Covid19 response: Reachout and Outreach

Reach-out & Out-reach

Some incidents in last 2 weeks have made me think deeply about the impact of Covid19 on people's lives and our response to protect the most vulnerable. I must start by acknowledging that I am working in a company which truly believes in Employee Well-being and has provided many platforms to help us in these difficult times. Our leaders including the Global CEO are reaching out proactively and frequently to address the concerns in people's minds. There are many platforms available for employees to "reach-out" for help.

Despite all these efforts, I am still not sure if the most vulnerable people are getting the help they need. The challenge is even bigger when we don't exactly know who are most vulnerable. Is vulnerability limited to existing medical conditions or there is more to it? I am convinced there is certainly more to it. I think in addition to people with existing physical medical conditions, following sets of people are also at significant risk of having a stress related health incident:

1. People who have moved into a new work environment recently eg new company, new office location, new team, new function, new line manager. These changes are stressful even in a normal situation, Covid19 related restrictions make it even more stressful.

2. People who are living away from their immediate families or have a family member living alone elsewhere. eg split families due to work, parents living in a different location, son or daughter studying in a foreign university.

3. People who are on performance improvement plans after a below expectation performance in last year. They might be fearing loosing job as and when their employer decides to restructures itself.

4. Consistent High performers - sounds weird but these people may be fearing that their consistent high performance record may get shattered this year.

5. Strong Extroverts - why them? They are typically full of energy, like to be at the center of any conversation and love talking to people. However they just don't spread their positive energy in conversations with people, they also get energized by these conversations. Imagine what they must be feeling, sitting in front of their laptops in their homes for the last many weeks with no end in sight.

The impact can be accentuated multi-fold if one person is experiencing more than one of the above six situations in addition to an existing health condition. It can be fatal if not identified and managed well on time, like it happened in case of a dear friend of mine who succumbed to cardiac arrest last week at the age of 41 years. It is not a stray incident, Washington Post has recently published an article about increased cases of cardiac arrest among people in their 30s and 40s.

So, here is my appeal to all the leaders and team managers. If you agree to my comments above, please reach-out to your support system to help yourself first and then identifying and helping the most vulnerable people in your teams. This will need to be done at an individual level. They may not open up to your outreach at first and you may have to use other informal channels (their peers / confidante / mentors). (A research suggests 58% of people will prefer to talk to a stranger than to their boss on a personal matter.)

Thank you for your time, I would love to hear your comments and suggestions. Take care.

P.S. The views expressed here are personal.