New Challenges between People Managers and Employees during the Pandemic (plus 9 strategies to overcome them)

Many employees and people managers are going through change brought on by outside forces out of their control. An economic and health crisis, social unrest, remote work, isolation, and more. The level of change being experienced in such a short-period of time is unprecedented. 

As a result of expedited change and alternate working environments, additional issues are rapidly rising between employees and people managers as they learn to navigate multiple crises at the same time. It’s clear that the previously well known balance of work and family is breaking down as the expectations for many to balance work, family, school demands, and more has remained the same, while pressures of maintaining or increasing work output is rising.

30+ people shared their feedback in a social media poll I conducted on the top challenges that have risen between employees and people managers during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

What is one challenge you’re seeing arise between managers and employees during the pandemic?

Top responses are summarized in order of highest agreement of concern by poll responders.

1. The same or higher expectations when literally everything has changed.
2. Not adjusting the workload to account for the fact that we are employees and stay-at-home parents.
3. Not recognizing that we’re all grieving (the loss of ‘normal’ lives) and making adjustments to be more gentle with ourselves and others.
4. Extreme Zoom fatigue and the feeling of having to be ‘on’ for larger amounts of time due to the video production. 
5. Video is turning into the only acceptable way to have a conversation while working virtually. What happened to phone calls?
6. Failing to keep the line of communication going and a lack of leader outreach. 
7. Keeping a pulse on how people are doing (without being another obligation).

This raises a critical question:

What strategies can employees and people managers do to close the labor gap before it appears, before burnout, before the closure of the proverbial career door? 

Over the last 16 years working in business environments both as an employee (individual contributor) and a people manager, I’ve learned and coached others on how to navigate change and maximize time by getting organized, setting boundaries, and being intentional.

Our work environment is different, the world is different, and ultimately, we’re different than before the crisis. We must now adapt the way we work, how we view our accountability to the work, and how managers bring value to their teams or risk burnout, a growing mental health crisis, or loss of talent entirely.

Employees - What can you try, test, and adjust on your own? Consider these 5 strategies to help balance your work and home and build them into your daily and weekly routine. 

Managers - What can you do to help support your employees to bring productivity while enabling your team to have balance? Consider these 4 strategies you can deploy to support your employees while leading in challenging times.

5 Strategies for Employees to Enhance Home and Work Balance (and still deliver results)

1) Reset your accountability lens

Traditionally we have been held accountable to our working time by the time clock. Clock in at the office at 8am, stay for 8 hours, and then head home — our responsibility has been completed. In the new working from home environment, our mindset of being accountable to work is between the “must log on first thing in the morning” even if it’s at 6am to the “must have a meeting to fill every minute of my day” routine. All of this adds up to “must be busy” = completing my responsibility.

Working from home has the ability to teach us to refocus how we work. When it comes to accountability, we need to reset our lens. This means stepping away from the always-on thought bubble and carving out specific times you give attention. Notice I didn’t say 100% attention — it’s okay to help your kids with homework during these times. It’s not only okay, I applaud you for your resilience. 

2) Rethink the lunch room chats and “water cooler conversations”

One of the top comments I hear is how people miss the casual conversations that happen as they were walking from meeting-to-meeting or as they were walking to grab coffee or water. These quick conversations give an opportunity to check-in on what’s happening either personal or work related. 

Water cooler conversations can go virtual. These are great in keeping the connectedness with colleagues and work friends. While no one wants to see another department happy hour on the calendar, take initiative and set up your own water cooler invite. Send it only to the people who give you energy, the kind that you look forward to — it can also be a great way to network if you invite one person and ask them to invite one person, and so on.

3) Optimize productivity with block scheduling + task batching

Building in blocks of time throughout the day will give you a set time that is reserved for high productivity to get things done. During this time, batch together similar tasks and do them all at once in a block of time versus doing them sporadically. Providing feedback and responding to emails, drafting project plans, or writing, are all great tasks to batch together. You’ll save time in the long run because you’re not switching back-and-forth in between topics or meetings while trying to complete the task.

