Author: Laurey West, SHRM-CP, Director of Operations
You are not alone if you have employees’ experiencing high levels of stress during this faltering economy.
There are some ways you can help employees reduce their stress levels and help them to remain productive.
Here are just a few:
1. If working remote is suitable for your business needs, allow an employee to work remotely to save on gas and offer this as an alternative to coming into the office. We assist our clients with remote work policies. Offer flexible schedules allowing an employee to work from home several days and then work several days at the office.
2. If you are unable to offer remote work, offer 4-day work weeks with more hours worked each day to offset the fifth work day.
3. Offer your employees an employee assistance program (with no cost to the employee) that offers free counseling sessions and financial management assistance.
4. If you must reduce your workforce or furlough employees, be open and communicate to this to your team and do your very best to do this one time. Additional layoffs or cutbacks can bring higher stress levels and lower your team’s morale.
5. Encourage your staff to take their earned PTO or vacation time.
6. Offer a company paid breakfast or lunch weekly or monthly if your company is in a financial position to do so.
7. Now is not the time to reduce any company-sponsored benefits or change the benefit offerings. Doing so may lower productivity and increase an employee’s potential to burnout.
8. Show appreciation for your team in inexpensive ways such as providing them extra time off or recognize an employee during a staff meeting or all-hands meeting.
9. Have a monthly raffle of some type of gift card (free movie passes or free lunch) for your team.
10. Keep an open-door policy and be more flexible with employees’ needs. Be supportive.
Our company offers benefit packages, employee assistance programs, forms for communicating layoffs or furloughs, assistance with HR-related questions and PTO/SICK/VACATION tracking as part of many other outsourcing functions. If we can do the same for your company, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We strive to be the best strategic partner for our clients.