How Can You Support Your Employers During This Crisis?

We all know, there is a lot of uncertainty now and we have no clarity, understanding or insight about how the future will be.

The lock down has lasted for almost four weeks. There are two more weeks to go or perhaps more. You may draw your salary in full or with a pay cut during these times. 

I presume most of you are already feel guilty about being paid without having to do any work for an entire month. And the reasons could be many - you probably do not have the required software in your home system or your job role is such that it cannot be executed from home or there could be data privacy issues for specific client projects.

Those of you who feel a sense of entitlement that they need to be paid for the good work they did so far, regardless of the crisis today or the looming question of business existence today - this blog is really not for them.

Social Media Support

The social media teams of most companies are active and posting amazing content. There is a lot of research, coordinating, designing, story boarding and thinking that goes behind those creative content. 

Most of you have desktop at home, laptop, mobile phones, tabs and internet.  The most you could do is spend an hour or so every morning to read, like and share the content that  your company's social media team posts on a daily basis. This is not about branding or any PR effort. This is basically using your own brand equity and social media currency to highlight the good work your company is doing to the rest of the world.

This sort of endorsement of employer's portfolio posted by employees in personal social media sites speaks volumes about the credibility of a company as a good employer and outweighs any employee satisfaction survey results.

Be genuine in your appreciation about what your company is doing for people, business and the communities.

Create Content

For those of you who are thinking that they are not good in business writing, the basic demand today is simple employee stories, their journey, their gratitude for all the opportunities or learning they have had in this company and their growth over the years to inspire others in the company who are not quiet that motivated and future aspirants who may want to join your company.

Make time to deep dive and find those moments. If you want to discard the idea thinking you never had any such moments during your tenure in the company, well in that case, it hints at your indifference towards your company throughout your association.

Even if you post a video about how you miss the monthly birthday parties in office, it creates imagery for those who were never part of that. The next time, you post, it may seem random but you know it has a purpose.

Social Media Channels

If you had this age old excuse that you were active on Face Book, Twitter, LinkedIn or Insta and cannot remember your pass word. 

Get all those channels activated now. You have all the time. 

Follow, tweet, retweet, share the good work your company is doing whether it is for business, for communities and for future. If you feel a sense of pride in that, you have probably created your profiles in these portals and started posting

Use Hash tags

This apparently seems simple to hash tag. How you use your hash tags will determine, how well the content reaches wider audience bringing traffic to your post.

Thank your employer

It is not easy for any employer, big or small, new or old, national or international to take those critical board room decisions - pay cut, lay off, restructuring, winding up but then it is a question of survival - Few versus all

If that communication has been made to you that there will be a 10% or 20% or 50% pay cut in the forthcoming months, respond to that mail with a very warm note:

Thank you for taking care of our welfare during  these troubled times. 

Isn't it always better that each one of us chose to bear a little so that  no one has to bear it all? We completely understand the need for the pay cut.

Regardless of our current roles and responsibilities, do let us know how we can support company's business outcomes and revenue from our respective homes, even if that means adding to our skills and taking up more work.

We are into this together and we will not only survive but thrive with our collective efforts. 

 I will be available during office hours on mail. 

I leave it on you to imagine the powerful impact of such a note on an employer, particularly if they are not a large corporation but a growing startup who is anxious about their existence if the lock down continues for indefinite period. This sense of belonging and moral support from an employee makes all the fight, war and struggle worthwhile.

Time Management

On a regular office day you  reach office by 9 AM. Is it different during lock down? Streamline that first.

Set some basic goals to enhance your productivity and constantly evaluate how you can support business goals and business outcomes from home.

If  you are in the daily whirl wind and the chaotic home atmosphere, distractions can affect your attention span, focus and concentration. That brings us to another key factor in your routine

Meditate

Increases focus, concentration and attention. As David Lynch says “The thing about meditation is: you become more and more you”

This is not really the time to ask from your long term employer. This is the time to give, as much as possible. How can you possibly give anything to anybody if your attention span is severely challenged matter consequent to years of exposure to digital devices.

Switch them off and meditate. If you do not have adequate attention span, you will not be able to do anything discussed here for positive habit change.

Learn New Skills

Post COVID times  you will need them. You may want to improve your existing skills, say you are an expert in making presentation, learn how to make them on Canva or Prezi.

Find Your Tribe

When you call up a colleague to exchange pleasantries, boost each other’s confidence, share your routine, try and support just one more person at least gather strength, hope and stamina to battle this and emerge a winner. The community support goes a long way in this. 

It is your tribe, like minded souls, who will be your source of support and emotional bounce pad during this health and economic crisis

Support Sales, Strategy and Marketing Teams

You may check with your sales, strategy and marketing teams if they need any support in preparing presentations, communication strategy, fixing appointments with client, coordinating zoom calls or setting up a meeting - Anything you do to support these teams builds their internal lead pipeline.

It is about time to train your mind to do many things differently now, and if you have acquired skill, test them in live projects.

Senior Resources

High paying senior professionals in the organization can strike a deal by choosing to work contractually, keeping your seniority intact. It could drop earnings significantly however the professional can always acquire multiple clients, apart from the company.

Be Ready To Bounce Back

You have to create that mental resilience that you have will have to work ten times more, when you are back to work, whenever that is.

During this lock down just the way our cities are getting recharged, rivers are getting cleansed, low pollution in air, use this quiet period, this limited activity and movement time to ponder on how your support can make a difference - It is too early to measure impact but these little initiatives can be instrumental to build individual potential, team output, company revenue and country's economic restoration.

Now the onus is on you.

This phase shall pass.