Human resource managers had to take many decisions in a very short period, such as how to best communicate the companies' priorities, and who and how employees would work away from the offices. A survey from Gartner revealed that 88% of organizations encouraged or required their employees to work from home due to the coronavirus (Gartner, 2020). It began as a public health crisis, but it rapidly moved into a significant global economic challenge, reaching nearly every layer of organizations, and their employees (EY, 2020). Countries, economies, and whole continents have come across the fear of the unknown and the shock of the lockdown. The COVID‐19 pandemic changed each person's reality overnight.
The COVID‐19 pandemic is acting as a motivator for change, speeding the “future of work” and the need to plan now to be prepared for the next normal (Deloitte, 2020). When the WHO officially declared the coronavirus outbreak on March 11, 2020, few would have predicted the extent to which the world would change, and the speed at which the change would happen (Shortland, 2020). The World Health Organization first learned of this new virus from cases in Wuhan, People's Republic of China on Decem(WHO, 2020). We suggest some recommendations to human resource managers and conclude that the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on expatriates can be a pathway to work‐life harmony, where work and life are seen as an integrative domain, rather than competing ones.Ĭoronavirus disease (COVID‐19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. Results show that although since the beginning of the quarantine, personal life is interfering in work, causing work‐life conflict, the role of the expatriates' family positively impacted their work‐life balance, and harmony. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 12 expatriates. Here, we present the findings of how expatriates work‐day life changed while performing overseas tasks during the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic and analyze how this new status quo may influence future expatriates' expectations regarding their work‐life interface. Although work‐life interface is a challenge among expatriates it can also be a work‐life harmony. International assignments tend to be a turbulent time for expatriates, as they bring about changes in the two main spheres of their lives: personal and work.
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