluated or interpreted. It is rare to evaluate a secondary source directly when it is mentioned. Instead, the researcher most likely wanted to compare her arguments to fresh data or utilize her ideas to assist create new ones. For the research books, journals, newspapers, the internet, Caribea Bay resort business review reports and board reviews were used to gather information for the study. The researcher used both primary and secondary data collection sources because primary data was helpful as it enabled the researcher to collect first-hand information since the topic was still new and an ongoing practical experience and the secondary sources was helpful in evaluating primary information. 3.6 RESEARCH METHOD Face to Face interviews The face to face meeting, moreover called an in person meet, is likely the foremost well known and most seasoned shape of overview data collection. It has proceeded to be the leading shape of information collection when one needs to play down nonresponse and maximize the quality of the information collected. Face-to-face interviews are frequently utilized to request data in researches that can be considered to be exceptionally delicate for illustration and in this case was used since some managers were not be able to explain their challenges caused by Covid-19 freely on online platforms were information can be recorded .Face to face interviews were not used due to lockdown travel restrictions. Telephone interviews Although face-to-face interviews are likely the best way for gathering data for the study, mobile phone polls are a close second, especially during the Covid-19 epidemic. They are the only instruments accessible for study at times like these, when travel restrictions and lockdowns are in place. Recognizing some of the benefits of this technique, the researcher utilized mobile phones to collect study data as well as disseminate information. This is a perfect for candidates who still do not fill comfortable meeting face to face due to the Covid-19 and also because they are a perfect tool when collecting specific information. Online questionnaires Due to the national lockdown and travel restrictions the researcher used internet questionnaires... Participants were generally asked to enter their responses using simple check boxes or drop down options on the internet. This method is one of the best methods that were used due to the crisis that was prevailing during the time of research. More so, video calls and zoom meetings were also used to provide more detailed responses Whatsapp Interviews The researcher also conducted whatsapp interviews due to the national lockdown and traveling restrictions .Whatsapp interviews by the researcher were carried out by the research through interviewing the candidates on the whatsapp platform. This method is also one of the best methods to use due to the crisis that was prevailing during the time of research. 3.7 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD Since the researcher used qualitative data analysis methods, thematic approach was used in the analysis of data. A way of examining qualitative data is thematic analysis. The research applied it to a corpus of texts derived from interview transcripts. The researcher carefully evaluate the data obtained to find common themes, subjects, concepts, and patterns of meaning that emerged frequently during the interviews, in order to provide accurate, useful, and relevant results. 3.8 RELIABITILI AND VILIDITY Reliability and validity are concepts that were used by the researcher to evaluate the quality of research. According to Seale (1999), establishing a good quality research through reliability and validity in qualitative research, allots that the trustworthiness of a research report lies at the heart of issues conventionally discussed as validity and reliability. They assisted in stating whether or not the research methods or research procedures were effective in measuring anything. Validity is concerned with a measure's precision, whereas reliability is concerned with its consistency. When doing research, developing procedures, and producing results, the researcher understood the need of considering reliability and validity. In order to guarantee the research's reliability, the researcher examined the consistency of results across time and between sections of the test. A trustworthy research is one that is valid. The findings of the researcher's experiments should be repeatable if the results are accurate. 3.9 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS Ethics in research refer to the appropriateness of the researcher’s behavior in relation to the rights of those are affected by his or her work (Punch, 2005).The researcher considered the following; 1. The researcher sought authority from the institution by getting a release form. 2. The researcher sought consent from the organisation under study which is form the General Manager and HR manager at Caribea bay resort. 3. Ensured that the study is conducted for purely academic reasons and with no ulterior motive. 4. The researcher did not make use of the candidate`s names to ensure anonymity CHAPTER FOUR 4.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter provides and examines the data obtained during the research's data gathering procedure. Because the study technique was subjective and qualitative in character, the data was presented in a narrative format. Themes and tables were also used to summarize and exhibit the facts in the information presentation. 