Navigating COVID-19 – WFH, Now What?

The uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 brings a level of anxiety into the workplace that most employers have not experienced before.  Not only does the outbreak of an infectious disease make staff fearful for their own health, but COVID-19 has also brought news of crashing markets – causing concern for our financial futures.  If your employees are working from home, consider the following suggestions to ensure a healthy work environment, even from afar.

Communication is essential.

Periodic communication around COVID-19 will help your employees know that you are taking this issue seriously and will help you build trust.  Make sure you are sharing any new health-related developments while keeping staff informed about company-specific business developments.  

It is important that the lines of communication are open in both directions.  Listen to your employees.  If you are a small business, reach out to individual employees to hear what is on their minds. Larger business should ask mangers to reach out to employees and also share the employee feedback they receive with the C-suite.  In some organizations, it might make sense to set up a committee to gather concerns.  Don’t just listen. A concern raised by one employee is likely shared by many, so seek methods to address these issues in a manner that respects the concerned employee’s anonymity. 

Just because you cannot meet in person, does not mean you cannot meet face to face.  If you normally had weekly catch ups with an employee, move that connection to FaceTime or Zoom.  For your extroverted employees and those living alone, these interactions will help them feel connected. And if your employees have not used this software, make sure you provide them step-by-step instructions.

Practice patience and flexibility.  

We are all getting used to this new reality and there will be some hicups along the way.  Employees with families are trying to do their work while juggling their children who are home from daycare and school.  Understand that you might hear children or dogs in the background.  

Employees might be helping with sick family members and may not be able to join regularly scheduled meetings.  Be sure to be flexible by offering to change the time or fill them in later with what they missed.

Some of your normal practices and policies will have to be adjusted during this time.  Your willingness to help employees will help reduce stress.  Be creative in how you approach issues that might come up over the coming weeks.

Managing sick employees.

More than likely, an employee will get sick. The economic fear of losing a job due to an illness is real for many.  FMLA covers serious health conditions, which includes employees that have a COVID-19 infection and their 14 day quarantine period.  Assure staff that they are not at risk of losing their job if they get sick and encourage them to take care of themselves, in turn taking care of the wider employee population.

Many employees will have enough leave to cover an illness and/or quarantine period, but for those that do not, think of creative ways to assist them.  Consider letting employees without enough sick leave go into “negative” or create a leave donation bank for others to donate their extra time.  

Encourage mental, physical and financial health.

Remind your staff of the benefits you offer that might be of use while they are home.  Many employers offer employee assistance programs that provide free counseling sessions by phone or video chat, which can be useful for employees and handling their anxiety over COVID-19.  Your healthcare plan might include a telehealth program.  Strongly encourage the use of this program to triage any symptoms they might experience and limit the spread of COVID-19 with office visits.

Employees might not be able to hit the gym or join their favorite workout class, but there are many alternatives to stay active.  Encourage your employees to enjoy the spring weather with a run or long walk, as long as it is allowed by local authorities and employees practice safe social distancing.  Many local fitness studios are streaming their classes and larger chain studio are giving free access to hundreds of online classes.

Many investment companies offer free consultations for their corporate clients, so encourage your staff to take advantage of these services.  Reach out to your 401K company and see if there are free webinars or tools they offer that you can share broadly with your office.

In these uncertain times, spending time to offer early support will ultimately help your employees in the long term.  If you need more help navigating COVID-19 or your other HR needs, reach out.