Victimisation and anti-victimisation in the workplace during COVID 19–a human resources manager’s perspective

Organisational behaviour literature focused on employee victimisation stemming from personal relationships like bullying and harassment. The COVID-19 crisis proved that employee victimisation can also involve contextual factors. Nevertheless, this type of victimisation has not been adequately studied. The aim of this study is to investigate employee victimisation in Israel during COVID-19 and explore the role of Human Resource Managers as anti-victimisation factors in organisations. The study used qualitative methods: 52 Human Resource Managers were interviewed about their functioning during COVID-19. Interviews were coded and analysed. The analysis reflects employees’ victimisation during the COVID-19 crisis and the anti-victimisation functioning of HR Managers. Findings expose the important role of HR Managers as anti-victimisation organisational factors, pointing to the strengthening of HR Managers in Israeli organisations as an important step towards their integration as strategic organisational partners. Moreover, this paper suggests how to cope with employee victimisation for the benefit of employees and organisations.