How do you keep your employees productive and healthy while working from home due to COVID-19?
COVID-19 has gripped the world for months. The world is in lockdown and apart from the essential professions, everyone works from home as much as possible. The crisis has significant consequences for companies and raised new issues. What will the world look like in three months? Will we be able to keep our staff? How do we stay in touch with customers? We cannot control the corona crisis, but we can control how we deal with it. It all starts with a good personnel policy regarding working from home. Given the possibility that the restrictions surrounding the virus will continue to apply for an uncertain period of time, it is essential to keep your employees healthy and productive. But how do you do that when they're at home?
Facilitate workplaces
Many companies had computers and other essentials delivered to their employees at home in the early weeks of the lockdown. An excellent first step! Pleasant and productive work starts with an efficiently designed workplace where an employee has the opportunity to perform his or her work optimally. Ask your employees about their wishes and look how to further optimize the workplaces. Perhaps a movable partition between the workplace and the living room can lead to a considerable increase in productivity, or a new computer screen can provide a better working result. By asking employees what they need, they not only become more productive, they also feel more valued.
Show interest in someone's home situation
In a normal working environment, a person's home situation already has a significant influence on his / her work performance. Now that employees are at home full-time, this influence is even more significant. As an employer or a manager, show interest in the home situations of employees. Provide a listening ear when someone is experiencing problems at home and see how the company can assist in continuing to work in a balanced way. Staying in touch, also keeps employees with problems on the home front involved and motivated.
Let employees know and understand that they don't always have to be available
A good employee will do everything to be easily accessible during the day. Nevertheless, it is vital to encourage employees sometimes to go 'offline', so that they are able to perform some of their tasks without any disturbance. At the office, it is common for employees to shut down regularly and it helps when colleagues know from each other when they do not want to be disturbed. Blocking some time and notify the team in the joint digital calendar or send an email makes it clear for everyone.
Encourage mutual contact between colleagues
Friday afternoon drinks, a yoga session or a cooking course are examples of activities we might have shared before the outbreak of COVID-19 and that we can continue sharing digitally. Stimulate this kind of mutual contact between colleagues and facilitate fun and relaxing activities. By keeping your employees in touch with each other, you nurture a good working atmosphere, which in turn stimulates loyalty and optimal productivity.
Stay positive
Nobody knows what the future will bring. The best we can do is stay positive and adapt our perspective. Even though the situation may seem hard at the moment, it is crucial to maintain a positive and forward-going attitude, especially when in contact with employees.
Stay home, stay safe, but always stay connected.
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