Supporting your team post-pandemic: What HR professionals should prioritise
The coronavirus pandemic has affected both professionals and businesses in a lot of different ways. Arguably, SMEs have been hit especially hard, although the government implemented an array of support tools such as the furlough scheme and delaying tax payments for SMEs.
Now that we’re coming out of the other side of the worst of the pandemic, recovery and business development need to be the focus of SMEs with stretched resources. HR professionals have to be equipped to deal with and actively prevent mental health concerns and increased stress, also known as ‘burnout’.
Over the past 18 months, it’s become clear that culture is the most important aspect of working life. HR are also up against the ‘Great Resignation’, in which the number of open UK jobs surpassed 1,000,000 for the first time ever in August.
We look at what HR’s role is in supporting teams in the best way possible…
Over 25% of SMEs haven’t invested in extra training to deal with pandemic-related wellbeing concerns. It’s possible that as a result of this, HR employees have felt ill-equipped to cope with these concerns, making it more difficult to bounce back.
Employees face an array of issues, including presenteeism, burnout and workplace culture issues, much of which have been made worse throughout the pandemic.
What do we define as ‘work culture’?
A workplace culture is the environment that is created by the organisation for its employees, including:
- Leadership
- Values
- Traditions
- Beliefs
- Interactions
- Behaviours; and
- Attitudes
That contribute to the relational and emotional feel of the workplace. 27% of UK leavers in 2020 cited their main reason for leaving as the toxic workplace culture, in fact, it’s estimated that workplace toxicity costs the UK £20.2bn annually! Which leads us to ask…
How can we combat workplace cultural unrest?
The most important aspect of combatting workplace unhappiness sounds obvious, however in practice it can be difficult to accommodate – making time to listen to and support employees. It’s all well and good offering ping pong tables, beanbag corner and a juice machine, however, a strong, positive company culture is imperative, and even more paramount is ensuring that this culminates in instilling genuine, true values across the company.
UK SMEs spend, on average, an extra hour each week on administrative tasks, meaning productivity is lost (a whopping 7 working days per year!) and that lost time has a negative impact on wellbeing and company culture.
Supportis can assist with not only strategies to boost employee wellbeing, we also offer timely advice to iron out any employee issues you may face – from disciplinary to annual leave – we cover it all! We are also soon launching a brand new, specially developed management system, to save your admin time and help your business flourish. Contact us today on 0161 603 2156 or email us at [email protected] to see how our friendly team can assist you.