4.2 DEMOGRAFIC INFORMATION Eight of the 13 applicants were male, accounting for 62 percent of the total, while five were female, accounting for 38 percent, for a total of 100 percent. However, five females and three men answered. At Caribbea Bay Resort, the researcher was able to obtain perspectives from both genders on the implications of Covid-19 on human resource planning. The respondents' ages varied from 25 to 50, with the 29-38 age group having the most replies. There were no people under the age of 25 or beyond the age of 50 who responded. As a result, the researcher was able to avoid the hazards of a "one tale" by gathering several viewpoints from people of various ages. The majority of respondents (43%) had worked for the organization for three to ten years, while 16 percent had worked for less than one year, 27 percent for two to five years, and 14 percent for eleven to fifteen years. This allowed the researcher to hear from persons who had worked for the organization for a brief time as well as those who had spent time at Caribbea Bay Resort.  All the different variables allowed for the collection of rich in-depth data 4.2.1 Response Rates The researcher targeted 13 respondents but only 8 responded giving a 62% response rate. The questionnaires were administered to only managers and supervisors at CBR from all departments that is HR department, front office, housekeeping, food and beverages and facilities.1 out of 1 respondents responded from the HR department which gives a 100% response rate ,from the food and beverages out of 5 candidates 3 responded giving a response rate on 60 %,from housekeeping out of 2 respondents 1 responded living a 50% response rate and form the front office out of the two candidates two responded giving a 100% response rate ,from facilities out of 2 candidates 1 responded giving a 50% response rate and no response came from the other candidates due to communication barriers and network issues. Response rate according to Research Instrument Category Sample Size Respondents Response Rates Questionnaires 7 6 86% Interviews 6 2 33% Total 13 8 62% Table 3 Out of the intended 13 managers and supervisors, 8 took part in the research. 1 out of 1 HR manager took part in the research. 3 out of 5 from food and beverages took part in the research. 2 out of 2 from front office took part in the research. 1 out of 2 from facilities took part in the research. 1 out of 2 from housekeeping took part in the research. 4.2.2 Demographic Summary Table 4 Category No. of respond ents Gender Age Category Length of Service (Years) Highest Qualification Obtained HR Department 1 - 1 - 1 - - - - - 1 - - - 1 - Housekeeping 1 1 - - 1 - - - 1 - - - - - 1 - Food and Beverages 3 1 2 2 - 1 - - - 2 1 - - 3 - - Front office 2 - 2 2 - - - - - 2 - - - 1 1 - Facilities 1 1 - 1 - - - - - 1 - - - 1 - - Gender Out of 8 respondents, 3 were male and 5 were female managers. This constitutes 38% and 62% respectively. From the Human Resource Office was a female manager, from the food and beverage were 2 females an 1 male, from the front office were 2 females ,from the housekeeping was a male housekeeper and from the facilities department 1 male manager and those are the managers and supervisors who took part in the survey. Age Distribution 5 respondents fell into the 18-28 age bracket, constituting 62 %. 2 fell into the 29-38 age bracket, making up 25 %. The age bracket 39-48 also had 1 respondent, making up 13 %. No respondents were above the age of 48 years. Length of Service 1 respondent had worked for the organization for less than a year, making up 13 %. 5 respondents fell into the 2-5 years bracket, making up 62 %. 2 respondent was in the 6-15 years bracket, making up 25 %. No respondent had worked for more than 15 years. Highest Qualification Obtained 5 respondents have obtained a National Diploma as their highest qualification, making up 62.5 %. 3 respondents have Undergraduate Degrees as their highest qualification, Constituting 37.5 %. 4.3. DATA PRESENTATION 4.3.1 The effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning at Caribbea Bay Resort The major effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning that were highlighted by the respondents were salary decrease, staffing reduced including some of the best performers, families starving, loss of Job security, reduce leave days, permanent position empty, cant forecast easily now since business trends were affected and consistency disturbed, now working with inexperienced staff, recruitment process affected as there if uncertainty of the future and poor performance of the hotel. These are the responses that came from all 8 of the respondents. Salary Decrease The respondents together agreed that the Covid-19 affected their salaries in a very negative way and it is one of the major problems that they are facing which have also gone to a point of demotivating them. One of the respondents said that, ―” The decision to stop people from coming to work and the decision to slash salaries has been difficult, people had to change their lifestyle”. . Two other employees had this to say, “Most families will be exposed to hunger due to no income.” Three other employees agreed saying that, “It’s now hard working here due to the reduction of salaries because when l am working l am busy thinking of how l can earn an extra income for my family to survive and sometimes l am forced to fake illness to do my side hustles. This