Written by: Dr. Murtaza Zakiul Abrar, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Be it a grocery store with 5 employees, or an office building with 50, the wellbeing of an organization will lead to the wellbeing of its staff. The Covid-19 Pandemic brings unique sets of challenges for all of us, but introducing some simple structure into your workplace can ensure that your office itself is now a Support System for the entire workforce.
The Mindset - from Boss to Leader
Fear & anxiety tend to govern our decisions, when we don’t feel safe. This pandemic has given all of us a very unhealthy “dog-eat-dog” mentality, and your staff will be no different. Good news is, getting around it isn’t necessarily difficult. This is what you want your staff to feel:
“The times are rough. But at least my office gives me SOME support . . . “
You want their experience to be fair, consistent, and predictable. The opposite is exactly what comes across as abuse, and that’s about the very last thing you want them to experience.
1. Value the Individual
Accepted, Respected, Heard, Supported
Openly address and accept that everyone is on edge, including you! Your team members should not be stretching themselves beyond limits, and so encourage everyone to try and keep an eye on their own physical & emotional limits.
Avoid using terms like “non-essential personnel” as these can split up your staff and even have long term effects in their perceived value within the office.
Remind everyone to develop a problem solving attitude instead of resorting to guilt and blaming. Make a clear statement that their ideas for new solutions to challenges are always welcome.
Open up new channels of communication between the frontline staff and the senior management, thus demonstrating interest and care towards their wellbeing
Make a point of making your workplace gender sensitive, and safe for women.
2. Stabilize the structure
Smaller teams with solid structure will be far better in these times of crisis. Teams will provide peer support as well as agree upon their own tasks, while providing opportunities for some social contact.
Weekly team meetings can ‘re-sync’ every member with everyone else’s status, and is invaluable to maintaining workplace stability. If a few members become unwell, new teams might need to be formed.
A ‘buddy’ system can be implemented, to keep an eye on each others’ stress levels, goals, as well as make the return to work more welcoming for the staff.
3. Recovery & Repair
When the pandemic is over, don’t breathe easy just yet!
Prioritise the recovery of both the staff and your organisation. Staff relationships may change drastically, and mental health support might become a priority.
Understand that everyone’s pent up negativity might start coming out now - and it’s okay. This is a first for all of us.
In the end, the best we can hope for is to perhaps learn from this experience. It won’t be a loss, seeing as how your staff will have picked up new skills, new teams will be formed, and new communication channels created.
This pandemic has brought out the worst in many of us, but we’re not through yet. This silly little world is all we have, so let’s make the best of it while we can.
Stay safe!
Dr. Murtaza Zakiul Abrar, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. M Zakiul Abrar, Doctor of Psychiatry, and Cognitive & Behaviour Lifecoach.
But also a teacher, an artist, a violinist, a fire spinner - Dr. Abrar brings a diverse skillset of problem-solving into Mental Healthcare.
The Pandemic shut down his department and left him with weeks of unemployed stagnation. Around May of 2020, a frustrated Abrar started offering online counseling - completely free of charge. Boredom aside, skills developed over seven years are to be kept sharp.
From then to now, Dr. Abrar's client list has seen celebrities, criminals, farmers, victims of trauma & gender violence, LGBTQ+ members, and more. Once in a while, Abrar would be conducting screening programs for schoolchildren, or writing some article, or doing reformative therapy for teenagers.
A high engagement with the youth earned him a name for relationship & marital counseling, and to give full suicide hotline support to his clients - something that few, if any of the mental health professionals in Bangladesh are known to do.
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