Most employees have been forced to work from home across the world amid the coronavirus pandemic. While it is the smart way to save the lives of people by halting the spread of COVID-19, it poses vital challenges for the well-being of employees.
The question arises how can companies support their employees’ health? Many of them have never worked from home for such an imperative amount of time. During this time, employers need to take initiative and encourage practices to improve the well-being of their employees.
Here, we are going to discuss some well-researched ways in which employers can promote employee’s health and well-being during this coronavirus pandemic.
Provide more flexibility
Before this pandemic, only a percentage of employees worked from home across the globe regularly. But this work from home opportunity has a diverse impact on the responsibilities and living situations of every employee. For instance, a worker needs to maintain a balance between their work and children due to the closure of schools and childcare. They also need to keep up with all tasks of their job. The same thing happens in the case of the core responsibilities of elder people within the family.
That is why it is important to match the flexibility of each employee’s specific needs.
A good step should be taken by companies under which the superiors need to stay in touch with their subordinates through an open conversation regarding how and when they can complete the assigned work. Managers ought not to intrude on the privacy of their staff and offer them a broad range of options for flexibility and provide them leeway by adjusting work hours each day so that they can take care of their children as well as elderly family members.
It is significant to release these Flexi orders from top-level management because all managers are not optimistically taking flexibility.
Employees who are working from home and workers who still head to the workplace should be given some flexibility, such as a reduction in working hours, leave of absence, and so on. And the employees need not be passive. Let managers know the entire scenario and figure out what types of Flexi is required to keep balance.
Keep your employees safe
As an employer, the most important thing to consider is the safety of their employees. The best way to do this is to follow good hygiene and maintain social distancing measures, like avoid shaking hands with each other, regularly wipe down surfaces, and keep the workplace clean with effective antiseptic spray. Moreover, disinfect commonly used areas such as doorknobs, handrails, and desks, and encourage employees to wash their hands often.
Host social time virtually
Employees who have never worked from home are likely to feel the impact. It is difficult to replica regular interactions with other colleagues such as water cooler encounters and drinks after work.
Research has found that supportive interactions at the workplace relate to the well-being of the workers. But it is not assumed by the companies to happen naturally when people are feeling low. Managers try to inspire their staff to find the time to have lunch, coffees, and sometimes even happy hours with their co-workers. Try to celebrate employee’s birthdays and other milestones through video conferences and other methods.
Another way is to host games in a group chat, such as Quiz Breaker and Wonder Polls that co-workers can easily play together.
Limit travel
The employer should ensure that priority is given to the health and safety of employees. So, there is no need to attend face-to-face meetings even if it does include a limited number of people. During this pandemic, try to avoid in-person meetings and work events altogether.
Provide training for online collaboration
It is presumed by companies that employees are working effectively from home with their set up, such as video cameras and chat communications.
But research has found that it is not as simple as that and there are several different conflicts as people started interacting through different technologies. Some prefer to communicate via email, but others react quicker through chat programs. Some prefer to reach co-workers through old-fashioned phone calls. In this way, remote work can also worsen problems and increase stress.
To cope with these issues, companies need to organize a webinar to address their employees about effective ways to communicate with each other. During these web-based sessions, the managers ought to set up some ground rules for using the same technology and remove the technological differences in communication and create awareness through email, phone calls, and video conferences.
Wrapping up
A crystal-clear communication related to the health risks, taking suitable measures and available resources is the best way for companies to keep the employees safe during this COVID-19 pandemic. Employers who put the effort into employee’s well-being during this hard time will see a healthy and productive workforce.
