Covid Goggles - Put Them On and Look Around - Ideas for Managing Humans in this Moment

Last week I had the chance to catch up on a few podcasts and dove into Episode 744: Essential from This American Life. In it, producer Chana Joffe-Walt talked to "essential workers" from the pandemic to get their insights on the last 18 months. During one of the interviews, Joffe-Walt described "Covid Goggles" - this experience of looking at your job differently through the lens of what you learned during Covid. This is a conversation we have constantly been having with clients as they navigate a workforce that is asking for more pay, more flexibility, and more acknowledgment of their lives outside of work – particularly those with young and school-aged children.

So, folks, it's time we all put on our Covid Goggles and look around our offices. Here are some tips for dealing with some of the things you may be observing.  

Tips

1.    Flexibility is the name of the game moving forward – organization-wide policies are falling by the wayside as we create solutions to meet the needs of each individual worker – their life stage, their barriers, and their worries

2.    Turnover Churn – When your employees put on their Covid Goggles, some of them didn't like what they saw, and so you may be experiencing higher levels of turnover. This is an opportunity to look around and pause and figure out what processes you need to put into place to protect the rest of your workforce. Conduct exit interviews – yes, they take up time but learn from each exit.

3.    Mandate Time Off – One client said to me yesterday, "When I look at people's faces, they are just drained and exhausted." If this is what your workforce looks like, then tell people to take some time. Close your office for a day – which is sometimes necessary for high-performing workers. Model this behavior as a leader and take vacation time where you don't check your email.

4.    Look at the budget – Are you paying a fair wage? People earning less than $26 an hour are the most likely folks to be leaving jobs right now – primarily

“I just don’t know what to do…”

In conversations with leaders over the last few weeks, I keep hearing this constant refrain, "Honestly, I don't know what to do." The truth is, there is fatigue in big mammoth decision-making happening especially as the Delta Variant has taken over and our reprieve from making big decisions was so very short. So, leaders, this one is for you. Flexibility, time off, and realism are your friends right now. There are limits to what can be possible, and that is okay.

Image from This American Life - click on image to listen to the podcast.