An Organizational Recovery Paradox in Managing Working Hours, Staffing, and Recovery During the COVID-19 Pandemic – a Qualitative Study

The COVID-19 pandemic put pressure on healthcare organizations, making them dependent on sufficient resources and employees’ performance. Recovery is a key factor in maintaining safe operations, employee health, and retention. However, during the pandemic, working hours became more demanding, which limited time for recovery between shifts. The responsibility to ensure employee recovery in relation to working hours lies at the organizational level. The aim of this study was to examine how working hours, staffing, and recovery were managed at the organizational level during the COVID-19 pandemic in Swedish health care, studied from the perspective of HR representatives. Qualitative interview data based on 19 HR representatives from 16 Swedish regions was analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations maximized working hours and reorganized employees, care, and HR. Actions were taken to buffer job demands, including providing support and identifying employees who were not feeling well. Inadequate staffing and skill mix influenced the management of working hours, staffing, and recovery. Our findings highlight the use of short-term solutions to manage the situation at hand, which could lead to exhaustion of human capital long-term and subsequent effects on safety, performance, and employee retention. We term this phenomenon the organizational recovery paradox.