As we discussed in our training video (below), keeping your people engaged is vital to maintain motivation and productivity. Businesses that struggle with engagement tend to have a less motivated workforce, resulting in lower productivity and reduced profits.
With more businesses opting to furlough some of their people, there is a risk that companies will be stuck in catch-up mode for months to come. Therefore, leaders must recognise that although their people might not be able to work right now, they must still be challenged and engaged to ensure that when they resume work, the business does not fall behind.
Keep in Touch
Understandably, many people feel isolated right now. Leaders should take the time to enquire how their furloughed people are doing. By reaching out, you can get a sense of how your people are coping and whether they might need any further help to get back into the swing of things. Leaders should expect that some people may be feeling depressed, stressed or anxious at this time, and people having difficulties must be allowed to speak up, so that appropriate resources are made available to them.
Furthermore, simply letting your people know that you’re thinking of them demonstrates the type of compassion and empathy that engenders trust and encourages people to motivate themselves to remain at their best.
Open Up Social Opportunities for Furloughed People
Making use of technology, leaders can create social areas online for their people to remain in touch. While furloughed staff are not permitted to engage in work, that doesn’t mean that we cannot make use of online groups or meeting places to allow the group to support and engage each other. By giving your people online meeting places, you might find that the support of the group keeps people positive, motivated, and ready to get back to work.
Invest in Training
Furloughed people can still partake in training, and if the budget permits it, now is an excellent time to consider whether there are any skills or company needs that could be addressed. By giving people the chance to enhance their skillsets, or learn new ones, you also give people a way to feel like they’re doing something positive – and sometimes, just feeling like you’re productive is a massive step towards being productive.
At Robin Lines Associates, we’ve run several different online programmes over the past couple of months and favour a short-session, highly interactive approach that gets people thinking and participating as well as learning.
Find the Internal Motivators
You know your people, and you know that within your workforce, some have an uncanny knack of keeping people’s spirits up. Some of these may already be on your leadership teams, but others could be those who bring something unique to the day-to-day. Perhaps they add a sense of levity when things are going rough, or maybe they just have those special qualities that engender respect from others.
Whatever their skills and whoever they are, consider asking them to take a role in motivating and supporting those who need it most. Having people ‘on the ground’ who can keep people in a positive mindset can often be more effective than leaving it to those in upper-management.
Structure Your Communications
Where your business has only furloughed some people, you must structure your communications to take this into account. People on furlough may be disheartened or demotivated if receiving emails about ongoing projects they cannot be involved in. Those working on those projects with the added stress of possibly having to do the jobs of several people may be understandably annoyed if receiving communications intended for furloughed people.
Try not to segregate, and ensure that everybody is kept in the loop regarding any and all developments. Instead, tailor your messaging to take into account the feelings of the furloughed and non-furloughed people.
Give Your People a Vision
Additionally, make sure that people know in advance what your plans are. Give your people a vision for what you’re going to achieve when the lockdown ends and people return to work. One of the simplest ways to encourage people to work on staying motivated is by ensuring they have a destination when they return.
If you want to hit the ground running when you come back, make sure that your people are at the starting blocks from the outset. Any vision you communicate must be realistic. Don’t burden people with the added concerns of fanciful ambitions; instead, think of how you can excite and spark their creativity with your proposals. Make them want to come back to work as soon as possible to be a part of your future success.
