How are you keeping in touch with your employees?

Business is all about people, at the moment people are juggling a lot – trying to work from home if they are still working, worrying about work if they aren't working; sharing space with family; home schooling and entertaining both themselves and their family within strict guidelines – as a business leader how can you support your people?

Whilst each of us may react differently, it may be helpful to know that our reaction to change does follow a process and there are things we can do to help ourselves deal with all the changes in our lives currently.

For most people, the initial shock and denial phase has passed; many of us are now moving into the phase where frustration and maybe depression is being felt.

It is important to take care of our mental health and wellbeing and employers can provide support for their people with this.

There are some great resources available which can help. Living Life to the Full has free resources for the general public and Heads Together.

There are also those who are already adapting and testing new ways of working; again, providing support to employees to bring them with you as that new picture starts to emerge is important.

Whatever stage you are at, communication is the key to keeping your employees informed and supported. Now more than ever, the trust that is inherent in a positive employment relationship

needs to be nurtured.

Talking to business across the South West, there are some great ways that business are keeping in touch with their people:

â—Virtual weekly scheduled meetings where senior leaders provide updates, information and hold Q&A sessions – arranged at a set time each week with an invitation for all employees to join in – it doesn't matter if one person or all people attend, it's important that these meetings happen come what may in order to establish trust and consistency; these could be followed up with a weekly newsletter – it's surprising how quickly everyone starts to view these meetings as being important and make time to attend;

â—Monday morning "huddles" – these are where teams can check in with each other every week – not a work check-in – but a more informal check-in where people can say how they are doing; express if they are experiencing difficulties; share and support, offer advice, share ideas;

â—Team WhatsApp groups have become very popular as a more relaxed way for people to keep in touch; share anecdotes and stay connected; There are many different platforms for sharing communication – Zoom appears to have become one of the most popular and is very easy to use, and following an initial concern in relation to uninvited guests crashing; Zoom have now improved their access security and provide excellent tutorials.

If you want some inspiration on how to keep in touch with your people, Simon Sinek is a well-known speaker widely available on all the social media platforms and Youtube – his videos are well worth a watch.

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