As much as most of us would love to leave COVID-19 behind, it continues to impact work culture. Companies are still managing remote teams as a result of the pandemic. Those who have on-site employees are in the position of meeting a range of new needs and ensuring the health of their workers.
While your primary focus here must be employee wellbeing, it is also important to acknowledge the other impacts of your COVID-19 response. Today, as job seekers set their priorities and requirements, COVID-19 is a major consideration. They’ll want to know what you are doing to keep workers safe, such as reducing transmission risks and providing programs that support employee wellness. Keeping your work culture healthy during COVID-19 will boost your ability to attract and retain good talent.
So, what should you be doing right now to build a positive culture? Focus on leadership, communication, education, and support.
Leadership During COVID-19
Leadership doesn’t just make COVID-19 safety policies. They also set the tone. If you prioritize safe behaviors, your teams will follow suit. That means leading by example and demonstrating strong protocol on a daily basis.
You can also identify other leaders and team members who have influence, then encourage them to work with you to really normalize safe and healthy actions. That can lead to the kind of positive, cultural peer pressure that can influence even the biggest skeptics to get on board if you encourage social media sharing.
The Role of Communication During COVID-19
Communication is a key part of your efforts to build a safe workplace culture. Since COVID-19 remains an issue, this is more urgent than ever. Consider how you are communicating and ensure your communication plan has the following characteristics:
Honesty
The moment your team senses that you have been less than forthcoming on any issue related to COVID-19, you will struggle to regain their trust. Because of this, your communication must be consistent, straightforward, and honest.
Clarity
This topic does not leave room for interpretation. When you set policies, procedures, and expectations, you must communicate them with clarity. Your team members should know exactly what you expect of them and how they should respond in any situation where COVID-19 exposure could be a factor.
Engagement
Communication about COVID-19 and related responses should be a conversation, not a lecture. Invite employees to ask questions and share concerns. Their feedback may reveal issues to you that you hadn’t considered previously.
COVID-19 Education
Don’t assume that every member of your team has an accurate understanding of the pandemic. There is quite a bit of misinformation out there, and even intelligent people may have adopted some of those. Others may simply be unaware of certain best practices or protocols they should still be following.
As you bring in new talent, think about your onboarding process. Consider making information about COVID-19 safety available to members of your team. That should include educating new employees about your COVID-19 policies.
Creating a Supportive Work Culture During COVID-19
When you think about workplace safety and COVID-19, you may focus solely on transmission risk. That’s certainly important, but you’re missing out on other opportunities to create a positive work culture in the face of COVID-19. Remember that the impacts of the pandemic have gone far beyond the health concerns of those infected or high-risk employees. There has been an increase in reports of anxiety, stress, depression, and isolation among workers.
What are you doing to provide mental health support to your workers during this time? Are you encouraging employees to engage in self-care, offering services such as employee assistance programs, or ensuring that you’ve created a culture that makes everyone feel welcome and included? The effort you put in here will impact your employer brand, retention, and recruiting.
COVID-19 Wellbeing and Remote Team Management
You may assume that you don’t have to worry about COVID-19 safety when it comes to your remote teams. That’s not really the case. In reality, COVID-19 has driven people to work away from the office and has resulted in new concerns. Just like you need to create protocols to ensure a healthy culture in your office, you have to do the same with your teams that have transitioned to remote. Here are a couple of things you can do to support your staff working from home.
Keep Remote Teams in the Loop
As you build COVID-related policies, communicate these with your remote teams as well. Ask them to share their concerns and keep them updated anytime COVID-19 impacts the workplace in any way. Remember that your response to all of this impacts their perceptions of workplace safety. That could eventually influence their willingness to return to the office when the time comes.
Show Empathy
When someone moves from the office to work from home, it’s easy to assume that they will face less stress and inconvenience than workers who must continue to come into the office. It’s true that remote workers no longer have to commute and have other flexible scheduling perks. However, they also have to make major adjustments, which aren’t always easy to navigate.
For example, your remote team members may be sharing resources with kids who are learning remotely or working with limited space. Be aware that people deal with a range of complexities, and adapting will be something to deal with over the long term. Empathy will go a long way towards productivity and morale.