is stressful.” It was also highlighted that their salaries could no longer keep up with the cost of basic commodities. Two of the employees were quoted saying, “It is stressful to think that salary yangu haikwani.” (It is stressful to think that I can no longer afford certain things with my salary.) The respondents highlighted that the Covid-19 with its regulations and uncertainties is making them fear for their job security, and this is adding to occupational stress. Staffing Reduced Out of the 8 that responded to the questionnaire, 4 of the respondents listed issues to do with the reduction of workers as one of the effects that they are suffering due to the Covid-19.This is mainly because of the retrenchment that was dong in 2020 that led to a lot of employees even the best ones to have their contracts terminated. According to 3 of the respondents the retrenchment exercise left a gap in the organisation. One manager had this to say, “It has not been easy to plan as the Company had to lay off some workers so that it could stay afloat.it is a difficult process as you are forced to let go some of you best performers due to the pandemic.” Another supervisor had this to say, “We are fewer than we used to be, so the work is piling up.” Another manager stated, “We lost most of our experienced staff and we are now working with inexperienced employees who work on Contract basis.” And then the last one of the four said that “The workers that we lost prior to the Covid-19 ,most of them are irreplaceable asserts of the organisation that we will never be able to forget an training someone else to become as good as those we lost might not happen in the next ten years to come .” He went on to say that, “We had an experienced room attendant who resigned during the pandemic and was not replaced, it really affected as we had to engage a casual from there on...” Loss of Job security Another cause of the Covid-19 on the HR planning of the hotel that was highlighted by two of the respondents was loss of Job security. Two supervisors highlighted the issue to do with the employees losing confidence in the hotel sector because the hotel occupations have been proven to be unsecure... One interviewee said this, “It's going to recover but it's going to be challenge in the early days because most people have lost confidence in tourism employment, they think one day they will lose their jobs.” One other interviewee said because this is an occurrence that is happening for the first time it left them shaken up. She had this to say, “Working at a hotel is now like taking a risk as you don’t know what will happen the next day and it’s also putting my children and family and retrenchment package at risk, and l don’t see myself working in a hotel five years from today” Forecasting and Recruitment One of the interviewee said that concerning forecasting, “I would prefer work life before the pandemic, it was easy to plan, you would know your business trends better, economic sense it was easy to plan and everything was consistent.” To add on he said that, “Recruiting employees is a challenge while the HRM department is in the recruitment process the number of cases rise and lockdown strike.” 4.3.2 Challenges encountered in Human Resource Planning caused by the Covid-19 pandemic? In response to the question ― What Challenges did you face mostly during the Covid-19 pandemic in human resource Planning?, All the respondents responded regarding their department challenges and some of the Challenges were ,Short staffing ,No recruitments done ,Less income to the business, no certainty of a better future. Four out of the 8 despondence were quite bitter in their responses as the challenges where affecting them emotionally and causing too much workload on them because they could not have additional employees to help. Two of the respondents said that,” “Recruiting employees is a challenge while the HRM department is in the recruitment process the number of cases rise and lockdown strike” Other three managers had this to say, “We have managed to operate at 100 percent for the past 2 months but now because of this current lockdown we are back to zero percent and we are not certain of the rand of this year as everything lies on the government policies like lockdown and rise of Covid cases” Two employees who was interviewed were of the view that the Covid-19 has brought nothing but chaos and Challenges to the hotel and no benefits at all, below is what he said, “To be honest I seriously doubt that we benefitted in any way, considering the fact that most of our employees lost their Jobs and those that are left are being paid half of what they used to earn and their families are suffering so this means that loyal employees will not be seen because the situation if hard for anyone to stay put and look for another job and affecting the hrp plan process” In response to the question, ― Do you think the hotel has a chance of fully recovering to its old state after the Covid-19 in terms of human resource planning and why? One employee stated, “It's going to recover but it's going to be challenge in the early days because most people have lost confidence in tourism employment, they think one day they will lose their jobs.” The other 2 respondents also stated that, “The hotel will recover and a lot of people are unemployed out there, it might take a bit of time with trainings so that people are up to speed.” And five of the respondents together agreed that, “Yes it has a chance, more work means more staff, and our business is mostly dominated by local market or -domestic tourism rather, usually.” 