Businesses all over the world had to face many challenges in 2020. Such challenges were unprecedented. The COVID-19 pandemic crippled the world beyond belief. People lost jobs. Businesses closed down for good. Patients who have contracted the coronavirus passed away. With these challenges and more, it’s hard to believe that we can recover from the pandemic’s dire effects. But, as we see every day with the recent changes, we’re actually working very hard to start the recovery process.
A huge part of that recovery process is one seemingly small thing that we always tend to forget. And that is the power of staying positive. It’s a cliche to say so, yes. But that doesn’t make it any less true. And our businesses can learn from that. Many of us business owners and our employees struggled with the effects of the pandemic. But we can get past that by spreading positivity in the whole company. And here’s how you can do so.
Have an Open and Honest Relationship
We all know that the pandemic caused many challenging effects on people. But those challenges vary. Some people struggled with their finances. Because they lost their jobs or got tapered salaries, they had less income to take home and support their families. On the other hand, some people–especially the young adults who lived alone–struggled with loneliness. Social distancing helps in keeping the spread of the coronavirus at bay. But that also caused them to lose basic human connection.
So, as the bosses and managers of such employees, we have to understand their situation. We need to conduct more check-ins with them. We need to increase our interactions. It’s important to understand their struggles with remote working so that we could know how to help them.
Conducting check-ins with them would also encourage everyone to open up about their expectations. You and your employees can talk about your expectations with the tasks, the workload, and the output.
Never Forget Employees’ Mental Health
The problem with an unbalanced relationship between an employer and employee is the blind dedication to work and the output. Some employers are driven to ask for output from the employees. They are focused on results without considering the struggles of the employees as they work. But the employees are also prone to the same risk. They tend to become so focused on following orders and producing results without minding their own struggles.
For all we know, the employees are facing mental health issues such as depression, stress, and anxiety. What can help with that is offering many ways for employees to seek professional help whenever they feel the need to do so. As employers, we can help them get proper access to clinical psychology services through the health insurance that we offer them.
By making sure that the employees have professional help options, they would be more open to making themselves feel better and being more ready to take on their jobs.
Make Sure that Everyone Gets a Break
For companies that have transitioned to working from home, it’s become especially harder to recognise employee burnout signs. We often engage with our employees through Zoom calls. More often than not, the camera is off so that we could only engage with them through audio. We don’t have visual cues anymore. We can no longer see if they’re breaking a sweat. The same goes for not knowing that they’ve been fidgeting a lot.
These are clear signs of the mental health effects of work. But we, as the employers can see them anymore. So we’ll have to adjust. If we feel that our employees are having a decrease in turning in their work or are less efficient, then it’s time to speak to them. It’s time to try to understand their situation.
To help keep morale up among your employees, host some team-building exercises where everyone can bond with one another. You can set aside work for a while and focus on having fun with your employees. This would help them get that break that they need and very much deserved.
There are many other ways to spread positivity in the company. But the most important thing is that we’re making sure that that positivity is for the employees. We have to make sure that our employees are happy, content, and hopeful. Such emotions would fuel their dedication to help you work towards more success for our companies. There really is no better way to prepare our business for the possible challenges that may come with the new year.