The need for business consistency and employee satisfaction has increased more in COVID times and has become more complex. Businesses across the globe are continuously making efforts to keep their operations up and running along with keeping employee happiness and wellness as priority. Ensuring that the employees are motivated has also become a major task and a lot of strategies are implemented around that.
While adopting to the new normal, companies have to take a lot of factors into consideration in order to maintain employee productivity and morale in COVID times. It is very important to strengthen and lift the morale of employees in these unprecedented situations.
There are two types of employees to be found in this new normal. Some feel that working from home (WFH) is very good for their mental peace but some on the other hand find it difficult to sit for longer hours at home. Now the companies must analyze who all would be better working alone and require constant communication with fellow employees in order to be more productive. Organizations need to understand their employees and craft strategies that empower both kinds of employees- the ones who work better alone and the ones who need to feel connected to their colleagues consistently for better productivity.
Here are few ways to keep employees motivated:
Including online office games for better interaction
While including the games, make sure the games are simpler and not too complex as it would be easier to coordinate online when it comes to simpler games. HR can organize Team Health Challenges online and fix a timer. Example, whosoever does 20 squats or pushups within this time wins. This will not only pump up the employee for the rest of the day and give a good laugh to all the employees but will also motivate the employees to equally focus on their fitness.
Introduce Virtual Coffee Breaks Sessions
“Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and relax!” During office times, we all used to sit with each other in cafeterias during breaks. Taking breaks in between long work hours, rests the brain and helps employees function in a much better way. That has obviously vanished in COVID times as people are now made to operate from their homes. Hence virtual coffee breaks are great way to connect to the employees and plays a strong role in remote team building activities.
Meditative Sessions building strength and calm in employees
Many yoga gurus are now teaching yoga digitally. Why not collaborate with one and give your employees a real session on yoga and meditation live. Meditation is a super power that positively impacts lives of everyone who has tried it. In these times, it is very important not to lose one’s peace of mind and be strong. Giving a session on meditation will boost the employees’ morale and introduce good habits in their lives.
Ensuring continuity in businesses through remote working
During COVID-19 many companies have redesigned the business models so that they can give full support to employees working remotely. Companies have boosted and built strong digital infrastructure and have gone to an extreme extent of providing the laptops to the employees working in remotest of the areas. Wherever required, sim cards and other data cards have also been delivered.
While including the games, make sure the games are simpler and not too complex as it would be easier to coordinate online when it comes to simpler games. HR can organize Team Health Challenges online and fix a timer. Example, whosoever does 20 squats or pushups within this time wins. This will not only pump up the employee for the rest of the day and give a good laugh to all the employees but will also motivate the employees to equally focus on their fitness.
Making hikes, incentives & appraisals a part of the new normal and avoiding pay cuts in the name of pandemic
A lot of companies who are willing to pay their employees are also seen unnecessarily cutting the costs in the name of pandemic. This lockdown has impacted the employees and the families in a much greater sense than what organizations realize.
The employee category has been divided into two parts after COVID takeover- ones who want to dedicatedly work on projects just the way they used to before COVID and the ones who have become lazier while working from homes. Businesses might not reward the latter ones, but to keep the former ones motivated, some kind of reward plans must be in place. It’s important for the companies to analyse the people working with the same zeal and appreciate them, so that their hard work pays off and they continue to optimize the company’s growth.
Where in many companies fired the employees during pandemic and left them with no options, there are companies who actually chose different paths like not opting for pay cuts and giving out full salaries, or helping the person get a new job. Many companies are giving incentives to people who have shown dedication by working with full commitment amidst lockdown.
Executing performance reviews more regularly
If an employee knows he/she is bound to increased number of feedbacks, they will surely would want to perform better and optimize company’s growth, thus creating their own visibility too. Cost and profit centres must be assessed more frequently by organizations.
Communication is the key
Regular sessions of conversations and communication must be held with the employees to ensure that employees are well aware about the situations in the world and know how to deal with them. Employees must be aware about how the crisis can impact them and their families and how they need to take precautions. Maintaining a personal touch on their and their families’ health will only build strong relationship between the employee and the organization and will help them feel that the company cares for them.
HR of the businesses are conducting sessions to educate the employees about the precautions they must be taking during COVID even when they are working from homes. Regular video meets with the officials, not just formal but informal ones too, can help employees get comfortable with the new normal. Many employees have faced mental health issues too during lockdown and continuous communication with the help of motivational sessions can really boost their morals.
The need of the hour for the businesses is to operate with a much greater level of listening, understanding and compassion for their employees. The idea is to cater to all kinds of employees- the ones who are conducive working from homes and the ones who are having hard time adopting to the new normal. It’s no surprise that many companies after seeing the benefits of WFH, and are planning to give indefinite WFH to their employees, ensuring employees health and wellness.
STAY UP TO DATE ON AWS & CLOUD TECHNOLOGY WITH OUR NEWSLETTER
Sign-up for our Newsletter to receive insights, research and expert articles on AWS Services, Cloud Migration, DevOps and other technologies.
