Vice President of HR at Appian, she is responsible for developing and retaining talent while enhancing the culture and talent brand.
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It’s been a long four months since Covid-19 forced many companies to send their employees home to work from their kitchen tables. These are abnormal times, defined by disruptions to normal life and societal upheaval. Positive and negative, the events of the last four months have been exhausting.
Personally, I have never been stretched thinner. As the vice president of human resources at Appian, I have the opportunity to speak with a number of our employees and while they are some of the strongest I’ve ever known, they are facing the same struggles as many are, and it is challenging. It is hard to avoid when there is no longer a solid separation between work life and home life, job responsibilities and family responsibilities, and it is taking a toll on mental health.
Before the pandemic, mental health was already becoming more of a priority for companies. Now, looking at an immediate future with no promise of a return to what we knew as normal, mental health is front and center in a way it never was before. Beyond new mental health apps and increased benefits, there are empathy-driven policies and approaches HR departments can employ right now to help manage the mental health burden of employees.
Scale Communication
At a time when people may feel isolated and confused, clear communication is vital. Before the pandemic, you could organize company celebrations, have in-person, all-staff monthly meetings and walk by someone's desk for a chat or check-in. A remote workforce makes scaling communication challenging, but it is more important than ever that employees get the information and resources they need.
Emails just don't cut it. Consider launching an internal wiki, a website with collaborative editing of its content and structure that includes everything from announcements to peer-to-peer recognition, virtual community events and other resources. Employees can both catch up on critical company news and get a sense of community in one location.
Communication should also help relieve stress, not create more. Access to executives and a free flow of information from the top is key to making sure employees know they are being heard and valued. Opaque communications from higher-ups only add to the uncertainty, and no one needs more of that. Biweekly check-ins with the CEO should become staples on the calendar during Covid-19.
Support Community
For a lot of people, the thing they need most right now is community. Formal affinity groups and informal chat groups have shown to be really helpful during this crisis. These allow employees to stay connected during a time when it can be difficult to do so. For example, our parenting chat group has been a space of knowledge sharing and humor that I’ve personally found to be a bright spot in my day. These types of resources sustain a community because of the authentic and safe space they create.
Many companies have also done the hard work to reopen offices to limited occupancy. For employees who have been alone during this lockdown or have had less than ideal work-from-home set-ups, having an office environment to go to could improve their mental health. It takes a significant effort, but I have seen it have a positive impact on the employees who needed it.
Employees are resourceful and creative no matter where they are working. Some departments have figured out really great cadences and ways to stay connected. Make sure that there is a budget available for leaders to experiment with building community in these times. If they are successful, you can scale those ideas throughout the company.
Encourage Time Off And Flexibility
Sometimes what people need is to simply log off. During this time when traditional vacations are not possible, it can be hard for employees to convince themselves that spending PTO days is worth it. But it is. Pull PTO records, and encourage employees who haven’t taken time off in a while to get away from their computers for a day or two. With work and life more intertwined than ever, long-term productivity depends on being insistent with work-life boundaries.
Some people may need more than a day or two away. With the uncertainty around schools in the fall and just general unknowns about when this will end, many employees may need to relocate at least semi-permanently to be closer to family and child care. When possible, HR departments should do what they can to support those requests. After all, the remoteness of the workforce caused by Covid-19 might not change when the crisis is over. Dispersed workforces are here, and we should work to be flexible and accommodating while retaining productivity.
Targeted Support And Overall Pulse Check
I’ve always been a big proponent of our company's HR Business Partner Model, but I’ve never seen its value more than during this moment. Each function at the company has an associated HR Business Partner who acts as a trusted advisor and a central point of contact. They are a person in authority who employees can come to when needing support.
While offering targeted support for individual employees is essential, it is equally important to continue to check the pulse of your overall workforce. After all, how do you know if what you are doing is having a positive impact if you don’t ask? An employee engagement survey is even more important now.
As offices around the country begin to welcome back some employees, it is still unclear when, how and even if we will ever get back to what used to be normal. This uncertainty will continue to affect the mental health of employees and HR departments have a responsibility to respond with empathy and flexibility to support employees in figuring out what is best for them.
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