4.3.3 Plans and practices that were adopted by Human resource managers during the Covid-19 period? 3 out of 8 interviewees acknowledged that there are ways and practices that were done during the pandemic in order to lessen the challenges that they were facing due to the Covid-19.They also said that if they had not done what they did the hotel might have been wounded to a point were revival was not achievable after the pandemic In response to the question ‗ as an organisation, what steps did you take to lighten the impact of the Covid-19 on human resources? ‘, 3 of the respondents had this to say, “We engaged staff on developments that are happening due to the pandemic, and called in experts to explain to staff on the new way of doing things, financial planning..” The other manager had this to say, “Salaries has been cut to percent so that everyone can earn a living and the organization survives.” The other manager said, “We successfully reduced staff, accommodating staff at hotel to avoid interaction with the society and also cutting salaries to enable the hotel to function smoothly.” The manager went on to say, “Just like when a ship is sinking, the ones inside have to throw items making the ship heavy into the water, same with us, the hotel was sinking due to zero occupancies, so we had to cut on our staff and let go some of our best performers in order to save the hotel.” In response to the question ‗ What Challenges did you face in implementing the ideas to lighten the effects of Covid-19 on human resource planning? ‘, 2 of the respondents had this to say, ”Staff was caught unaware by the pandemic, so the change of lifestyle was difficult, staff did not take it lightly and had to of lots of meetings.” The other one said, “Staff has adjusted to the new ways of living and are very cognoscenti of the hardship we are going through.” 4.4 DATA ANALYSIS 4.4.1. Demographics Response rate The sample frame was drawn from all the managers and supervisors at Caribea Bay Resort in Kariba. This is because that is where the organisation is located and all the managers work hand in hand with the other employees not at the African sun head office where the administration office is located. The managers and supervisors at CBR are the ones that monitor all the operations at the hotel and controls. At CBR, there is the General Manager, the HR manager, the FNB manager with his assistant manager, the Restaurant manager, the Executive Chef and the Head Chef, The Housekeeper and his supervisor, The Front Office manager and the reservationist who is the supervisor and the Facilities manager with his supervisor. These managers interviewed were 8 in total out of a selected sample of 13 managers. De Paulo (2011) points out that, for qualitative research sample sizes are generally small as the main objective is quality or gravity of information gathered, hence for the qualitative part of the research all managers and supervisors were to be interviewed since 13 is already a small number. The researcher failed to get a 100% response rate is due to the fact that 5 of the managers could not be reached due to the lockdown, some had travelled to their villages, some had not communication gadgets to communicate and the others it was due to network challenges since the researcher used technological methods of data collection online. Gender Out of the 13 managers at the hotel, were 8 respondents, 3 were male and 5 female. The female managers were more than the male managers in numbers due to the fact that in the hotel and catering industry in general there are more female employees than male employees. Their Genders did not affect the research in any way because their perspectives were the same. The perspective turned out to be the same due to the fact that the topic had nothing to do with gender but was on the effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning an all the managers take part in HRP in the organisation so they only had to state how the Covid-19 affected their labor. Age 7 respondents, who make up 88 %, are Generation Y employees which are from 25-40 years or Millennial and these make up the majority. 1 respondent is from Generation X which is 12 % of the total respondents. The researcher managed to get information from all the age groups to ensure that the results are accurate. Length of Service The researcher categorized the length of service into 5 categories; less than a year, 2-5 years, 6-10 years, 11-15 years and above 15 years. The researcher did that so as to gather different views, and the respondents fell into all the categories. The most populated category is 2-5 years, constituting 62 %. This means that respondents had gained several years of experience on the job and saw the organisation before and after the Covid-19 and are the once who felt and saw the changes and effects of the Covid-19. Educational Qualifications Educational qualifications of respondents range from a National Diploma 62 % to an Undergraduate Degree and 38 %. This indicates that the respondents are highly literate therefore their views on the matter can be trusted. 