Tip: I use this strategy for similar meeting types i.e. all meetings related to a specific project or problem I’m trying to solve are right after one another on the same day if possible. It’s best to plan your schedule ahead one month at a time versus week-to-week as this helps secure the time so your schedule is working for you.

4) Remove visual work cues during off times 

This includes your work notebook, your laptop, and all items that will stir the feeling that you need to be working. You may be thinking “I work at a desk in my bedroom, how do I put it away?” What I mean is, put these items in a drawer of your dresser, in a cabinet, somewhere your laptop or notebook aren’t beaming “open me.” The action of closing a drawer will give you a signal to the end of your workday. 

5) Assess your communication line with your manager

The employee - manager relationship works two ways. You may have been able to stop by your manager’s desk for a quick chat while in the office, yet nowadays it’s a new world. How are you ensuring these touch points are happening in the new environment? More importantly, how are you making sure they’re happening at the length and cadence that helps you be the most productive?

Be intentional in how and when you communicate with your manager as they’re meant to help you navigate, but they’re not there to manage your day-to-day. To get the most out of your conversation, there’s a level of transparency you should be bringing to each conversation in how it’s going, where you have barriers, the flexibility that you need, etc. 

Tip: In your next meeting, say this to your manager: “I could really use your input on xyz as it will help me overcome xyz” or “I have one thing that I need your attention on this week.”

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4 Strategies for Managers to Enable Employees to Find Balance (and still meet work commitments)

Managing in a crisis is hard. We’re not only stewards of work, we’re enablers of positive mental health habits that bring balance to our employees. 

Knowing this, the strategies that worked for in-person management or traditional remote employee management will not be enough when managing through the multiple crises we’re facing today. It will require flexibility in meetings, schedules, and may even bring a double-take to assess priorities.

1) Visibility matters...even more

Gone are the days when we could walk through the cube farm with our coffee each morning and check-in, talk about the previous night's events, and quickly hit the list of important items for the day. 

While the opportunity for being visible in the virtual environment is not as clear as being physically seen, the importance of being visible has not changed. Your team wants to hear from you, even if it’s to reiterate where the team is headed or how you’re adapting to the challenges of working remotely.

2) Renew channels of communication

A top challenge being reported is that employees want connection with their manager, but not at the cost that a meeting from their manager feels like another obligation. Before scheduling a meeting think about if it really needs to be a meeting. Can you add the topic to each staff 1:1 that is already on the calendar? Can you use email or post it to a real-time collaboration tool i.e. Microsoft Teams or Slack? 

Lead by example by adding a purpose or objective to each meeting that is scheduled and follow through on actually doing what was intended in the meeting. Allow your employee to feel there is added value to the time you’re using versus the time they would be bringing balance to their homes through productivity. 

3) Allow space for the reality of today

Bring connection in a way that allows space for the team to talk about what is happening around them. For some, having work calls is their only interaction with people outside of their home and allowing time for real-world discussion also fosters an inclusive culture.

Tip: One way I promote this is by having open office hours each week — an optional time for anyone on the team to show-up and have casual chats. Anything goes, no agendas are allowed. Each week there’s a different topic or multiple topics, and it’s naturally curated by those on the call.  

4) Turn off your video from time-to-time

Key feedback given in the social poll was about too much video usage. Set the tone by determining when a video needs to be turned on and when a phone call will work just the same. 

Take a cue from the room - if you’re the only one with your video on from the beginning of the meeting until 10 minutes in, take a break, turn it off. When you do want your team to show-up on video, make a note about it in the meeting notice. For an added bonus try taking a tech break all together. Try a phone call away from the computer or take the phone outside for a walking 1:1.

Lasting Thoughts

Honing the way you work is the best thing you can do for yourself and your career, both as an employee and a people manager. Adapting to changing environments requires flexibility — stop things that aren’t working, continue things that are, and try new things, as you may be surprised at the outcome. 

If you already think you’re doing enough, push further. Take time to step back as a team to determine how you need to adjust to be the most productive together and individually to bring balance. Employees and people managers spend many hours together, it’s important that the relationship maintains its strength through these crises to keep the business running, while purposefully avoiding the pitfalls.

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Questions? Any advice or experiences to add? Share below in the comments — I look forward to reading them and responding! 

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