Interview from the Trenches – Finding Balance
Lysa Allman-Baldwin
Strategic Communications & Leadership Development | Executive Messaging | Employee Engagement | Public Speaker & Content Strategist
It’s one thing to listen to or read summary information about what’s going on in the meeting and event planning and employee relations worlds in the wake of the pandemic.?But speaking to someone directly meandering through the trenches is another – revealing so much more.
In this short interview, I spoke with Michele Cusumano, Human Resources Director for the Illinois Office of Comptroller in Springfield, IL.
Me:
What are the biggest challenges your organization is facing due to the fallout caused by the pandemic??
?Michelle:
Our main focus has mostly been just trying to balance our employees’ health and well-being. A lot of people had been getting sick or had family members that were getting sick, so we wanted to try and provide as much support as we can to let them know that we are there for them.
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Me:
Are you experiencing any issues in regard to morale and/or engagement with your planning team or employees??And if so, what do you think is/are the root cause(s) of the issues??
Michelle:
Fortunately, we have seen morale get better as far as productivity.?We have very dedicated people here and they realize the importance of their jobs and that in order to keep things moving along smoothly, they had to do their best to balance home and work life during the pandemic to make sure that the delivery to the State of Illinois continued.
Early on we were working as a hybrid, but some people had to come in because we are largely still a paper-based agency.?But we were able to put things in place to balance the two and try to reduce the chance of illness and reduce the loss of employees.?Morale was up because of the team environment here.?The support here was absolutely necessary and everyone was supportive of each other.
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Whether it’s employee morale, time allocation, or navigating between in-person and virtual work environments, straddling that ever-fluctuating middle ground to find balance is crucial to day-to-day operations in any company, association, or other organization.??