How you decide to manage uncertainty in the workplace today completely depends on your workers and their specific needs during this stressful moment.
Research out of China shows that about a quarter of people suffer from moderate or severe stress in response to COVID-19. Indeed, the pandemic has caused people to worry:
- Physical health threatsMental health from isolation
- Fear of layoffs Indefinite furloughs
- Lost profits/falling share prices and impact on workers
- Inaccessible healthcare
- Adapting to WFH
- Homeschooling little ones
You can’t fight against these stressors and changes, but you can roll with them and adapt.
3 Techniques to Manage Uncertainty in the Workplace Throughout COVID-19
There’s no one right answer. Use the following techniques for managing change in the workplace as a set of general guidelines to figure out how they apply to your unique company.
Salesforce, for example, has a wellbeing hub called Camp B-Well where workers can learn to manage stress, improve physical health, and access their essential benefits.
1. Focus on Routine to Help Employees Deal with Change in the Workplace
People tend to adapt their own rituals during times of anxiety. It’s no coincidence that people smoke, bite their nails, sway, clean, or engage in religious practice when they feel nervous.
Routines – whether healthy or unhealthy – supply a sense of personal control during traumatic events or when you have no control over your environment.
Focus on what you can control by creating new rituals with your team. Some ideas could include:
- Daily wellness tips and discussions
- Welcome back kits
- Encouraging random acts of kindness
- Create company holidays
- Design seasonal surprises (like free pumpkin spice lattes every Wednesday in fall)
Healthy routines will help ground everyone and instill a sense of unity.
2. Prioritize Mental and Emotional Health to Cope with Change in the Workplace
There’s no way to know what each of your workers is dealing with unless you ask.
Families surviving on one income (or less), parents juggling virtual learning, living alone in isolation, caring for at-risk loved ones – these are just a few of the several challenges they’ve been thrust into.
You might:
Send out regular mental/emotional/financial wellness surveysCreate an alumni network to help laid-off workers find new employment.Use digital signage to highlight individual team member stories.
3. Communication is Key to Manage Changes in the Workplace Today
No relationship can function without honest open communication and the workplace is no different.
Sadly, this is easier said than done in companies with dozens, hundreds, or thousands of workers spread across departments – especially with portions working from home.
“Valotalive Native Integration with Slack has been a great visual addition to our multi-channel communication needs when we want to reach out to our 1300+ people community here at Maria 01.”- Tuomas Manninen, Chief Happiness Officer at Maria 01
Be transparent about business health, goals, and current challenges. Use your signage to promote wellness check-ins, mental health tips, and hero team members.
Drive Communication and Manage Uncertainty in the Workplace with Valotalive’s Integrated Digital SignageBusinesses across 50 countries trust Valotalive’s digital signage solutions to improve workplace communication and drive transparency.
Improve your workplace unity and keep workers updated in real time, effortlessly.
