HR’s Next Challenge – Wellbeing, Engagement and Inclusion During Times of Crisis

The last few weeks have been arguably some of the most challenging that HR professionals will ever face, and what’s to come will may test us even further.

Posts in HR forums about knee jerk reactions and mass redundancies have been rapidly replaced by never ending queries about Furlough, further exasperated by celebrities giving their interpretations of this new legislation to the masses.

Heart breaking stories now cropping up multiple times per day with the grim reality that these posts will steadily be replaced with queries around employee mortality and bereavements.

HR are at the sharp end of this situation in many ways. The analogy of putting on your own oxygen mask before tending to others feels more relevant than ever and as the ones who are tasked with supporting employee mental health and wellbeing, HR need to make sure they’re at the front of that queue.

With new legislation, policy and processes absorbing so much of HR’s resources at the moment, finding space to consider and implement strategies for maintaining employees (and our own) mental health and wellbeing during these challenging times; and consider engagement and inclusion is not easy. However, there is a danger that if wellbeing, engagement and inclusion aren’t a priority in this time of crisis, not only could this create a ticking mental health time bomb when some version of normal returns, it could also undermine the progress that’s happened in these areas during recent years.

Who knows what the world will look like in the future, the economic repercussions from what we are experiencing now will be far reaching and impact us all for a long time to come. Organisations who maintain a focus on wellbeing, engagement, and inclusion will ensure their workforce's are more resilient and able to adapt to this changing world, innovating new ways of working and reshaping for the challenges of tomorrow.

Wellbeing

The Kubler-Ross change model below is commonly used to show the emotions people may go through when grieving, it elaborates very well the emotional roller-coaster people are going through by the hour at the moment. And it’s mentally and emotionally exhausting!

The current situation is already leading to economic and financial concerns, drug and alcohol abuse issues, increases in domestic abuse, poverty and many more societal consequences, the scale of which will impact on everyone in some way or another.

Worrying about workforce productivity at the moment or trying to make policies written for another time fit this situation feels futile. More than ever HR needs to redirect its focus to galvanise our workforce's to be resilient and adaptable; looking after our employees, and ourselves, with compassion and empathy. It will be this which creates strong, loyal and dedicated teams, and harnesses discretionary effort to ensure our organisations survive and thrive in the new world which is now being created.

As a social justice mission based college for adults, Fircroft College are acutely aware of the impact that this situation will have not only on our students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but also our employees both personally and from the view of supporting our students.

Fircroft achieved a Beacon Award from the Association of Colleges last year for its mental health and wellbeing support initiatives, they include over 50% of the workforce being trained as mental health first aiders, mental health training for all staff, an EAP and bank of resources, local counselling provision, a wellbeing strategy, our wellbeing champion from our employee voice team and events. During this current crisis, we have made a strategic decision to invest in additional support for the workforce. An example is the virtual resilience coaching, which has been made available for all employees on a small group basis, and has received fantastic feedback. This is further complimented by individual resilience coaching sessions available to everyone as a form of ‘supervision’.

Engagement

Many people are motivated by the purpose and values of their organisation, and this is true for the workforce at Fircroft College. Maintaining that connection with regular updates and reflection on what the organisation has already achieved, is still achieving or hopes to achieve in the future is helping people to stay engaged and motivated. At Fircroft we have been collecting and sharing positive news stories and all employees are fully supported to join the NHS volunteering and other volunteering programmes.

There is a well-documented link between levels of trust and adaptability to change. The culture that we have strategically developed at Fircroft is one where employees feel secure taking risks, are adaptable and innovative. This has been clear to see in the way the college has embraced technology and became virtual overnight, this includes teaching teams seamlessly moving classes online, as well as a social infrastructure including Whatsapp groups, quizzes, zoom check ins and Teams groups being established within days of the college closing its doors.

Our communications strategy has been fundamental to building trust, ensuring everyone feels they are not only being kept up to date, but are part of the decision-making processes. Our approach considered whether communication was accessible for everyone, no matter what level of IT skills, knowledge or equipment they have. Different communication streams are working for different groups and being flexible has ensured inclusion and that no one feels isolated during this time.

People need different levels of interaction, the opportunity to collaborate will be vital for some people, whilst others will happily work in isolation. We established a weekly schedule with social times where people can catch up and chat, however it was communicated as a suggestion so people who liked structure could work to it but others had the freedom to work around their own commitments.

Inclusion

Being inclusive during this crisis has many factors. An inclusive approach to remote working, communication and support for example. It’s often about offering people choices, the opposite to a ‘one size fits all’ approach. An example from Fircroft is giving flexibility in the working hours, in normal times and during this period, this enables people with children or lots of family members at home to work early or late when it’s quieter for example, or share IT equipment in the household if needed. But it’s starting from a point of ‘how do we make this accessible for as many people as possible.

Inclusion is also about embracing and celebrating our differences, these differences are what make the Fircroft team strong, creative and resilient. Whilst we are all working in our own environments, rather than the ‘artificial’ work environment, differences are more apparent. Whether that’s where people live, economic background, religion, age, caring responsibilities, access to IT etc, we are all getting a rare insight in to each other’s lives. Whilst getting to know each better on a personal level will ensure a strong bond in the future, there is inevitably an increased risk of conflict. Greater levels of empathy and sensitivity will be needed during this period, acknowledging that different things affect us all differently. Additional equality, diversity and inclusion training may be timely.

Whatever challenges lie ahead it’s clear that a focus on wellbeing, engagement and inclusion strategies now will ensure that workforce's are in the best place to embrace change, transition smoothly to different ways of working, adapt and innovate to shape our organisations for the future. Investing in these areas now will support our employees and our organisations to face the challenges that lie ahead.