ENGAGING WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES WHILE WORKING FROM HOME
Maintaining motivation while working from home will be difficult, and as an employer this can be incredibly stressful. Businesses are already under immense pressure as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those facing physical store closures. Keeping your employees on track, especially if your team is also adapting to new online platforms to continue business operations, will be difficult.
Having said that, there are things you can do as an employer to not only motivate your employees, but also strengthen the trust they have in you as a leader.
Now is the time to strengthen and define your organisational culture.
Keep an eye on their mental health through pulse surveys
One of the first things on the checklist should be to check in with employee mental health. This will be a major theme throughout this period, and will help establish your role as a leader.
The Coronavirus crisis has resulted in a surge of calls to mental health services, with Lifeline having seen a spike of 20 per cent. This is incredibly alarming, and exposes how serious the mental health crisis within Australia currently is.
You have a responsibility as an employer to ensure the wellbeing and mental health of your employees is regularly monitored. This can be done through weekly employee pulse surveys with questions like “How are you coping with social distancing?” and “What further support can we give you to help?”. This will provide valuable insights on the mental health of your employees as a whole, enabling you to make quick decisions and implement new strategies where necessary.
One way that will help both improve mental health and foster stronger relationships between yourself and your employees is through doing wellness activities via platforms like Zoom. Schedule regular yoga classes for yourself and your employees to do before commencing work, or as a midday break. Physically implement activities into their daily routine to ensure they take care of their mental wellbeing. For larger companies this will be slightly trickier, so it might be a case of advising management that this is what you want to see happening so they then implement wellness activities within their individual teams.
This will also communicate to your employees that you care about them beyond their professional performance, strengthening their trust in you as a leader. Further, a healthy mindset will improve productivity.
Implement both a formal and informal platform for communication
A formal platform for communication is necessary so that accessing and organising team work, or keeping updated on an employee’s progression of a project, is straightforward and uncomplicated. This includes through features like task-creators, planners, and also through utilising video and audio conferencing tools of a high quality. A good example of this is Slack, which also allows cross-communication between other teams. Employing this platform will not only keep team-work coordinated and organised while away from the office, but it will also keep employees on track with gentle reminders to complete the same amount of work (where possible).
Working from home can be incredibly isolating, so it’s also fundamental to implement an informal platform to foster casual communication between staff and aid their mental wellbeing. Create forums for different types of conversation, such as columns dedicated to memes and light-hearted conversation (moderated of course), or funny work-from-home photos. You should also encourage contact between colleagues through video chat to continue face-to-face contact. Microsoft Teams is a platform you might choose to utilise for this purpose.
Regular messages from the CEO
Uploading regular messages from the CEO, both by text and video, will help motivate employees and encourage productive work from home.
Expressing a genuine understanding of the difficulties being faced under the current climate, and a sincere appreciation for employees’ efforts in keeping the business operating will do much for company morale. Additionally, in a time of disarray and anxiety, showing someone high-profile within the company sharing the same experience may also provide some comfort.
It is important when creating communications during this time that you are direct, succinct and repetitive. Use bullet points and short sentences and check your messaging with a trusted source before you send.
