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6 Top Tips for Looking After Your Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Katy Cracknell • March 18, 2020
Our Co-Director provides her top tips on taking care of employee wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mental toll that these unprecedented circumstances can take on us all mustn’t be underestimated. We all have our own personal battles whilst trying to balance our work responsibilities and the way ahead is to all start taking better care of one another and to keep talking.
Mental health and wellbeing
can still be a taboo in many workplaces. With mental ill health costing UK employers £30 billion every year through lost production, recruitment and absence and, with many employees still finding it difficult to speak to their employer, it’s now time for us all to open up a little more.
So with the spread of Covid-19 increasing rapidly, where can employers start when it comes to ensuring they are focusing on employee wellbeing?
- Make sure that you understand what ‘mental health’ means and address any misconceptions that you might have. This will mean that you are better placed to address any issues that do arise in your business over the coming weeks and months.
- Ensure that all employees who have been asked to work from home have regular contact points so that employees aren’t left feeling isolated.
- Have regular team calls, at least weekly, (via Skype or Microsoft Teams) to ensure that wider groups of employees are keeping in touch and catching up on the impact of the situation on the business.
- Communicate regularly, sending email updates in line with the latest government advice (simple but effective) and be honest! We are all in this together and glossing over the impact of Covid-19 on your business and employees will help nobody.
- Train your managers to be able to have conversations with employees about sensitive issues like their mental health through these difficult times. Ensure that they know how to signpost individuals on where to get support from and that they know what warning signs to look out for (such as a sudden dip in performance or lack of contact). Remember that unlike many physical illnesses and disabilities, mental health illness is not often visible and so can be harder to identify.
- Once we are through the worst of the pandemic, commit to improving mental health in your business including simple things like promoting a good work-life balance. Take it a step further and include a statement in your employee handbook on Health and Wellbeing, outlining your approach and what support you offer to employees.
Simply put, promoting positive mental health and employee wellbeing in the workplace throughout this period can be hugely beneficial for your business. Employees with good mental health are more likely to perform well and continue to be engaged once we have all emerged from the other side of Covid-19. It’s important to remember that it is often a combination of factors which will impact on your employee’s mental health (both at work and home) and you may not be able to help address all of the issues.
Do what you can as an employer, keep communication channels open, offer support where you can and keep employees updated on how to keep themselves safe and what’s occurring in the business.
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