How To Reduce The Pandemic Impact On Employees

For many of us, Covid-19 was not just a fearsome virus that ripped through our world like an angry bear on steroids, it was something that disrupted our entire way of living. We went from working in offices, surrounded by colleagues, to trapped in our homes. It is natural for everybody, including workers, to suffer tension and anxiety at times like these when there is so much uncertainty. Every employee has a need for socioemotional support in order to be able to deal with the strain that is being placed on them to provide learning at a time of crisis and to meet the demands of their company. Check out our suggested ways to reduce pandemic impact on employees.

For some of us, this was a blessing in disguise, we were able to take a break from the business that held our lives captive, but now things are different.

Covid-19 has taken a step back, and while it is still present in our lives, things have changed, we still work from home, gas prices are up, and the economy is in tatters.

The pandemic impact on employees is visible in many ways, and now we are paying more bills as we work from home with higher bills, not socializing as much, and we spend even longer staring at screens. It wasn’t all just a PCR kit, masks, and hand sanitizer, there has been more to these past years.

How Did Covid-19 Change Our Lives?

So how exactly did Covid-19 influence our lives as employees?

Distractions

Well, for a start we had to start working from home, surrounded by needy family members and pets. Not only were we working but we were also homeschooling our kids, caring for family members, and doing housework.

We had more responsibilities in spite of not being able to do a lot, usual schedules didn’t work anymore, as we were always multitasking. It is not like we were scrolling through social media, we just lost our work-life balance, because now, they were one and the same.

Communication

You couldn’t just shoot off some emails and call a meeting, you can’t just have a quick chat at the desk. Communication broke down and everything became harder, especially for those who were also having to multitask at the same time as well!

Social Isolation

Humans are born to be social animals, and when Covid-19 struck, we were all confined into one place for work and for life, it takes a toll on mental health, and now we have to be more considerate of people’s mental health because of this.

Ocular Fatigue

Being stuck in one place all the time means we also spend more time looking at screens, we get eye-strain or ocular fatigue, we are working looking at screens, and then we are relaxing by looking at screens as well.

Even those team meetings on zoom add to ocular fatigue! This then becomes a distraction as it decreases our attention span.

How To Help to Overcome Pandemic Impact on Employees

As an employee or business, how can you reduce these effects for your employees? Well, here are some ideas.

Be Understanding and Encourage Breaks

Empathy is key, being understood will help employees feel less stressed about having to multitask their whole lives, it will be stressful enough as it is, and being able to talk to their employer about it will help.

You should also encourage breaks to balance pandemic impact on employees. No one can sort out the kids and type up 4 emails at the same time, you’d have to be an octopus. Encourage breaks so that employees can designate certain times to certain tasks.

Flexible schedules also allow employees to get their life chores done, and work separately, so they do not intertwine. Enhancing productivity.

Use Platforms To Encourage Effective Communication

It’s not like there is a lack of social interaction platforms, zoom, slack, google teams, and more, there are so many. Encourage teams of employees to set these up. Have one chat for work-based chat, and another for socialization, why? Look just below.

Offer Social Opportunities & Mental Health Counseling

Why set up a chat for socialization? Employees were having close friendships with each other pre-pandemic. But they can’t connect anymore because of pandemic impact on employeees. They do not see each other or only get to speak about work-related business.

Encourage employees to engage in social activity, and be more receptive to mental health needs. Every business should have a mental health representative in the company to act as a go-to person for those struggling.

Eye Tests to Measure Pandemic Impact on Employees

When you don’t have any other ways to engage yourself, you have a tendency to focus all of your attention on streaming platforms, where you watch movies and television shows nonstop. It is more taxing on the eyes to stare at a screen for an extended period of time than it is to engage in talks with a person in person. The members of the team are not just staring at their computers, but also at more traditional displays such as their phones, tablets, or the television. The eyes get tired, there is a lack of concentration, and the ability to pay attention for longer is reduced.

Offer eye tests to employees. It may seem like a strange company expense, but if your staff are spending all day staring at a screen and have no commute to break up the time spent on screens, it is worth it for their health.

Overall: How to Reduce the Pandemic Impact on Employees ?

So, how to reduce the pandemic impact on employees ? Do not forget to listen to staff concerns, your employees will be finding life weird and difficult since the pandemic impact on us is duanting. And with the cost of living rising, employees need your help to recover from what shook us all to the core.

 

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