You have spent a career building a corporate culture of trust. Your firm ranks highly in every top list of corporate rankings and accolades. Your employee satisfaction scores need some improvement, but overall, you have built a team and culture you are proud of. But are you ready to meet and communicate to a changed workforce when it returns to work?
We are not talking about your social distancing and mask policies here. We are talking about a workforce that is also part of the increasingly vocal American public taking part in fierce on-line debates about COVID-19 and our country’s response to it. Whether through social media or the silent protest of not wearing a mask to the grocery store, your employee base reflects America. Will they return as the generally team-spirited group that left your workplace in early spring, or will they return with the fervor of unionized labor in its heyday?
Let’s be blunt. The employee/employer contract has changed dramatically over the last few decades. We can’t ignore that COVID-19 has likely impacted the contract as well. In a highly charged, risk-filled environment, employees accustomed to “having their say” in the political and social media arenas may very well demand a more decisive role in how you bring them back to work.
What questions should you be asking now? A starter list could include:
- Have we taken steps to engage and understand our employees’ changed attitude post the onset of COVID-19?
- Have we mapped the tactical questions regarding how people return to work? How much is speculation? How fast? What is an enforceable policy and what is merely a guideline?
- Do we return at all or do we develop an ongoing culture of remote work? If we choose to remain apart, how do we keep a one-team culture?
- Have we considered equity issues among employees who must stay home to care for themselves or others and those who could return to a more traditional work environment?
- How do we handle disputes over the wearing of masks? Against our policy? Between co-workers? Have we even formed a policy? Have we thought about whether the question ‘to wear or not to wear?’ is a right or a responsibility to others? Either way, how does that philosophy reflect the company’s brand?
- How will we continue to monitor employee readiness and attitudes towards our safety measures?
- How do we continue to keep employees engaged in their own safety and welfare?
News reports already detail altercations between customers or with employees and security personnel in retail. Your personal social media pages are likely filled with the “open now” factions and the “follow all guidelines” proponents. Dissension, deep opinions, and a willingness to confront issues publicly have grown in our culture. The high stakes health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis have only exacerbated emotion in response. If you think your workforce is immune to seeing a more vocal employee inside your company, you may want to think again.
Do not be seduced by your current culture and your confidence in it. Do not let your CEO be lulled into a false sense of security either, as leadership will turn to you and wonder why you had not been discussing this issue. Begin dialogues today about how to engage a changed workforce. Yes, people still need to work, and the labor market will be tight. None of those things will prohibit a changed workforce from expressing its opinions more freely, unmasked, and unfiltered. Are you prepared for a new type of employee engagement?