4.4.2. The effects of the Covid-19 on Human Resource Planning. The effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning that were highlighted by the respondents were salary decrease, staffing reduced including some of the best performers, families starving, loss of Job security, reduce leave days, not easy to permanently hire anymore, cant forecast easily now since business trends were affected and consistency disturbed, now working with inexperienced staff, recruitment process affected as there if uncertainty of the future and poor performance of the hotel. Salary Decrease All 8 of the respondents were asked the effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning and they listed salary decrease as an effect which makes salary decrease as a major effect. Two of the respondents pointed out that salary decrease is actually the cause effect of many challenges to follow including the loos of commitment in workers as they now are doing side hustles to earn a living for the families considering the fact that the do not have confidence in their organisation anymore. Montague et al (2016) asserts that it is difficult to instill lost confidence in employees. They also went on to say that ,originally hotel occupations before the pandemic are not high paying Job and already employees were not satisfied especially those that are not managerial employees hence that is why there are more young aged employed than old age because employee realize that working for the hotel sector has less benefits and find other better opportunities, so with a situation like that already existing in the hotel sector the Covid-19 has just come to worsen an already unsatisfying situation. Relatively low pay according to Wan et al., (2014) have already discouraged many prospective employees from up-taking hotel jobs in the past. The respondents went on to say that the already where receiving complaints from employees concerning low pay and this has done nothing but increase the number of complaining from staff concerning too little salary and some have even started resigning. One of the respondents even went on to say that It’s now hard working here due to the reduction of salaries because when l am working l am busy thinking of how l can earn an extra income for my family to survive and sometimes l am forced to fake illness to do my side hustles, this is stressful. Drawing from that statement it is showing that the reduction of salaries at the hotel is also leading a chain of problems like workplace stress as the employees are not trying to balance their work and family need .This means that human resource planning will not be effectively done as there are challenges after challenges and the future of the hotel is uncertain and unpredictable. Staffing Reduced Caribbea Bay Resort conducted are major retrenchment practice in 2020.1of the 8 respondents pointed out that It has not been easy to plan as the Company had to lay off some workers so that it could stay afloat.it is a difficult process as you are forced to let go some of you best performers due to the pandemic. In human resources planning hr practitioners have to be flexible to recruit or cut on employee depending on the workload available in the organization and in this case of the Covid-19 the hotel had to let go of some of its best staff in order to stay functional during the pandemic. Armstrong (2001: 357) defined it as, “The process of ensuring that the human resource requirements of an organization are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements and in this case plan had to be made to balance the little workload with the existing employees. The forecasting stage of human resource planning was also affected because there is no way of predicting the future of the sector with the Covid-19 still prevailing. As mentioned by the other respondents, the Covid-19 enabled them to realize that they do not need many employees of as many workers as the used to employ due to the fact that the few that they had could manage to perform just as perfect as the other employees used to in their numbers. CBR have realized that not a lot of workers are required to perform duties at the hotel, and this has been exposed since more multi-tasking by less employees is being implemented. The reduction of employees at the hotel also is demotivating those employees that are left at the hotel in the sense that they were now used to work as a team together with the other colleagues and now most times there has to be few people in a shift and this has killed that sense of family and belongingness for them. Research has shown that interpersonal bonds are one of the keys to engagement in the workplace (Fisher, 2013; Tuckman, 1965) According to the Maslow`s hierarchy of needs of an employee needs a sense of belongingness, family and a sense of connection. Below is an illustration of the hierarchy of needs. Maslow`s Hierarchy of needs Fig 6; Saul McLeod, (2020) Loss of Job Security According to one of the interviewee the hotel is going to recover but it's going to be challenge in the early days because most people have lost confidence in tourism employment, they think one day they will lose their jobs. This perceived insecurity and fragility of hotel occupations may negatively affect future recruitment of hotel staff (Mao et al., 2020).The above statements highlight the fact that there has been a major loss to job security and confidence of employee on the hotel .Montague et al (2016) asserts that it is not easy to instill lost confidence in employees. Especially no after a disaster like Covid-19 hitting the industry the hotel employees have lost confidence in the hotel sector and their choices of being employed in a hotel. Covid-19 