Keeping Employees Engaged and Productive During the Pandemic

This is part 2 of a 3-part series

The Covid crisis has materially impacted the life and work of nearly every employee. And the way that businesses manage their employees now will profoundly affect their performance today and well into the future.

Some of the big questions, asked by every employer, are: How do we keep productivity high and groom the next generation of leaders when everyone is working remotely? How do we identify those junior folks with high potential, spend time with them and mentor them when there is no real human contact — when everyone is on Zoom all day long?

There are no easy answers. Developing and nurturing talent is difficult in the best of times. Today, it seems nearly impossible.

But one thing is clear: leadership is vitally important as the Covid crisis stretches from weeks to months to possibly years. Being explicit about the problems and challenges you face, even if you don’t have all the answers, takes real courage and genuine leadership.

Managing through adversity

The good news is that even though most HR leaders have never been formally trained to operate amid a global pandemic, many are stepping up and doing a remarkable job in the face of adversity.

For instance, Optimizely, a cloud-based progressive delivery and experimentation platform, has introduced a series of one-on-one conversation guides to help managers discuss a range of issues with employees and better lead them on their personal path to success during this difficult time.

“We’re also holding 9 a.m. coffee talks several times a week, during which managers and employees are invited to talk about how they’re coping with the situation and share tips and strategies for staying productive in the pandemic,” says Erin Flynn, chief people officer at Optimizely.

Cloud-based CRM software provider Insightly is taking a similar approach.

“Managers today have to manage their teams from both a wellness and productivity viewpoint,” says Elena Doudoukalova, vice president of people operations at Insightly. “To that end, we’re investing in online training every quarter for managers and executives to help them talk to employees and effectively deal with a virtual workforce.”

For instance, if an employee who has always been an outstanding performer suddenly is not doing well during Covid, the manager will be better prepared to diplomatically ask questions about what, if anything, is going on in their personal life. “It comes down to having more effective one-on-ones, starting out with being more empathic and asking what we can do to help,” says Doudoukalova.

Managers at Insightly are also taking steps to understand the new work-life balance and how to lead by example.

“We’re talking to our managers about being more flexible and encouraging employees to take time off as needed,” says Doudoukalova. “This is not the time to be rigid with employees. We want to be a company that looks at employee health first, because we can’t have a healthy product without healthy employees.”

Recruiting and training in a time of Covid

As work-from-home stretches on, more and more challenges are starting to appear. Traditional ways of conducting business suddenly don’t apply. Hiring and training new employees, for example, has become infinitely more complicated.

What’s more, the new work-from-home economy is taking a toll on career development, especially for more junior employees who require more coaching and hands-on mentoring. It’s unlikely that a new employee fresh out of college can absorb those small yet crucial nuggets of wisdom from Zoom meetings the same way they could from live interactions.

“I really do worry about career development and mentoring in the long run,” says Flynn. “I feel there is a long-term potential impact there, especially around fairness. Is it the people who decide to return to the office who get the hot projects and promotions? That’s an issue that every business will have to work through over time.”

Remote work’s silver lining

On the plus side, now that we’ll be continuing to work remotely for the next year or so, it suddenly becomes possible to recruit candidates from anywhere in the world. Because if nobody can go to the office, it doesn’t matter where your new hires live. What’s more, layoffs across industries are relaxing the talent shortage in some areas, potentially making it easier to hire ahead of need, picking up once-scarce talent and trading up.

Diversity hiring could also become easier. “San Francisco is definitely a tech hub with a ton of talent but it’s not the most diverse town in the U.S.,” says Doudoukalova. “If you’re no longer restricted to hiring locally, you suddenly have options to go into different regions of the country, making it easier to find more diverse candidates. That is a real silver lining.”

No doubt, this is a trying time for every business, large and small. However, companies that remain nimble, stay in constant contact with their employees and take an innovative approach to problem-solving will weather the storm and be much stronger when we finally return to normal.

~Matt Holleran, General Partner of Cloud Apps Capital Partners