Employee Engagement in Covid-19 - How Leaders can Address the Situation

The world is different today than it was a couple of years ago. Covid-19 has just swept over the plans and expectations of the people all around the world. Its surge has led to the implementation of lockdowns and maintenance of social distancing. 

Due to this, many people have lost their jobs, and the business is drastically affected. “Nothing is permanent except change.” The leaders have to adopt the sophisticated approach to enter the positive phase. Below are some of them.

Significance of Employee Engagement and Why it is Important

Employee engagement extends beyond a cool-looking table tennis or foosball table in the club or sports room of the office. Considering your employees’ concerns and issues will boost their morale. Engaged employees are more likely to create high-quality work.  According to Harvard Business Review, engaged organizations have double the success rate than less engaged organizations. 

Highly engaged employees are happy and utterly committed to their work. It's more than just a paycheck, it's their dedication towards their employer and work. Hence employee engagement becomes essential in the Covid-19 crisis.

Even with your employees working from home, you have to plan activities and events that can bring a sense of engagement and interaction, virtually. Coworkers need to interact with each other to work better as a team. 

Create the Work From Home Policy

To follow social distancing, work from home is now a necessity to protect ourselves. It also gives everyone a chance at better work-life balance, less stress, decline in commute and food expenses,  location independence, and more. 

Employees might share their lunch with family members or play with their dog or take care of their children, while working from home. So trust is critical right now. Be confident that your team cares about the business, their work and wants to do a good job. If a person's productivity becomes a concern, discuss what might be contributing to the challenges. Your thinking ought to be individual first at this moment; start with compassion.

Companies like Twitter, Facebook, Shopify have allowed their employees to work at home forever.   

Create a Psychological Connection with Your Employees

In an ever-changing environment, morale turns overnight if not cared for by the employee. High morale keeps the employees motivated. A leader who doesn’t address the morale issues will see a decrease in productivity. To create a psychological connection, following are the things you can do:

• Ensure the employees feel connected to the organization while working remotely.
• Help employees understand their roles and day-to-day activity. 
• Arrange a virtual get-together weekly or monthly.
• Support employees to create safer space around them. 

While employees face health and job security-related issues, morale is the center of concern for the companies. Thus helping everyone be in a better mental state will help you in tackling the morale related issues. 

Listen to Your Workforce

Working from home is a new situation for a lot of people. So they might face issues while working like computer issues, slow connection, and more. Listen to their concerns and help them the best possible way you can. 

Conduct a survey related to working from home. Gather the feedback and try to implement the changes if needed. Best way to listen to your workforce is having a phone call or virtual meeting every few weeks. 

In a Nutshell

Numerous organizations have confronted difficulties in changing their administration styles during COVID-19, lessons learned about employee engagement will positively change employee outlook. The development of emotional connections between employees and employers will lead to improved productivity, and motivation, not to mention a feeling of belonging that a lot of people lack due to isolation and social distancing.