will exacerbate this challenge as the uncertain future of the hotel business may prompt qualified workforce to seek employment in other economic sectors (Mao et al., 2020). As we speak now most hotel employees have actually started moonlighting and focusing on the side hustles. One of the respondents even said that when l am working l am busy thinking of how l can earn an extra income for my family to survive and sometimes l am forced to fake illness to do my side hustles hence supporting the notion that Job security has vanished from the hotel. Organizational commitment is now little among the hotel employees, working in a sector that does not guarantee job security is out of the question. Promotion of organisational commitment of hotel employees especially those in managerial positions and administrative positions is, therefore, likely to represent a critical task for General Managers and HR managers post pandemic. 4.4.3. Challenges encountered in Human Resource Planning caused by the Covid-19 pandemic? 62 % of the respondents agreed that during the Covid-19 pandemic they face more challenges that benefits and some of those challenges were reduction of salaries of employees by 50 %, losing some of their best performers, not being able to pro-act due to the uncertainty of the future, working with unexperienced workers who clearly need to be trained and loss of passion for working amongst employees. The Covid-19 pandemic has imposed a number of significant detrimental, immediate and long term, impacts on the hotel sector Jiang and Wen, (2020). There are speculations that the hotel sector will significantly shrink as the result of the pandemic, thus outlining bleak prospects for its current and future investors and employees of the hotel sector (Taylor, 2020). Covid-19 will exacerbate this challenge as the uncertain future of the hotel business may prompt qualified workforce to seek employment in other economic sectors (Mao et al., 2020). According to Yifan .Z.et al, (2021) the great challenge organisations are facing today is not a single event but a new normal that offers different research venues for organisational scholars and practitioner. The Covid-19 will reduce the long term profitability of hotels, thus undermining the viability of their traditional business models (Gossling ¨ et al., 2020) .These challenges has provided hardships for the hotel sector and has already started making it a hard thing for the hotel sector to fully recover from the effects of the Covid-19. 2 of the respondents pointed out that the Covid-19 came to make their work life harder and not easy to conduct as they could not perform as good as they used to due to the human resource gaps that were left by those employees that were dismissed. 1of the respondents said that recruitment is now reliant on casual business as and when hotel is busy. That does not guarantee exceptional service delivery and this has proven to be a challenge for the hotel. 2 of the respondents alluded that in training they had difficulties in having physical interaction training. Technological methods needed to be grasped first and required hardware which the organization doesn't have. 3 of the respondents had an issue on succession planning saying that industry was one of most hit by the Covid-19 and company payroll cost reduction strategies increased staff turnover 4.4.4. Plans and practices adopted by Human resource managers during the Covid-19 period? The human resource manager as a respondent had much to say in relation to this part of the questionnaire .Due to the harm and depth of damages done by the Covid-19, the management at CBR managed to put up some plans and practices in place in order to lessen the problems and manage the crisis and losses on the part of the organisation and the employees. Even though some of the studies were carried out to examine the impact of Covid-19 Baum and Hai, (2020) there is still a lack of research examining the effective crisis management practices during an epidemic crisis in the hotel industry. As the demand for hotel rooms decreases (Song et al., 2011), hotel room rates and occupancy percentage decrease accordingly (Kim et al., 2005), thus if the hotel does not adjust according to the changes they will incur losses. Given the depth of seriousness of the pandemic, a study examining how hotels perceive and react to this crisis can provide a better understanding on how to manage future epidemic crises. 1 of the respondents said that during the pandemic Salaries were cut to 50% percent so that everyone can earn a living and the organization survives. This was to ensure that even though the organisation was operating at zero percent occupancy and not having any funds coming in, the employees will receive their salaries but only 50 % of it in order to make sure they are surviving during the pandemic. However according to Wan et al., (2014) relatively low pay have already discouraged many prospective employees from up-taking hotel jobs in the past hence forth 50% of the already low pay will definitely demotivate the employees. 2 of the respondents said that training was one of the management of the crisis plans the used saying that they engaged staff on developments that are happening due to the pandemic, and called in experts to explain to staff on the new way of doing things pertaining the pandemic like cleanliness ,hygiene and safety, and financial planning. ”. Hotel cleanliness is more important in light of the Covid-19 because hotel guests tend to priorities their health and hygiene (Jiang and Wen, 2020). 