A strange new normal

“No one has a perfect response to change… there are opportunities to pause, prioritise and explore post-traumatic growth…”

The speed and scale of the coronavirus health emergency has us all negotiating a new reality and resilience in facing new and growing challenges on a daily basis. In a very short space of time, we’ve experienced sudden and fundamental shifts to our health, work, families, communities and economies.

There is the understanding that this is not indefinite but we’re in an uncertain, uncomfortable and unfamiliar flux. There’s imperfect information, pauses pressed on life, emotional shocks, new conversations and new decisions. Fear and anxiety are inevitable in these times when all aspects of life are being stress tested. We’re continuing to adapt to our strange new normal and the losses experienced.

No one has a perfect response to change and resistance to it makes it more difficult but it’s important we create space to acknowledge, not judge, our responses during this time. There are opportunities to pause, prioritise and explore post-traumatic growth as a result of experiencing adversity and other challenges. Opportunities for resilience, meaning and connection.

Work and home life in lockdown

“Sensible rules are needed about what other organisations are expecting of their employees.”

Much of the world’s workforce are at home during a crisis trying to work, meet life demands and figure out how to collaborate at a distance. Relationships have intensified with more unstructured time together, pre-existing fault lines are exposed, those living together are often competing for space with competing activities, some are juggling work with shared/co-/solo parenting, teaching and handling disappointments and some may be concerned about loved ones as keyworkers.

Technology has been leveraged to connect in new ways. Screens have been full of faces and makeshift workspaces shared with children, partners, housemates, pets or grapples with loneliness or distanced relationships.

Wellbeing with compassion and creativity

“These decisions will be remembered and will have a lasting impact on employee behaviour.”

Organisations have had to quickly pivot many aspects of company business to meet the challenges of coronavirus. As the crisis unfolds, it calls for a rethink of business as usual for company culture and employee experience. Smart decisions need to be made to act creatively and with compassion to prioritise employees’ physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

These decisions will be remembered and will have a lasting impact on employee behaviour. Organisations will be in a rush to re-establish themselves quickly when the crisis passes and need the capacity of a resilient, loyal workforce for readjustments and re-transition post-lockdown.

The reality of the situation and its social and economic impact can’t be denied. Workforces are contending with lockdown, isolation, sickness, furlough leave, redeployment, reduced pay, redundancies and experiments with mass remote working. Adversity can breed creativity as organisations are accelerated into new ways of thinking and operating but employees’ fears need to be addressed and lightened in meaningful ways.

Perspective and mindset

“The critical choice of enriching the wellbeing of staff in a meaningful way as the crisis unfolds will pay off later.”

Taking care of our mental health is essential, especially right now. Consider ways for employees to develop habits to mitigate stress, emerging anxieties and burnout as the lockdown continues. It will help to ensure they do not wear down their mental energy and can strengthen resilience and motivation for the re-entry transition.

This could include:

Opportunities to simplify. Working from home has made way for employees to contribute in new ways. Focus discussions on priorities, which may be fluid, and factor in different capacity and personal operating hours. New schedules are adjustments for everyone. Flexibility for employees to figure out reasonable boundaries can help to enable home needs are planned around surges of output productivity.
Counteracting the infodemic. Use reliable, balanced sources of information to ensure facts not fear. Keep coronavirus developments in one place so they don’t spill into all employee communications. Informed but not overwhelmed. Not everyone wants to talk about it.
Antidotes to communication overdrive. Virtual catch ups have spiked during lockdown and an increase in video calls can leave people exhausted. Our bodies process context and information in our encounters and the mind is working harder without this. Have honest conversations about what works for employees re: connections and check-ins. Send information before virtual meetings and use the chat option in video calls so everyone has equal opportunity to contribute. Also consider alternatives to video calls and ‘call-free zones’.
Enrich employee motivation. Keep the focus on engaging in exercises that bring the autonomic nervous system back into balance. The body benefits from movement and the mind benefits from stillness and it’s important for employees to connect with how they feel after such exercises to help them refuel and sustain good health. Share examples of physical releases for stress (exercise, yoga, stretch breaks around the home, progressive muscle relaxation), ways to stimulate the vagus nerve and mindfulness exercises. The more they do, the more powerful and effective it will be in building resilience.
Space to process and respond. This could be a facilitated space with an experienced professional, like a counsellor, to develop their self-awareness muscles so they are more aware of their own reactions and can choose to respond rather than react. It’s important employees can have the relief of a place where they can acknowledge their emotional responses with empathy, focus on their own needs and seek out help.
Support with controlling what can be controlled. Co-create ideas for “what can I do right now - no matter how small it may be - that improves life for myself or others I live with or people in my community?” This could include sensible precautions, anchoring routines, established work hours, ways to improve home life experience and how to use time gained from not commuting for themselves or their relationships. Look at ritualised transitions that help disconnect from work and signify home is no longer a workplace.

The critical choice of enriching the wellbeing of staff in a meaningful way as the crisis unfolds will pay off later. Organisations need to continue to act quickly and thoughtfully with the knowledge it won’t be perfect. Diversity of thought can be gained through ongoing honest and sensible conversations with employees about their circumstances, concerns and stressors. These diverse perspectives should be voiced and represented in decisions.

Look for the opportunities, stay curious and flexible and apply thoughtful and quick decision making to provide solidarity, information and hope with the knowledge that it won’t be perfect but it will send an invaluable communication to employees.

Six ways to enrich employee wellbeing as lockdown continues