Keep yourself calm and stay engaged with a dedication to fulfilling your goals.
–Milind Audichya

Are you noticing that colleagues are more restless than ever? That motivation and energy levels are low, and even while on video calls, many prefer to turn their camera off making it hard to assess who’s engaged and who is not?

It’s been reported that while most companies are doing a good job keeping their employees safe and providing opportunities for a stable work culture, more is needed while we work through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory and solutions company, tracked more than 100,000 global employees to assess the impacts of COVID-19.  They found:

    • Over nine in 10 employees (92%) reported some level of anxiety
    • 55% indicated a moderate or high degree of anxiety
    • 70% shared they were at least somewhat distracted from a work perspective
    • 32% said they were able to balance working from home with other responsibilities
    • 61% had financial concerns
    • 25% expressed a moderate or high degree of worry
    • Less than half (46%) reported their company was making it easier to access or apply employee benefits related to COVID-19 care
    • 78% agree their leaders have been effective at focusing on work objectives – (that’s impressive!)
    • 16% of employees in stronger team environments have lower rates of distraction while those that struggle collaborating (56%) are more distracted

So what else can we as leaders do?

  1. Be available when support is needed, both for those working from home, and even more so for the “essential workers” that have additional challenges
  2. Assess if there’s a need/opportunity/budget to update work at home equipment
  3. Keep all employees/consultants/colleagues informed
  4. Stress collaboration and the need for teamwork
  5. Share weekly priorities; assign “who” needs to do “what” by “when”
  6. Schedule one on one time
  7. Build in time each week for relationship building. Our team is currently using:
    4,000 Questions for Getting to Know Anyone and Everyone by Barbara Ann Kipfer.  Certainly plenty to choose from!
  8. Be patient! Schools may or may not reopen (ditto for day care), so stress levels and time management may be even more challenging.

Do you have any tips to share for helping others stay engaged and connected? Let us know!

Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.–Zig Ziglar