4.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter was presenting the findings of the study and making an analysis. The response rate was 62 %, 13 out of the intended 8 participants took part in the research. 8 questionnaires were sent on whatsapp to the respondents and 8 were returned, one participant sent an audio answering the question asked and some of the interviews were conducted using phone calls and emails to embrace the gig economy. The respondents were, the HR manager, the Housekeeper, the F`nB manager and his assistant manager, The Restaurant manager, the Facilities manager, the Front office manager and the Reservationist. The main effects of the Covid-19 on HRP were decrease of salaries, loss of committed workforce, financial instability and loss of job security. The hotel faced quite a lot of challenges along the way and implemented some policies and practices to manage the crisis. . CHAPTER FIVE 5.1 INTRODUCTION The information gathered was presented and analyzed in the preceding chapter. The study findings will be summarized in this last chapter. Recommendations for the Caribbea Bay Resort will be provided. 5.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS The research intended to assess the effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning, Caribbea Bay Resort was used as the organisation of choice in the case study. Out of a total population of 62 employees at Caribbea Bay Resort, a sample size of 13 managers and supervisors were selected due to the purpose of the research. However, 8 managers and supervisors were able to participate in the survey, resulting in a 62 percent response rate. To get to the bottom of the problem, a qualitative research technique was employed. Because there has been little study on the subject, an exploratory and analytic research approach was utilized. The first objective of this study was to identify the effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning and the respondents pointed out that due to the Covid-19 the hotel occupancy dropped to zero % hence there was a retrenchment exercise that took place and came with a lot of changes in the human resource planning process, salaries where cut, there has been quite a lot of resignation due to less income, no way of predicting the future ,the hotel occupation lost its touch of attractiveness and recruitment process has changed in a very significant way. The second objective was to identify the challenges that were faced caused by the Covid-19. Respondents alluded that because of the low salaries, families are starving, there has been a lot of shirking or side hustles, some of the best performers had to be dismissed, employees have lost confidence in the hotel occupation and the is no Job security anymore in the hotel sector. The third objective was to state the plans and action that were taken in order to manage the crisis and it was identified that the retrenchment process was one of the crisis management plans ,trainings on hygiene and Covid-19 were done and also salaries were cut in order to manage losses and damages caused by the Covid-19. 5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS 5.3.1 Introduce the use of more technology than Human service. It is recommended that Caribbea Bay resort use more technology than human service .There is an expeditious development and introduction of the use of robots and artificial intelligence technology all around the world in hotels, debates on how robots will replace human service are omnipresent among researchers and practitioners, it is high time such technology is introduced in Zimbabwe especially at CBR considering the disturbance that natural disasters affect the hotel sector especially now with the Covid-19 still prevailing. While some see the progress of these technologies as an important risk factor in regard to jobs and unemployment, others mention the positive changes they can bring in terms of enhancing quality of life, health, and welfare Choi et al., (2020) .The use of artificial intelligence also would be quite beneficial to CBR because robots would operate better that employees since there will not be emotions involved, absenteeism, conflicts and all the other weaknesses that comes with employing human beings hence pointing out the effectiveness of using more technology. The diagram bellow shows a picture of a robot assisting at the front office desk. Robot service Fig 7; a robot serving at the front desk 5.3.2 Instil loyalty in employees As mentioned in the previous chapters, the Covid-9 pandemic came and took away the attractiveness of the hotel and catering industry including at CBR .One of the main negative, long term damages of Covid-19 in the hotel sector is likely to be in the reduced attractiveness of hospitality occupations (Baum and Hai, 2020).Hotel occupation are now unattractive and not a lot of people still want to look for employment there and those that are there are not really satisfied with being employed by a hotel due to the issue of job security in the hotel sector. This has led to a serious issue on organizational commitment and loyalty among hotel employees, hence there is a serious need to revive the employee loyalty through treating then in a respectful manner and appreciate their services. According to Alex Sogno (2020) the corporate value of hotel brands includes the relevant element of employee caring. There is even a common statement in the hotel sector which says “take care of your employee, so that they take care of your customer “hence this tool is needed now more than ever to revive organizational commitment among employees. Alex Sogno (2020) went on to say that, the determination to maintain a positive attitude towards staff caring and experience throughout the crisis is crucial for the recovery phase of the hotel industry. Good employer branding can be a competitive strategy in the market, besides employees do not forget when you support them during tough periods hence The Caribbea Bay resort should consider raising a standard when it comes to reinstalling loyalty amongst employees. 