When we sent out our last newsletter in April, we were all quietly hoping we would be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel by now, but as anticipated, this will be a longer haul. The year 2020 will not be easily forgotten.
In that April newsletter, we mentioned that while our clients' experiences vary considerably, there is an across-the-board consistency in terms of everyone's level of concern about the workforce - the emotional and psychological consequences of this pandemic, and how that may impact risk, both to the individual and to the organization. While we are primarily concerned about risks of violence, one of the key components to prevention is being able to recognize signs of employees under a severe level of stress.
The question is how do we identify those employees - either those who can benefit from short-term support services such as EAPs, or more importantly, those high-risk employees who need much more? Identifying and addressing these issues as early as possible is critical, before it escalates into more critical consequences and can impact others within the organization or the organization itself.
Many are working remotely now, with the prediction being that this will become more of the norm for many organizations, even beyond this pandemic. All this becomes much more challenging for the manager if he or she, or their employees, are working from home. It is therefore important that managers spend more time being available and checking in with their employees (and asking them the right questions), to make sure that nothing is missed.
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Here are some suggestions when you check in with your employees:
- "How are you?" is a good start but often just leads to an equally perfunctory (but not always honest) answer, i.e., "I'm fine, thanks." Ask a genuine question that invites a genuine answer. One of the kindest gestures we can extend to others in a time like this is to make clear that they do not have to pretend that they are "fine".
- Ask a question! Do not just tell them how you think that they should be doing or what you would like to hear, i.e., "I hope all is well with you." Again, that will only result in another "I'm fine, thanks."
- Ask something more specific, such as "How are you coping?", "Are you finding it difficult working from home?" Or even better, "How are you adjusting to working from home?", or "Tell me about what are you doing to adjust to working from home? What have been your challenges?"
- If your employee has mentioned (or even suggested) a worry or concern in the past, follow up with that and check in to see how they are now feeling about that. If nothing else, that will demonstrate that you have been listening and are someone worth confiding in.
- Acknowledge their concerns. Repeat and summarize what they are telling you. This will help both of you understand better, and it shows that you are truly listening and are interested.
- Follow up your initial question with questions that reflect what they just told you, that will help you better identify their concerns. Repeat what they say in a way that invites elaboration.
- Try to avoid trying to solve their problem too quickly. Don't try to provide answers or unsolicited advice. Be patient, and make sure that you listen well.
- If the individual does not want to talk, there is no need to push it; just let them know that you are available if they have any concerns. Leave that door open.
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Please feel free to let us know if we can be of service during these times. We all want to be proactive and address these issues as early as possible. We will all get to the other side of this, but it will be a rocky ride, with recovery probably not as quick as we would all like. And there will eventually be long-term consequences (some positive) on how we live our lives and do our work going forward.
Please stay healthy.
Marc McElhaney, Ph.D.
CEO, Critical Response Associates
