THINK GLOBAL PEOPLE POLIC Y


level and intensity of work-home life spill-over. To reduce the likely negative effects of poor work-life balance, employers should ensure that employees take their full rest breaks – this is especially important given the increased level of screen time individuals are experiencing as online meetings replace face-to-face interactions. Flexibility should be enacted to ensure that employees are able to balance family needs (such as home schooling where schools have closed) with work demands. It is also important to give consideration to job


demands including the urgency of work, workload, and any role conflict or ambiguity within the job as all of these factors play a role in mediating the success of employee engagement. With employees working remotely, interactions with line managers may be less frequent. As such employees might be working with less guidance than usual. While autonomy and discretion do help drive engagement, it is important that line manger guidance continues to be given for successful work outcomes. Appropriate resources must also be provided to


support homeworking employees sufficiently in their endeavours. Working from home may require the provision of equipment, specialist computer software and other materials/services to enable the work role to be performed to the best of the employee’s ability. It is important to remember that not all employees’ homes have the necessary space available for a separate office environment – consideration might be given to scheduling online meetings when family members such as children will be in school to enable discussions to take place uninterrupted. As some businesses experience declines in customer interactions and sales, and a consequent loss of financial performance, so there may be a need for reductions in headcount to maintain profitability or even just to keep the business ticking over. In such cases, particularly if employee headcount has to be reduced, the pressure to raise employee productivity among remaining employees may increase in order to attempt to maintain business outcomes. Care must be taken here not to overload employees both in terms of volume of work and with unrealistic deadlines. Job demands must be reasonable if engagement is to be maintained. A further point though concerns the loss of social relationships. Headcount losses can lead to redundancy survivor syndrome in those who have remained in work, with a damaging effect on morale and engagement overall. Effort must


be taken to support employees in such circumstances for instance via employee assistance programmes. Engagement is driven by and reflected within good


workplace social relationships. The isolation that can be experienced from working alone at home can have a negative impact on employees, leading to loss of sociability and creativity. Efforts to promote team activities and social events – albeit held remotely – can help strengthen work relationships and foster engagement. Regular two-way communications between line


managers and employees and with communications also involving senior management as appropriate can also help to drive employee engagement during periods of workplace isolation. Regular initiatives such as feedback mechanisms, employee surveys, etc. can still be run even if employees are physically separated from their usual work space. Engagement also rests on a good fit between the


person and the job role; consideration is therefore needed to ensure that necessary training and development continues to take place via remote delivery methods as appropriate. Where possible to operate activities on site, suitably socially distanced, this might also be arranged – although it is important that home-working employees are not forced to attend if they have underlying health issues. Employee engagement initiatives are crucial to business


success. Even during periods of lockdown it is possible to adapt and use practices that foster engagement to ensure that this does not suffer when employees are unable to attend the workplace in person. And for those who remain physically in the workplace, employee engagement interventions should continue if organisational performance is to remain as high as possible.


WATCH THE WEBINAR REPLAY & DOWNLOAD OUR FACTSHEETS


Listen to the webinar replay on the topic with Dr Shortland and Paul Williamson. Download the Family & Employee Support plus Relocation Policy Design Factsheets in our Global Mobility Toolkit.


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