5.3.3 Digitalize HRM practices In the verge of reviving HRM functions in the hotel sector, human resource managers should consider digitalizing human resource functions. According to Eshan.M.R and Dr. Binoy (2018) “the use of digital technology in Human Resource Management creates a new trend in hotel management systems” .There is an importance in persistently improving and innovating Human resource Practices in order to maintain the competitiveness in the hospitality industry. Innovative human resource management practices can be necessary for retaining employees and their performance, and in this case ,introducing digital practices like online trainings, online meetings, zero hour flexibility ,internet performance ratings how be quite beneficial to both workers and the management at CBR. It will also help in striking a balance between professional and personal life. However digital based work offers some flexibility, autonomy, and empowerment, but also incurs the danger of work intensification, increased stress levels and working time, and blurring of the boundaries between work and private life. It may also outsource traditional employer responsibilities, such as health and safety protection, to workers according to Elena .F. and Olgar, .K. (2019). 5.4. CONCLUSION The main objective of this study was to analyze the effects of the Covid-19 on human resource planning in the hotel sector with Caribbea Bay as the organisation of choice. This research identified a number of effects caused by the Covid-19 which were, a retrenchment exercise that led to the letting go of valuable employees, cutting of salaries, loss of attraction of hospitality occupations ,trainings done differently ,Loss of Job security and loss of organisational commitment as well. 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Journal of Risk and Financial Management 14: 228. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm- ;( Accessed 04 August 2021) Zhao, Y. and Xu, H. (2020). “Chinese public attention to COVID-19 epidemic: based on social media”, medRxiv, available at: https://doi.org/10.1101/-: (Accessed 04 August 2021) APPENDICES Research Instruments R172773H is the registration number of the Researcher, from The Midlands State University Conducting a research on the effects of Covid-19 on Human Resource Planning at Caribbea Bay Resort. The following are open ended interview questions that will be used by the researcher in order to discover deeper information on the effects of Covid-19 on Human Resource Planning at Caribbea Bay Resort. 1) a) What do you think are the benefits encountered at CBR from the changes made in human resource planning due to the Covid-19? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… b) Which specific facets of human resource planning were affected by the Covid-19 in your department? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. c) Do you think the Covid-19 came to make human resource planning easier or harder to conduct? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. d) Which of the following do you prefer, work life before Covid-19 pandemic and work life During and after the Covid-19 pandemic, and why? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2) a) What Challenges did you face mostly during the Covid-19 pandemic in human resource Planning? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. b) Do you think the hotel has a chance of fully recovering to its old state after the Covid-19 in terms of human resource planning and why? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… c) What was the major problem that you encountered that left a bigger wound than the other Challenges faced that had an impact on your human resource? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… d) How much have you recovered so far in terms of percentage as an organisation, and How much are you expecting to recover by the end of the year? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3) a) As an organisation, what steps did you take to lighten the impact of the Covid-19 on human resources? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… b) How successful were they in minimizing the effects on HRP caused by the Covid-19? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… c) Do you think that there was more you could have done to save the organisation but could not due to external or internal limitations? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. d) What Challenges did you face in implementing the ideas to lighten the effects of Covid-19 on human resource planning? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4) a) What do you think should be done to revive the hotel sector to its normal operations? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………