The COVID Identity Crisis

I took a three-year hiatus from corporate life to travel the world with my children in 2009 — and it opened my eyes and heart wider than I could have anticipated, leading to a 180-degree pivot in the way I regard health and wellbeing. While this eventually led me to the idea for Grokker, I can’t underestimate the profound impact this experience had on me and my commitment to influencing cultural change in the greater work world, a change that continues to transform before our eyes.

Upon reflection, my sabbatical-inspired transformation isn’t so different from what other professionals are experiencing today — the so-called “COVID Identity crisis.” As discussed in a recent Psychology Today article, people are asking themselves what they want out of their work and their lives; and most importantly for businesses: Do they want to head into an office every day? Do they want more freedom to work when they want, where they want? Are they any closer to achieving that elusive work-life balance in the new normal?

Prepare For Voluntary Employee Turnover During the Great Reset

We’re collectively in the middle of what I refer to as “the Great Reset,” and it’s natural — and essential — for us to ask ourselves these questions to shape the look and feel of our “return” to a post-pandemic future. Examining our career priorities within the context of our personal lives is especially pertinent for women, who are leaving the workforce in record numbers due in large part to the inordinate amount of time — 15 hours more per week than fathers — they spend on childcare and household duties during the pandemic, something I delve into in this Forbes piece. There’s only so much that people can handle, and when burnout is imminent, something has to give. 

Burnout — with an accompanying identity crisis, to be sure — is what led me to take my sabbatical in the first place. But there’s more: while I loved every minute of homeschooling my youngest daughter while traveling, at some point, the reality that I didn’t have time to take care of myself smacked me in the face. And like most working parents during the pandemic, I didn’t have childcare on-demand. This is the reality for most working parents today. Not because they decided to “Eat, Pray, Love” with their children as I did, but because a global pandemic has made it so. Finding time and space to eat better, sleep better, move more, and feel connected is something we are all struggling to do.

Business leaders need to pay attention to these interrelated phenomena — the COVID Identity Crisis, the Pink Collar Recession — and their interplay with business outcomes. Employee turnover costs can be staggering, up to 30% of an employee’s salary, and consists of lost productivity and the replacement’s recruiting, onboarding, and training costs. That’s not to mention the costs of disengagement, absenteeism, and presenteeism before an employee’s departure or the brand equity lost when employers are rated unfavorably on Glassdoor and elsewhere. 

The Caring Calculus

The solution is simple: care for employees. These are extraordinary times, and your workforce is dealing with extraordinary stressors. For most, these stressors aren’t going to simply disappear when it’s safe to head back, maskless, into the office — if they emerge from the remote setup in their living room, basement, or study in the first place. Employees’ ability to manage their lives today could make or break their decision to stay. If they’re already questioning “is it worth it” with respect to their jobs and the status quo, failing to take action to help them improve their wellbeing won’t help them stick around.  

One inspiring example of an organization with an employee-centric culture based on caring is eBay, whose former CEO, Devin Wenig, informally adopted the title of chief culture officer. Holding his management teams accountable for supporting cultural goals, he helped define the company from the inside out, which paved the way for a thoughtful and on-brand response to the pandemic and most certainly, beyond. This blog post, published at the outbreak of the pandemic, states, “We are a human company where patience, understanding, and empathy guide the approach to how we work,” and goes on to explain the steps taken to keep the safety and wellbeing of their team and customers a top priority. By committing to — and clearly demonstrating — taking care of employees in the best (and worst) of times, eBay ensures its people remain the cornerstone of their success.     

Connecting your employees through wellbeing and community — by, above all else, caring for them — is at the center of the solution. Traditional benefits are no longer sufficient in a modern workplace where teams are spread globally and deal with an unprecedented amount of stress. It’s high time we start caring about our employees in a new way — out loud, and through the cultures we create and the benefits we offer. What have you got to lose? Only your employees, who just might find what they’re looking for elsewhere if you fail to step up your support for them.

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