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During the Pandemic, Listen and Learn
“The fool speaks, the wise man listens” Ethiopian Proverb After four or five months of working from home due to the stay at home order, many employees are preparing for a return to work. Many employees will bring with them concerns about their safety as well as the safety of people they serve and those that they care about. If you are returning to work during a pandemic, it is crucial to communicate important information and listen to your employees. Effective two way communication is key for a safe and successful return to work. It is also important to expect that you have not thought of everything and that people will bring problems related to dealing with the public and one another that will need to be addressed. Communication during the upcoming days, weeks, and months will be critical to high levels of service and performance of your team. A good number of essential employees never stopped going to work. Because we can’t ‘do without’ their work, they have continued to work during the pandemic. Getting the opportunity to work with colleagues again will bring joy in the fact that there will be other people to share the work and laughs but it will also bring conflict. The return to work will also bring people who have not worked in four to five months, some of which have enjoyed this time spent with family, completing projects, and working from the comfortable confines of their home. Expect their return to work to be a challenge. Some employees will welcome the opportunity to interact with other adults, others won’t want the ‘stay home' order to end, in either case adjustments will need to be made on the fly. Return to work protocols are essential to a safe work environment. As the stay at home order loosens and people start coming back to work, they will need to know what is okay and what isn’t. A clear list of do’s and don'ts will provide employees a guide. Directives on the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), washing hands, use of sanitizers, socializing during lunch and breaks, and social distancing are topics that will need to be addressed so that people know what is expected of them in order to keep themselves and other people safe. You will also need a plan to address employees who have made the decision not to wear masks, social distance, or respect safety precautions. Active Listening Strategies: A good practice to demonstrate that you are listening to an employee is to employ active listening strategies. Here are a few that work for me, feel free to adopt them and make them your own. 1. Lean toward the speaker 2. Maintain good eye contact 3. Nod occasionally 3. Smile and use facial expressions 4. Encourage the speaker with verbal prompts. Never interrupt. Never complete sentences or summarize statements using value judgements. It's been said that whatever you interact with you also change, an employee’s story is no different. Let them tell their story without interruption or influence. Leave Law related to COVID 19: In late March, the Department of Labor (DOL) introduced the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The FFCRA requires certain employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified circumstances related to COVID 19. The FFCRA expires on December 31, 2020. An employee with confirmed COVID 19 gets two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid leave, at the regular rate, while they are quarantined and/or receiving care. FFCRA provides two weeks (up to 80 hours) at two thirds the employees regular rate of pay while caring for a child or dependent adult, or if the child care provider is quarantined due to COVID 19. There are employers who have found that working remotely is a viable option for their business moving forward and have made the decision to continue allowing their employees to work from home. If your employer has extended the time employees will work from home, management will be more of a challenge because managers will not see employees nor will they be able to manage their work on a daily basis. Procedures for distance management will need to be developed. Due to the lack of personal interaction, interpersonal conflict should be reduced to an all time low. The ability to rally people together will also be compromised because of the distance between employees. The University of Minnesota offers its employees a “Sunrise Plan” that “outlines a gradual reopening of limited functions on campuses and other University sites” that is consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). Work that has been done in other organizations can be a good place to start if you are planning for a return to work. Stand on the shoulders of giants, work smarter, and use work that has already been done to support the success of your team. As people return to work, be mindful of employee’s physical, mental, and financial health. The impact of a global pandemic won’t be completely known for years, all pandemic related problems will not just go away with a return to work. There will be unforeseen issues that will need to be faced and successful negotiation of these issues begin with good listening by the leaders. I had a mentor who would always say, “you’ll never listen your way into trouble.” Which is an extension of the Ethiopian expression we started this article with. Be a wise leader, lead with your ears and you will SOAR! William A. Brown July 12, 2020 https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employer-paid-leave
