Employees have been through a lot in the last 12 months… it’s time we gave them a break.
If you don’t think everyone deserves a pat on the back and a good holiday after all that, you ought to re-evaluate your management style. If we as SME owners have felt the strain of Covid-19 – imagine how those staff that have had to work through it, from home, while watching the kids and running a house, must feel.
We might even have had to do it ourselves… To have to home school in the morning so that you can conduct Zoom meetings with suppliers all afternoon. We might have had moments where we fell to pieces, just as our employees did. While we have been able to get over it, they have had the additional worry of potentially losing their jobs.
Getting Back to Business as Usual
As the vaccine takes effect and more and more countries start to get back to business as usual, how does that leave those members of staff? The ones that have worked through it all, the care staff and the remote office team members. When was the last time any of us had a holiday?
Let’s talk about what we can do to protect those of us who have had it worst.
Safeguarding those under our Duty of Care
So while business as usual is an attractive concept, we have to remember to go easy on staff that have been through the trauma we have all just experienced. Safeguarding training is a great idea – especially for those in an educational role. However, it should be rolled out as standard to all managers in your organisation.
While we are all worried about just getting on with things, there are victims of abuse among us who are desperate after spending months in lockdown with the person they are scared of. There are signs we can all be trained to recognise to keep our colleagues and employees safe.
Prioritising Rewarding Projects
Another way to boost morale in the return-to-work era, is to prioritise the rewarding tasks that your employees enjoy. When these jobs arise, use them to cheer up those you feel are suffering most. Work doesn’t feel so much like work when you like what you are doing.
Face to Face Time
A third, very easy way to ensure happier staff, is to make time to speak with each of them face-to-face throughout the working week. Ask how they are, listen to their answers, get to know how you can motivate them better so that work becomes something to look forward to.
We are all in a unique position at the moment. We are coming off a wave of relief. As the vaccine does its work and more of us are allowed back to our places of employment, we are rushing back to work with open arms. If we can keep that momentum going, people will remember this year as the year that things changed.
Let’s create a culture where people don’t dread the office. If we all have to do it for the money, not for the team, the workplace becomes a dreary place to be. We have the opportunity to permanently change this one thing… let’s be the generation that did it.