As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, businesses have proven their adaptability in the face of unprecedented turmoil. Thanks to digital communication and collaboration technologies, many teams have begun working remotely, maintaining regular productivity while also complying with stay-at-home guidelines.
Remote work offers a number of advantages, and ultimately makes it possible for businesses to remain efficient during quarantine. With that said, it’s not without its challenges. Specifically, many of FullHR’s clients have raised the question of culture. How can a business maintain a sense of core values and commitments when its team members are all working from separate locations?
We’re happy to offer a few recommendations for maintaining culture even in a mostly or completely virtual work setting.
These are some basic practices we’d offer to teams looking to bolster culture during this season of working remotely. With any questions about this or other HR issues, reach out to us directly. Contact FullHR at your next opportunity.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent business shutdowns, impacted different companies in different ways. Many businesses weathered the storm without any reduction to their payroll, in some cases through the support of PPP loans or other government relief programs. But not all businesses were so lucky; many had to make tough decisions and to lay off members of their teams.
Now that most businesses have reopened, there is a pressing need to staff up and ensure a robust workforce. For some companies, this will mean inviting some of those laid off (or furloughed) employees back to the team. In doing so, a number of strategic considerations must be met.
In an ideal world, your company will be able to welcome back its entire workforce, including all employees who were either laid off or furloughed. If this is the case, then rehiring can be fairly straightforward.
But what if you simply don’t have the customer volume or the cash flow to bring everyone back? If that’s the case, then some tough decisions must be made about which employees return and which don’t. A key consideration here will be ensuring that your decisions are not made on the basis of wrongful discrimination.
When you make the decision to rehire an employee, it’s critical that you have valid and non-discriminatory reasoning for choosing that person over others. There are a number of perfectly legitimate examples of this, including:
One important step is to document your reasoning before you actually invite anyone back to the workforce; make sure you have a written rehiring strategy in place. This will give you legal cover if an employee alleges that your rehiring decisions were made frivolously, or that you only made up your rationale after the fact.
Generally speaking, rehiring on the basis of seniority is the best move from a risk management standpoint. There are, however, exceptions. If your most senior employee is someone who holds a more ancillary role, you may need to move past them to employees whose role is more operationally critical. (For example, if you own a restaurant, you need to rehire your cooks, even if they don’t happen to be your most senior employees.)
One final note is that, if you laid off or furloughed employees for a specific reason, it’s usually best to make that your reasoning for rehiring. For example, if seniority was your guiding principle in who to furlough, it should probably be your guiding principle in rehiring.
One thing employers shouldn’t do is base their rehiring decisions on high risk of COVID-19. For example, you may be tempted to avoid or postpone the rehiring of team members who are 65+, or who are pregnant, on the grounds that they are the ones most likely to be infected by the coronavirus. But actually, this rationale is not approved by EEOC guidelines, and can run you into some legal risks.
Do you have any additional questions about rehiring post-pandemic, or about how to minimize legal risk as you bring back employees? Reach out to FullHR at your earliest convenience. We’d love to talk with you further about rehiring strategy or other HR needs.
Top 10 Policies and Practices to Consider
Workplaces may be altered for years to come as new opportunities are revealed; some may be changed forever, and some may be short term. Not all businesses are the same, but similarities exist, and I offer these 10 policy considerations as you bring employees back to work or rethink your work environment in this age of COVID-19.
How a business handles a crisis identifies the culture of the company for years to come. Leaders should take this opportunity to explore and identify the values the company holds, if they have not already done so, and the decisions that are sure to come will be much easier to make. If the culture has been identified and values have, until now, only been reflected in a poster on the wall, it is time to dust off the values and really consider if they are still true and what that means for where your company is today.
Here are 10 polices and practices to consider right now if you have not already done so:
As we have heard for weeks now, these are unprecedented times and there is much unknown. The more you can plan as well as adjust to new information and the evolution of this disease, the safer your employees will feel and that can create loyalty to your company.
Cristy Carroll MA
FullHR, Senior Professional in Human Resources
SHRM - SCP
It’s often said that a crisis is really an opportunity in disguise. If that’s the case, then today’s business owners have some massive opportunities in front of them. We’re all still wrapping our heads around the enormity of the COVID-19 impact and its long-tail economic fallout. As businesses try to return to some semblance of normalcy, they’ll need to summon all their resourcefulness and creativity to turn this crisis into a chance for growth.
The best way to start is by formulating a plan. How will your business respond to this ongoing crisis, and make the most of the reopening period? Here are a few recommendations you might consider.
1) Start by re-evaluating everything.
With the world turned upside down, there’s really no time like the present to ask some of those big, scary questions that you’d typically prefer to avoid. Questions like… are you in the right industry? Are you focusing on the right products, or courting the right audience? Has your team gotten too big?
These are tough questions to ask, but they may be useful to help you reframe your sense of purpose; and, to expose some of the sunken costs that are holding you back from real business growth.
2) Implement reforms.
Identifying areas that need change is the first step. The next step is actually implementing those changes.
This might mean hiring, rehiring, firing, or retraining. It may mean dismantling an entire division within your company, one you now recognize isn’t adding value or contributing to your overall sense of mission.
It might also mean promoting or delegating to promising young employees who’ve been eager for their chance to shine.
3) Show some flexibility.
The pandemic has impressed on many business owners the importance of being fluid. Maintain that mindset while moving onto the challenges of reopening and beyond.
For example, one of the best ways to keep your employees happy and healthy (and potentially to scale back some costs) may be to create a culture in which you’re more accommodating of telecommuters and remote teams.
You may have people who’d rather not return to the office yet, and who may not need to… so why not let them continue what they’ve been doing throughout the quarantine?
4) Revisit your culture.
Finally, use this opportunity to think more carefully about the kind of culture you’ve built, and the level at which it does or doesn’t serve your people.
There’s nothing like a pandemic to expose some lapses in your mental health resources, workplace wellness initiatives, etc. Be on the lookout for ways to be more supportive of your employees, especially during a season in which many will be struggling with anxiety or grief.
Nobody asked for a global pandemic, but for some businesses, it might provide some silver linings… or at the very least, some opportunities to regroup and rethink about how the business is run.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about post-COVID business resources, reach out to FullHR at your next opportunity.
