Covid-19 will not damage you co-workers as much as this will - by Rozze S. Baleng

You've probably heard the story about the two founders (let's call them Erica and Gabriel) that talk about whether they should put effort into coaching their employees or not. Gabriel asks “What happens if we invest time and resources in developing and coaching our people and then they leave the company?” Jessica replies, “What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

In uncertain times like these, when the only thing you can hope for is that this forever changing event goes over quickly, it's harder than ever to keep morale and work ethics among co-workers up to normal levels. It has nothing to do with whether you distrust your co-workers watching Netflix instead of working.

What managers and business owners are worried about when it comes to staff

The biggest issue for my clients is not whether people work well in a remote setup or not. If that is your biggest issue - then my clients' problems are of the kind that most likely were "pre-corona". And no, my clients' issue is not that the co-workers might catch the virus either, since all of us will probably catch it sooner or later, or had it already. The most common fear among my clients is actually that employees' motivation and loyalty to the company decline when not being at the workplace.

But your concern as a leader and co-worker should be aimed at something else.

What managers and business owners should worry about when it comes to staff

A study in 2010 that in its meta-analysis form involved over 148 studies and more than 308, 000 Americans confirmed that the more isolated someone is, the higher that person’s risk of death will be. The author of that study, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, said that loneliness can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The study indicated "a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period."

How are your co-workers doing when in confinement? What does their everyday life look like when the parts of or maybe the whole family has to stay home the whole day. Or if they live in a single household, how do they cope with a situation that could be well compared to solitary confinement? This is especially a concern if you own a company that's normally not a remote working enterprise.

The extraordinary situation we are in will most probably persist, meaning that your co-workers will keep being working remotely and being more than less confined (doesn't really matter if it's by law, social pressure or fear of catching the virus) for a long time. Then you as the responsible leader soon might have a deteriorating health-related challenge on your hands. Either way, the co-worker that's been working remotely and in confinement for five-six months will not be the same person as when you last saw them. How you tackle this reality will define you and have great effects on your company.

What can you as a co-worker do?

Call each other, have an online coffee together on Google Hangouts, start a virtual after-work on Zoom, perhaps keep your camera on for an hour when not having meetings so that you're all at the office - in each other's home workplaces. It's important for the culture of the company that the water cooler talk doesn't cease completely. The non work-related (virtual) meetings are what makes a job into a place where you may feel welcome or even as coming home. Some remote companies have a great digital and cultural setup already.

What should you as a leader /not/ do?

Now, this is a tricky one. The boss calling in to check up on their co-workers is not always welcome or beneficial even if the reasons for the call comes from good intentions.

First off, the CxO or manager many times needs to keep the ship moving and be focusing on leading the company's/department's, focus on KPI's, that the results are met and supporting the co-workers to do their job. This is especially true if the company is in crisis or in times of great change. Therefore the boss might not even have time to have these more casual, more personal 1-on-1 calls to check up in a natural way about how everybody in the team's doing.

Secondly, coaching someone without their permission or to start getting personal all the sudden (no matter how well-meaning and loving the gesture is meant to be) could have a counterproductive effect. The narrative needs to be set together. Ask yourself this first: 1) Is the company's culture pro-communication and transparency? 2) Have you created a safe space for your co-workers to share their personal stories? If you can answer both questions yes, then learning and using coaching techniques might be a helpful tool. But even then, clear communication, a coaching alliance, boundaries, and guiding rules need to be set for a wholesome coaching session between the boss and the co-worker.

Professional help

Many times, the easiest and best approach is to get someone from outside the company to take charge of and manage these kinds of talks. In this way of hiring a professional coach, or perhaps consultant in the field of HR or People & Culture, you as a leader show respect, care, and support for your co-workers. Again, remember the questions that the founder Jessica answers Gabriel with, which is to ask yourself what will happen if you don't undertake professional and thought-through measures.

Feel free to comment on this article or contact me if you would like to have a chat about this content or another topic regarding the well-being of the company's leaders and co-workers.

The author, Rozze Baleng, is a trained leadership and business coach, LL.M., and also works as the Head of People & Culture for World's Marathons, a global tech company. You may contact him here on LinkedIn or by e-mail rozze@baleng.se.