I do love a little bit of Star Wars Wisdom!
As we get going with 2021, I wanted to just drop in some points to keep in mind for your Employee Communication.
It seems like so long ago that I sent out this check list for the first hard lockdown, and nearly a year later, it is all still relevant! Fear and fatigue were some of the biggest challenges of 2020 and there was a huge drive for checking in on employees mental health.
The most important thing to remember is that there is no such thing as over-communication at this point in time. Keep checking in, keep reminding employees about their benefits, keep them informed of prevention and coping steps, keep reaching out with messages of positivity and support.
Keep. It. Going.
- Do all employees have access to and understand the terms of the current lockdown?
- Do all employees understand what this means for YOUR business? I.e.
- What category do you fall into?
- Which categories of staff are working?
- Where are they working from?
- Are any times or shifts altered?
- Does transportation get provided? If so, explain logistics.
- Additional support i.e. If you are a key person and a single parent, how will your family be assisted during this time in terms of caregivers?
- How do you communicate with all of your staff, there are staff without email – what other solutions are available?
- Notify all employees where they can get updates from the company – is it email, is it a central online location, is it SMS, is it WhatsApp, is it phone calls?
- Make sure it is accessible to all.
- Let your customers know what the process will be – and make sure your employees are aware what your customers have been told. Two sides of the same coin if you will!
- Messages of support – ideally from leadership, ideally via video in as many languages as possible.
- What the company is doing / job security / financial implications
- Policy updates with regards to leave or sick leave
- Policy updates for remote working and flexi-time for families working from home
- Daily or weekly communication / inspiration – keep the good news or stories flowing
- Motivating employees to take care of their mental & physical health as well as their nutritional needs and providing FREE resources to do this.
- Communicating company benefits such as EAP assistance programs or content on stress management.
- Share stories of courage, encouragement, gratitude and workplace culture
- Get teams to share ways they are keeping each other motivated
- Start competitions to keep culture alive
- Celebrate those that have done well, adapted well, come up with good savings for the company over this period, served their customers well etc.
- Offer value adds like free books, resources for children or online communities
If you need to get up a Digital command Centre for your employees during this time, we can assist.
Things that we can do pretty quickly:
- Set up a single place for communication and updates
- Host learning material or create courses to assist with educating different workforce segments about the lockdown and your company policies during this time.
- Harvesting details of front-line employees, who don’t necessarily have access to email or the company network.
- Providing a data free solution, so that your employees do not incur any cost to stay in contact with your business.
- Provide content or guidance on content creation
- Assist with two-way conversation and creative ideas to keep staff engaged over this period
- Add in gamification and fun to remote working
- Provide a central location for recognition and reward
Keep well and keep safe!
We are here if you need to chat or bounce ideas!
