COVID-19 isn’t easy for anyone. Remote setups, financial concerns, and general uncertainty can all impact how your team feels and behaves. Find out what you can do to make it easier for employees to manage the stress caused by the pandemic, from implementing wellness programs and creating a sense of community to simply improving your listening.
At the beginning of 2020, the U.S. unemployment rate sat at 3.6%. Almost overnight, the rate skyrocketed to 14.7% in April—a historic high unseen since before World War II.
Thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, millions lost jobs and faced financial struggles. Study after study has shown that financial stress drives overall wellbeing. Accordingly, Guardian’s Workforce Well-being Index indicated that workers experienced post-pandemic-outbreak drops in emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing.
While employees are facing volatile stress levels, their confidence in the health of their businesses has improved since the beginning of the outbreak. Still, 1 in 3 say that “their personal financial situation is ‘worse’ now than before the pandemic.” That can’t go unacknowledged.
Your employees need support in this time of crisis because they’re coping with unprecedented shifts in personal and professional life. They could be experiencing concerns about:
Managing a virtual workforce isn’t easy, but it’s up to you to communicate clearly and repeatedly, as well as stay creative and flexible with your team.
That in mind, consider six tips that you can do right now for your employees:
Remember that when you support employees now, you can help them successfully transition back to a new sense of normalcy in the future.
An employee assistance program (EAP) is an employee benefit that assists workers with personal or work-related problems that may impact their job performance, health, mental and emotional wellbeing.
EAPs generally offer free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services for employees. Additionally, EAP counselors may also consult with managers and supervisors to address employee and organizational challenges and needs. Even though EAPs are mainly aimed at work-related issues, there are a variety of programs that can assist with problems outside of the workplace.
For employees, EAPs can help with:
For employers, EAPs can help with:
This blog was repurposed from a webinar presented by Gene Lanzoni, AVP Thought Leadership at Guardian, and Brian L. Mayhugh, Ph.D., Chief Clinical Officer at IBH Population Health Solutions.