Written by Sarah Warburton
Five things businesses should be doing right now to support staff through COVID-19
It’s been a testing time for everyone over the last few weeks, so what can businesses do to support their team during this period of uncertainty?
1. Keep your team connected
It’s more important than ever for colleagues to feel connected to each other. Everyone has their off days but making sure your team members don’t feel alone and know they can reach out to someone will go a long way.
There are plenty of platforms available (e.g. Microsoft Teams, Zoom) that provide endless possibilities of ways to connect the team. At Equilibrium, we’ve had Friday pub quizzes, bingo and a ‘guess the Equilibrium baby photo’ competition!
2. Keep everyone informed
It’s a confusing time for everyone, and people will be looking to their employers for support and guidance. Regular updates to the whole business can go a long way to provide reassurance. Our Managing Partner, Gaynor Rigby, has been providing daily video updates to the team, and many people have given positive feedback on this, saying it’s been really useful and inspiring.
Even if you don’t know all the answers, a message to say ‘we don’t know but we’ll let you know as soon as we do’ is a million times better (and a lot less concerning!) than radio silence.
3. Provide them with the right tools
The technology you provide your team with is crucial at this time. With all communication going via technology, it’s not something you want to cut corners on! Make sure everybody has all the tools they need to fulfil their role.
4. Check in and ask for feedback
Encourage team leaders to check in with their team, but it’s equally important to check in with the whole company to gauge how they’re feeling. Feedback is essential to any business, but especially at the moment whilst everything is new, feedback from your team can highlight any room for improvement as well as things that are working great.
We recently had some amazing results from our team survey, which you can read more about here.
5. Spread the word: it’s okay to not be okay
Finally, make sure everyone knows that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s important to remind your team that, if they’re on the brink of a meltdown, they can take the rest of the day off to destress.
Many of us are working from home to look after our physical health, but it’s equally important to look after our mental health.
We hope you found these tips useful. If you’d like to read our ultimate guide to working from home, you can do so here.
