Are You Boosting Employee Morale?

The COVID-19 Pandemic has and is disrupting everyday life for many. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself when helping your colleagues to feel less anxious.

Do you check in often? – Be intentional about checking on your teammates. Set time on your calendar specifically for this. People are not only worried about work but also their health, the health of their family, economic stress, and general anxiety about current events.

Do your people have what they need to be productive? – When you feel under pressure the last thing you need is a technical difficulty or a slow computer. Make sure everyone has contact information for your IT Support department.

Are you being transparent? – There may be many questions around different policies and policies that may have been adapted due to the pandemic. Making sure you let everyone know about policies that may be relevant will let people know your HR department is there for them.

Is there space for socializing? – Casual conversations in the break room or work socials are important. A simple way to help keep teammates connected is hosting coffee breaks on video chat. Encourage your team members to share photos of vacations, pets, family, etc.

During virtual meetings do you encourage people to turn on their camera? – Being able to see each other’s faces and body language goes a long way toward keeping people feeling connected to one another. If you are having a virtual conference it is a good idea to ask everyone to turn on their video. On the other hand, having many virtual meetings can also be stressful. Be encouraging not demanding. Having all meetings with a mandatory camera on will lead to more stress on all included.

Finally, make sure everyone has your business’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) information and reassure people that needing help is not a bad thing. MBWCF members have access to our partner LifeWorks mobile EAP resources with many articles, podcasts, videos, and toolkits.

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