Seven tips for supporting your staff during the pandemic
The pandemic has affected so many of people on a global scale, and many businesses are still fighting to stay afloat in this new normal that we’re all in together. Your staff are an important and integral part of the business, so it’s good to make sure you’re doing everything you can to look after them and to put things in place so that they’re supported. With that in mind, here are seven tips for supporting your staff during the pandemic.
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Remember that communication is key
Communication is an important part of any business, regardless of whether there’s a global pandemic going on or not. Having the right communications in place as a workforce is essential for keeping a check on everyone and ensuring your staff is feeling good. Whether they’ve been placed on furlough or not, it’s good to check in to see if they’re doing ok and giving them an update on anything new that’s happening within the company. Your managers or senior staff members should be actively conversing with those they’re responsible for and to keep
Be honest with any bad news
As the pandemic continues to roll on, there’s a reality that many businesses will have to let staff go and make the relevant re-structuring needed for the company. The thought of losing your job during a pandemic is terrifying as there will hardly be many other companies that will be hiring staff. However, your employees would benefit and appreciate your honesty in the situation even if it involves bad news. It can be hard to deal with multiple staff redundancies, but it’s critical in making sure you handle the process of it all correctly. In general, you always want to be transparent with your staff, especially as the situation develops and continues. Keeping them up to date with everything that’s going on, on a regular basis, is going to be helpful for their own peace of mind. It also gives them the opportunity to make the necessary steps in making sure they’re ok.
Acknowledge this isn’t normal
Nothing about this situation is normal, and that’s something we’re all learning to process and adapt to. This is something that’s not going to right itself anytime soon, and so it’s important to do what you can to reassure your staff and to remind them that these are exceptional and strange times in general. It’s important that you have patience with your staff and that they learn to have patience with the situation that they’re in. They’re going to be working remotely for some time until it’s safe for everyone to go back to work in what we all considered as normal before the pandemic began. That’s going to take a lot of processing, and the longer it goes on, the harder it gets for everyone. Be accepting of this as a business owner and make sure your staff are acknowledging the situation and that it’s perfectly fine to not be feeling your usual self or finding the experience difficult.
Give your staff the right resources
Your staff need support in different ways, and so it’s good to provide as many resources as possible that are going to be helpful. If it’s to do with their mental wellbeing, then there are plenty of phone numbers and online resources to suggest, and this should be coming from your HR department where possible. It’s good to show that you’re making an active effort to ensure the wellbeing of your staff and not just focusing on the work that they need to do. As they’re not working in an office environment, you might need to think about taking advantage of all the different technology platforms available to speed up work processes and make them easier in this new working environment. The more that you can provide that will give them the support they need, the better.
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Be more flexible with working hours
Working hours are something that you might want to reconsider or at least re-structure slightly. There’s going to be a lot of staff who are not used to working remotely and from their homes too. That means their homes become the place they eat, work, sleep and repeat their days and weeks. It can start to become more stressful and emotionally draining because they’re not getting out of the home. It’s therefore good to think about how you could be more flexible with working hours. You could perhaps do shifts of work depending on how busy the working day can be. There are summer hours that you could incorporate into the business where certain staff finish earlier on one Friday and then the rest will finish early the following week and so on.
You want to give your staff members the necessary breaks that they might need to just re-focus. There are a lot more distractions at home too, and so it can be hard to get focused to work when you’re not in a typical working environment. Be forgiving of this and try to make it more comfortable for your staff to have that flexibility when and where it’s needed.
Set your staff up remotely
With staff working remotely, not every staff member is going to have an office space. Some might not even have a proper desk to work from, and so it’s important to try and supply your staff with the equipment and furniture needed if they’re struggling to work from home. Whether it’s taking the height adjustable desk from the office and delivering it to them or supplying them with the desk accessories, it can all help to support your staff and their health. Make sure they have all the technology they need and if it’s a case of replacing some of the technology, then consider it as an investment into the company for the future.
This pandemic has certainly shown that working remotely definitely works for many businesses, and this might be the new norm, even when things start to ease more. With that being said, it’s good to have your business set up with everything needed to have it’s staff work remotely successfully.
Encourage more breaks
Breaks are something that would usually be missed when in the office, and it’s something that is good to change when it comes to workplace values. Giving your staff break times is important, and enforcing this should be something that you as the business owner should be rolling out to your senior staff who are supervising other staff. Make sure that your staff members are all taking a proper lunch break and stepping away from the desk. Be sure to also suggest your staff take regular breaks to make a drink, take a walk around their local area and switch off for 10 or 15 minutes. It’s needed more than ever, and it can actually help to make your staff more productive as a whole.
This pandemic has affected us in ways that we never thought would be possible in this day and age. It’s something that we’ll forever remember once it’s gone and a lot is going to change as a result of this event. Looking after your staff is essential to keeping the business going strong, even during these tough times. Make sure that you are keeping up with regular communication and that you’ve made sure your staff are set up correctly to work without too many issues. Encourage breaks and acknowledge this situation is unique and certainly not normal for anyone right now.
