How to Boost Staff Morale During the COVID-19 Pandemic

With all the uncertainty in the world right now, and the difficulties people are experience as they adjust to the new normal, it is important to stay connected with your staff. Many teams are now working remotely, making staying connected more challenging! Here are 6 ways you can boost your staff morale during the COVID-19 pandemic:

1. Daily team meetings

Embrace modern technology to connect with your employees via daily virtual meetings. This is a great way to collaborate and provide feedback on how your staff are performing and to discuss ideas about how the business can improve to stay competitive during this period.

2. Host virtual morning teas or Friday afternoon drinks

This allows your team to maintain a social connection and have conversations that would normally happen during breaks or after work.

3. Be flexible and empathetic

This is particularly important for those staff who are facing the challenge of working with kids at home and may need additional flexibility regarding their hours of work. It has been suggested that people are not working from home, but are at home during a crisis, trying to work. Looking at it from this perspective allows for more reasonable expectations of work and productivity for people adjusting to not only new work arrangements but also many other changes to their normal life.

4. Virtual staff fitness sessions

It is important that your employee remember to look after their wellbeing whilst in isolation. Why not host a virtual yoga session to help your staff unwind and de-stress? Or share online workouts to do each day.

5. Circulate funny or uplifting shares

Humour is a great tool to deal with anxiety which many people are currently experiencing in isolation. Sharing short, funny videos with the team (these don’t need to be virus related) or having everyone send in a picture of their home office pet are ways everyone can contribute and benefit from light-hearted interactions.

6. Assign roles to each team member

Some people will feel more comfortable than others when it comes to sharing and interacting online. Others may find this more of a stretch and could become more disconnected if they’re not familiar with this. By assigning appropriate roles to each person in the team, and rotating these, everyone will have an opportunity to participate, whether that is leading a team meeting, or providing information for a segment of the meeting, or being in charge of a daily uplifting quote or funny meme.

Now is a good time to come together and get creative to ensure your workplace remains a positive one and that your employees stay engaged while working remotely.