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6 Tips for Remaining Resilient During The Pandemic

by Julie Miles / August 26, 2020

Today, most companies are experiencing widespread transformation, uncertainty, and ambiguity as a result of the impact of the pandemic. On the other hand, employees have no option but to remain engaged and productive, embrace new processes and technology, actively fine-tune their skills and competencies, and adapt to the evolving workplace as well.

Many employees indeed prioritize the more rational elements of change, including governance, process, and technology. As much as that is important, you cannot afford to ignore such emotional factors like culture change, loss of autonomy, and behavior change because they have a direct impact on resilience.

The term resilience refers to the ability to bounce back, get up again, recover from, or adjust easily to a crisis or change. The current uncertainties place a demand on entities to master resilience because this aspect affects future operations in one way or another.

Why Embracing Resilience Is Critical

First and foremost, resilience needs to be part of your firm’s DNA if you are focusing on sustainability over this period. For that reason, HR executives must have courage and agility to evolve, and the steadiness to support the companies they work for through future complexities.

If your workforce is agile and resilient, it can promote organizational success by enhancing engagement and talent retention, creating transformational readiness and adaptability to change, as well as instilling new behaviors. Here are the top ways you and your team can remain resilient during this pandemic.

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1. Prioritize Emotional Wellbeing

Presently, stress and mental health conditions are part of the challenges increasing operational expenses and impacting the productivity of most firms. As a result, more and more employers are focusing on the wellbeing of their employees as a way of addressing the negative impact of the crisis.

One of the ways to achieve that is by planning to establish a companywide behavioral health action plan or health strategy. Such a plan includes programs like resilience and stress management workshops, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), or counseling support. Ensuring that your workers have access to tailor-made resilience methods in line with their preferences and needs is also possible through such personalized coaching platforms like Sleepio and MeQuilibrium.

Also, the risk of suffering isolation is quite high at the face of the pandemic, and your employees need to feel connected at such a time as this. That is possible by normalizing the issue of mental health, and reducing stigma and storytelling can help you achieve that. Hosting Ted talk-like podcasts and videos will help you highlight stories of people who overcome challenges and significant workplace changes as well as insight into rebounding from adversity.

That way, you will not only inspire your workers by cultivating a culture of resilience, but they will become a source of inspiration to others too.

2. Listen to Your Employees

The voice of your workers is an essential factor of consideration at the moment, and that is why you need to keep a pulse on the same. Conducting surveys, one-on-one interviews, and organizing focus groups will help you gain the point of view of your employees and understand them better as well. In turn, you can develop appropriate strategies focusing on sustaining engagement, change readiness, and delivery of holistic employee experience. Doing so will bear a positive impact on your efforts to maintain resilience.

3. Focus on Building Trust

Resilience is a product of a culture that fosters flexibility, trust, and accountability. Therefore, you need to create the right practices and atmosphere to develop and nurture resilience among your employees. The reason is that workers need opportunities to address various aspects of their lives and take care of their needs so they can achieve balance.

In that case, building trust is paramount if you want to create a workplace that invests in the health and wellbeing of workers and their families. That also implies that setting reasonable and realistic expectations across all teams to create a thriving work environment whose foundation is resilience will not be a problem going forward.

4. Ensure That Your Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) Strategy Is Front and Center

I&D goes beyond fulfilling a moral imperative. That is because entities that generate diverse and expanded ideas from workers exhibit an aspect of creativity when solving problems, innovate better, and even take risks. Therefore, keeping your I&D strategy front and center at such a time as this will build the resilience your team needs to surmount the prevailing crisis.

As a result, your workplace will become an environment where employees feel safe to speak up, contribute in unique ways, and according to their abilities as they aspire to succeed and embrace the challenge to improve where necessary.

5. Adapt to Change

It is a fact that it is no longer business as usual as the pandemic continues to unfold. That explains the reason why change is now and continues to be part of us. Emotionally resilient individuals appreciate that life is not static and that change is inherent. Most people are uncomfortable with change, yet it is inevitable.

Unexpected change, as is the case at the moment, is most probably getting in the way of the plans you have for your company. That can make you resentful and attract disappointment, and if you are not careful, the crisis can overwhelm you. For instance, most employers are now learning to work with remote teams for the first time in a bid to keep their operations running.

As much as this approach may present new challenges, it is also contributing to the discovery of new opportunities. The bottom line here is that adapting to change during the current crisis is a necessity. That may call for allowing your employees to work offsite, planning follow-up meetings through video calls, encouraging team-work among your remote employees, and fostering increased engagement, which will ultimately promote resilience.

6. Consider The Long Term

Volatility can create opportunities that businesses can leverage. That is especially true in the wake of the pandemic when firms that embrace a more assertive and long-term approach can spark the kind of innovation that defines the “new normal.” So, if you want to overcome the effects of the present economic downturn and remain resilient, you need to strike the right balance between short-term and long-term strategies by investing comprehensively in the future while selectively reducing costs.

Conclusion

It is not yet clear when things will stabilize. However, resilience demands that you focus on creativity, strengthening key relationships, and motivating your employees. That will not only safeguard the interests of both your firm and workers, but it will also help you realize business success in the coming days.

ABOUT PLATINUM GROUP

Platinum Group is a full service human capital management (HCM) resource that allows businesses to manage their payroll and benefits compliance, track time and attendance, and conduct other human resources functions in a way that maximizes efficiency and eliminates redundancies. This is made possible by means of our platform, iSolved. For more information about Platinum Group, or to schedule a demo of iSolved, please visit our website.

Tags: Health & Wellness Employee Leadership Platinum Group Asheville Payroll iSolved HCM Workplace Wellness Employee Management HR iSolved Payroll Asheville HCM Emotional Intelligence Resilience Pandemic

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Julie Miles

Julie Miles

Julie’s passion is to act as a liaison between the Platinum team, their wonderful clients, and the community, striving to tell their stories and make connections.