Researchers at Gartner have suggested some activities for the HR to maintain employee performance and restore productivity amid coronavirus pandemic.
Enterprises across the globe are trying their best to keep up with operations despite the coronavirus outbreak. According to Gartner, they need to prioritize employee emotions and focus on restoring productivity and deliver on employee experience. Employees’ are facing anxiety, frustration, and burnout owing to the pandemic. If the human resource (HR) personnel do not address these feelings, they can affect employees’ productivity and engagement. This can result in poor work quality, thereby affecting the organization’s ability to sustain in the time of this deadly outbreak.
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Gartner has suggested some initiatives for HR that can help managers to ensure employees get the requisite support to tackle the emotional response
Support employees for best output in trying times
Managers will need to be guided on how best they can support their teams and can offer to help start conversations between them and employees. They need to ideate on and share different ways through which managers can talk to employees about alternative work models, job security, and prospects. The guidance can comprise of discussion guides or training along with giving the latest updates on the situation and general principles for how to deal with it.
While supporting their teams, resource steams can help managers to have a two-way dialogue with their teams. – focusing on a realistic picture of the positive and negative implications of the current situation. This kind of constant support and understanding will help them stay afloat amid insecurities of the job and stress of working remotely.
It is also possible that during periods of uncertainty, teams may behave in an uncharacteristic manner. Apparently, during times of stress, employee misconduct increases by as much as 33%. Managers need to ensure employees are modeling the right behaviors and also encourage whistleblowers to call out unethical behaviors.
Acknowledge Employee Efforts
As a major slowdown in the economy is expected in a few months, employees will be scared of layoffs and pay cuts. Managers need to ensure they recognize employee efforts as it will motivate them. Recognitions can be in various forms, including public acknowledgment, low-cost perks, and appreciation certificates. Organizations can also take this opportunity to provide development opportunities to employees who normally do not have the capacity. This reinforces the organization’s commitment to the long-term success of the employee. If companies are facing budget constraints on new investments, managers can emphasize the need and provide opportunities for incremental innovation or process improvements. In fact, this could be one of the best ways to recognize the outstanding contribution of employees that think out of the box.
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Managers, along with their teams can focus on innovation and risk-taking for employee engagement and organizational success. If companies are facing budget constraints on new investments, managers can emphasize the need and provide opportunities for incremental innovation or process improvements.
Sneha Bokil is a Senior Editor with OnDot Media. She writes editorials on an array of topics ranging from IoT, AI, ML, and cloud computing, among others. She has over 9 years of experience in the field of content creation, where she has written on technology, both enterprise and consumer, and finance.
