Since last March, businesses that are suitable for working from home, especially white-collar workers, stopped working from the office and moved to homes. Homemakers both reduced costs and tended to work harder to prove themselves.
As such, many large companies consecutively decided to switch to the hybrid working model, seeing that working from home did not cause a decrease in productivity, contrary to what was believed, and decided to switch to the hybrid working model, offices were reduced, employees were called to offices alternately in case of emergencies.
All of the Employees are Efficient but Some of them are Unhappy
One group of employees adapted well to work from home, while another group was unhappy with the process. There is no problem for happy employees and their employers, but how are employees who are not at home or unable to maintain internal discipline affected by the process? When I look at the research and interviews conducted, I can see that employees who are married or have children are not satisfied with the process at all.
Women Employees Try To Cope With Inequality Virus
In this process, women employees struggle with the inequality virus as well as the Covid-19 virus; Household chores, childcare, goals for the workplace are getting more and more worn out. Male workers, on the other hand, feel under pressure while preparing their work schedule because they cannot adapt to spending long hours at home, and they are worried about the increased electricity, internet, heating and food costs. New employees, on the other hand, are more concerned about making mistakes, not being sure about how things are going.
To summarize, employees are tired of having to deal with multiple jobs, anxious that they cannot afford increased costs, have to work harder to prove their performance and are generally worried.
So, what should you do for your employees, who are the most important partner and stakeholder of your brands?
Online meetings have become more efficient than ever since they are result-oriented, but the fun conversations before and after work are gone. As such, your employees cannot share their experiences and developments about the organization and their own lives. Their commitment to the institution is decreasing, they see themselves as lonely and only employees. In order to prevent this, by cooperating with Human Resources; organizing online happy hour and creating online in-house chat rooms are a good alternative.
In this process, employees cannot be appreciated by their superiors and may feel worthless. To avoid this, sending surprise gifts to your employees from time to time will be another way to organize and improve relationships. We have witnessed that many companies send New Year’s packages, but in addition to these special times, sending surprise meals to employees who work long hours at home and presenting virtual concert tickets would be good alternatives.
It should not be forgotten that employees need support, when we look at companies that switch to a hybrid operating system or work entirely from home, it is seen that there is a small amount of support. You can also help your employees with budget for trainings that will provide internet and personal development.
Psychological support is another important step towards reducing the pressure on the employees. Employees who have constant work in their minds, who always feel obliged to turn on the ringing phones, who cannot disconnect from the computer at the end of the working hours, who think that they should work even on public holidays will be exhausted after a while, employees who do not have time to feed themselves, rest and obtain new information will not only be unhappy and will be unable to do their jobs. . To prevent this; as a manager, you should make sure that your employees get enough rest and take annual leave during the pandemic process.
To sum up, in order to prevent the negative experiences of the employees during this process from being reflected in the business processes; you should think about technology, corporate culture and skills development as a team.
I hope you always remember that the most valuable asset of the company or the brand is itsemployees, and happiness and loyalty of your employees increase the brand value.
Dwt Mandalina / Nurettin Yay / Head of the Agency
