Making Lemonade: How Companies are Showing Up for Employees
While companies worldwide have faced unprecedented challenges in the past two months, employees have also been under tremendous stress.
This unique moment in time has provided corporate leaders an opportunity to show up for employees like never before and create engagement in unexpected ways.
Providing the necessary
Paid sick leave, relaxed attendance policies, back-up dependent care, additional health and safety measures are just a few of the changes employers are making to serve their primary stakeholders. How employers are showing up for employees is as individual as each company.
Kathie Patterson, chief human resources officer at Financial Ally told Forbes, “This pandemic has shown how critical it is to embrace our humanity, be understanding and caring — and that holds true for companies, too. Make sure ‘human’ is prioritized in Human Resources.”
Making Lemonade
At Rhudy & Co. we’ve seen our awesome clients demonstrate the “art of making lemonade.” From doing the right thing to rising to the challenge, these companies are already reaping the rewards of their hard work in employee retention, productivity and loyalty.
Building on this experience, we offer 6 ways to show up for employees during this pandemic.
1. Be creative. Ad Exchanger offered a few ways that agencies have shown creativity in caring for employees. Goodway Group hosted a half-hour “Family Fun Friday” for employees with kids, including music, magic and comedy. Vox Media’s parent employee resource group is hosting a daily story time for parents with kids. The New York Times’ advertising team held a “pet parade” to share their beloved dogs, cats and other critters.
2. Promote health and well-being. Send employees resources to stay fit and healthy, such as a free subscription to a workout service. Empower your internal wellness leaders to be creative with programming.
3. Share good news. Inspired by Some Good News, employers are sharing all the tremendous ways their employees are serving and caring for others during COVID-19.
4. Communicate and communicate more. Corporate leaders who stay in touch through video, conference calls, emails and snail mail help their employees to feel connected. Most companies need to communicate more, not less during this time.
5. Practice gratitude. There may be no better time than to say thank you to employees. Whether it’s a hand-written note, an unexpected perk or a fun video, remember to express your gratitude. Acknowledge that employees are now often also taking on additional roles — as homeschool teacher or grocery buyer for elderly parents. Appreciate all of the different responsibilities they are juggling.
6. Care for the community. Create a campaign to support nonprofit organizations financially through company matches or by promoting virtual volunteering. Community organizations, especially arts-related groups, are hard pressed and have limited fund-raising ability during this time. When employees come together to do something good, they often find that they feel good in the process.
While this is a difficult time for so many, we applaud those companies that have stepped up for their employees. Thank you for your commitment!