There’s no denying it – 2020 has been a whirlwind of emotions, health concerns, and political campaigns. While it has been an unprecedented and, at times, exhausting year, BBB is determined to help you prepare for both Q4-30 and 2021, by keeping your employees physically and emotionally happy.
If you’ve not already created a solid plan to take care of your employees’ emotional and mental health, now is the time. If you’ve prioritized your employees’ mental wellbeing during the pandemic, now is the perfect time to review or reevaluate your care plan.
Sources show prioritizing your employees’ health often proves to be beneficial for your company’s financial health. According to an article by Fond, “Corporate employee wellness programs improve engagement and reduce healthcare costs by making it easier for employees to access the care they need to stay healthy.” From telemedicine to mental health benefits, an investment in your employees’ health is an investment in your organization.
Further, taking care of your employees reflects your company’s culture.
Ideas to take care of your employees as we continue to live and work in a pandemic
Just as you may be planning on how to interact with your customers during the holidays, a plan for how to take care of your employees is worth considering.
So, what are some ways you can take care of your employees, particularly after a challenging year?
- Reconsider Benefits
Some companies are giving their employees Thanksgiving Day off – even Walmart is shutting its doors on the day before one of the largest commercial shopping days of the year.
Adding paid time off or allowing your employees to work flexible hours, particularly as the holiday season picks up, may keep work stress or employee burnout at bay. Consider adding one or two “Holiday Prep” afternoons off, that do NOT count against their annual PTO plan, allowing each employee time to shop or pre-prep for their holiday season in December.
Along with giving your employees paid time off, you may want to consider adding to or improving your employee benefit plan. SHRM lists possible benefits you can add to your employees’ benefits plan.
- Reconsider the holiday season
As the end of 2020 nears, the likelihood of the holiday season looking “normal” is becoming more and more uncertain. A time typically marked by holiday parties and bonuses may have a very different lens.
However, social distancing need not ruin corporate holiday parties; instead, it may be a time to reimagine. Consider ways to honor your team’s work while also keeping them healthy.
- Reformat virtual meetings/feeling Zoom fatigue
- When can you pick up the phone instead of get on video chat?
Finally, one small option you may be able to implement to help your employees thrive in their positions is simply cutting down on virtual meetings. According to National Geographic, the boom in virtual meetings has created “Zoom fatigue” – an experience in which the lack of non-verbal cues shown via video chat exhaust participants.
To help your team combat this fatigue, consider setting rules for meetings – for example, a 10-minute conversation about a project deadline may not constitute hopping on Zoom. Instead, consider turning those quick meetings into phone calls or emails, and reserve Zoom for longer conversations or moments when someone needs to share their screen.
Harvard Business Review lists other tips for those experiencing Zoom fatigue:
- Avoid multitasking
- Build in breaks
- Reduce onscreen stimuli
- Make virtual social events opt-in
- Switch to phone calls or email
- If you don’t know someone well, avoid defaulting to video
Maintaining/Building Company Culture
Great leaders know their company cannot be successful without employees who buy into the company’s vision and goals. Employees who believe in the work they are doing often produce quality work, thus impacting the success of the company as a whole.
Great leaders know their company cannot be successful without employees who buy into the company’s vision and goals. Employees who believe in the work they are doing often produce quality work, thus impacting the success of the company as a whole.
Great leaders know their company cannot be successful without employees who buy into the company’s vision and goals. Employees who believe in the work they are doing often produce quality work, thus impacting the success of the company as a whole.
It’s not all bad
In prepping for the end of the year and the new year ahead, we encourage you to consider the good that has come out of 2020. Ask yourself what habits your organization has built that may be worth continuing. Has there been a meeting you’ve added or eliminated that has increased team productivity? Have your employees surprised you with their quality remote work? If you have begun practices that have proved beneficial, don’t throw them away too quickly as the world reopens.
Through the uncertainty of 2020, you and your team may have built resiliency. This may be a time of potential growth for your business. Even amid struggle, out of the pandemic has come success for companies daring to reorganize their processes. Read their stories here.
And, of course, while you’re checking in with your employees and making sure they’re taking care of themselves, make sure you’re also taking care of yourself. Keep communication open, remain authentic, and persevere. Through the struggle, we are cultivating resiliency.