This, she said, would enable them to develop responses for the changing business conditions in which they operate and become resilient.

Mrs Hutchful gave the advice at the opening of the 8^thedition of the Women in Human Resources (HR)Conference organised by the Ghana Employers’ Association (GEA) in Accra on Wednesday on the theme “Building Corporate Resilience in the Post-COVID-19 Recovery Period-The Role of HR.”

The two-day conference brought together HR personnel from various organisations mostly women, to discuss some challenges facing HR leaders as well as best practices for capitalising more effectively on the opportunities arising in the Post-COVID-19 recovery period.

According to her, there must be a specific focus on areas such as employees’ mental health and general well being organisational culture, performance management, learning and development, succession planning, compensation and benefits.

She said there was the need for HR practitioners to pay attention to the mental health of workers as they often go through a lot of mental stress and were often excluded from wealth and health programmes.

On the issue of organisational culture, Mrs Hutchful underscored the need for HR practitioners to rebuild organisational culture which is embedded in its mission, vision and core values and had been broken by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mrs Hutchful said “you must lead management in preparing or revising your succession plans in order to build a pipeline of successful successors. You need to retain your people but should they leave, that should not disrupt the business.”

She also urged HR managers to lead the charge in championing the adjustments that were needed to be made in sustaining staff by, analysing the impact of the economic conditions on employees’ compensation and making recommendations to restore purchasing power.

Delivering the welcome address, the first Vice President of the GEA, Dr Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodee, said the theme for the occasion was chosen due to the economic impact of the post COVID-19 pandemic on businesses which required prudent and strategic effort in addressing it.

Although building resilient corporate entities may take different form, Dr Adu-Sarkodee said the role of HR department in supporting businesses’ ambition could not be underestimated.

Going forward, one core area that needed attention and had the potential of promoting business turn around he said was the kind of skills set that should be embodied in the workforce.

“This means that business problems in post-COVID-19 era cannot be resolved solely by skills, methods and tools rooted in the past. HR leaders therefore need to prepare their organisations and make sure that they have the right skills set, capabilities, processes and data to support their organisations for rapid recovery and growth”, Dr Adu-Sarkodee added.