12th January 2021

What we are facing, tips how to handle this and our collaboration with Richmond Foundation

Employees just like each and every one of us have their own personal lives to handle and this last year the pandemic pushed many of us to the limits. Many of us already were pushing ourselves, trying to juggle it all then the pandemic hit and juggling was and still is at a much harder level. Lest not we forget that our own employees may have had to quarantine and this in itself may have been hard on them – not all cope well with having to stay inside. Even just the thought of it may put someone in panic mode. Others may have had contracted the virus itself and this is not always mild and even if the symptoms were light or none at all it may have instilled fear or anxiety. Then there were those who lost a loved one or perhaps there loved one was hit by the virus. So all this to handle and yet still having to work and the interests of the business are still fundamental.

The plethora of concerns clearly had an impact on the employees physical and mental well being. To add to the list of concerns one cannot forget how people feel or will feel when returning to work. Most of us have been nearly one year working from home and many have had little or no physical contact with co-workers. Furthermore for some industries the fear of losing their job is one that cannot be ignored. Then there is also the fear of contracting the virus from work – people we used to interact with without any concern have now become those same people who we can contract the virus from.

So what do we do? We cannot do miracles and the vaccination will hopefully be put into our arms sooner rather than later but in the meantime let us keep communicating with our employees effectively and in a transparent manner. HR should keep an open communication and be reasonable with deadlines (many have and may still have to work with children at home). You should consider creating peer groups or virtual platforms to allow workers to interact during break hours as having the ability to talk with others may be of great help.

Employees well being is also one that should be high on our agenda. A safe work environment is key. Many have already adapted the work environment but one needs to keep an eye on this and risk assessments have to be done often. Workers face the risk to be infected at the workplace hence giving them peace of mind by putting measure in place and actually implementing such will give your employees the ability to focus on their work and be less worried and stressed regarding possible transmission. Access to mental health care is also vital and it would be a good idea to integrate psychological support initiatives into your workplace coronavirus policy.  We know that a number of you have reached out to professionals as well as Richmond Foundation to give you a helping hand and we are pleased to inform you that we have made a donation to this organisation as we also wanted to help out in our own way. Furthermore Richmond Foundation will be contributing to our webinar HR Trends 2021 being held on 27th January 2021.