Employee Motivation during COVID-19 pandemic
Introduction
The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two (UNDP, 2020). Moving beyond its limits it has now become not only a health crisis but an unprecedented socio-economic crisis. The pandemic resulted in lockdowns affecting all businesses globally (UNDP, 2020). Employees are induced to embrace new ways of doing jobs and this leads to challenges in productivity and motivation. Organizations’ contingency plans supported by situational leadership came into the play during the need for business sustenance during the crisis period.
The virus with no known treatment or vaccine countries shut their borders, banned travel to other countries and began to issue orders for their citizens to stay at home, with no gatherings of people. Schools and universities closed and moved education online. Sporting events were canceled, airlines cut flights, tourism evaporated, restaurants, movie theaters and bars closed, theater productions canceled, manufacturing facilities, services, and retail stores closed. In some businesses and industries, employees have been able to work remotely from home, but in others, workers have been laid off, furloughed, or had their hours cut (ILO, 2020a).
COVID-19 as a career shock
A career shock is a disruptive and extraordinary event that is, at least to some degree, caused by factors outside the focal individual’s control and that triggers a deliberate thought process concerning one’s career. The occurrence of a career shock can vary in terms of predictability, and can be either positively or negatively valenced (Akkermans et al., 2018). Akkermans et al., (2018), further opines that an extraordinary or disruptive event alone would not lead to a career shock but there are some attributes linked such as frequency, controllability, intensity, valence and duration, in combination makes a career shock. Based on above measurement COVID-19, can precisely be clarified as a career shock and the subsequent impact on around the world employee engagement, productivity and motivation.
Challenges of working during COVID-19 pandemic
Working culture during the crisis period is the experience of two categories: those who work from home (WFH) and those on essential services. Aviation sector been one of the most severely impacted by the pandemic, is prone to acquire the slightest opportunity available to operate flights to keep the business afloat. Passengers travel intentions during and post COVID-19 throws a significant challenge to airliners, furthered by numerous travel restrictions by countries all over and the ensuing economic crisis have resulted in a drastic drop of demand for airline services (OECD, 2020). During both the low and high peaks of the virus spread, areas and country been locked down but airline employees called in to handle cargo flight operations plus in Sri Lanka the repatriation flight handling as well. Wearing the personal protective equipment both during day and night, uncertain of who you are talking to and knowing that you are directly handling a person with high possibility to have infected arriving from abroad, certainly has that obscure impact on employees mental, physical and emotional status. Realizing that out of a lot your job circumstantially requires you to put both your and immediate family’s safety at risk over your need of the job for survival, for sure does not seems to be a good motivator.
Challenges of WFH are of at a different level and has its own facet to it. A research study identified a variety of challenges in working during such isolation, social distancing, self-quarantine, restriction of travel and the ever-spreading rumors in social media as Banerjee (2010), had said, are also likely to affect mental health adversely (Rani BM, Curtis and Reddy K, 2020). As per the research responses, majority have expressed their intrinsic mode of motivation through time management. Some due fear of losing employment had struggled to increase work productivity ending up stressed out. Fear of poor appraisals due to the pandemic had also been a cause for pain. A majority expressed that addiction with screen time to be the biggest challenge. It had been found that those with children found it challenging to engage themselves and built-up relationship stress (Rani BM, Curtis and Reddy K, 2020). These impinge as well balance work culture and mental health making employees less productive and demotivated (Employer Solutions, 2020).
How employers can re-energize remote teams to sustain engagement and motivation
Prior we probe into the employer's contribution when it comes to motivating and engaging remote working employees, it simultaneously becomes the sole responsibility of employees to deviate from a fixed mindset to a growing mindset and self-motivate while motivating your peers and subordinates through time management (Rani BM, Curtis and Reddy K, 2020). University of Pittsburgh suggests below Thinking methods to assist the quest (University of Pittsburgh, 2020).
Simple employee contribution (University of Pittsburgh, 2020).
Think AHEAD — This can be a moment for strategic and long-term planning.
Think BACK — “Quiet” times can be used to gather and examine data on previous initiatives.
Think DEEP — Make a plan to do a deep dive into systems you currently have in place.
Think ACROSS — Brainstorm ways that your work can impact others.
Think GROWTH — Downtimes are ideal for developing ourselves and our teams.
Think WELL-BEING — It is crucial that we all sustain our physical and mental health.
Think NOW — Importantly, there are some tasks that are critical or perfectly situated for doing right now,
Employers initiatives
The SHRM (2020), suggests below key transformational approaches for a better employee engagement and motivation. Professor Howe from University of Zurich in video 3.0, speaks succinctly of the importance of re-energizing remote teams and the need of employees to change mindset and initiate self motivation.
Video 3.0: Energizing remote teams & self motivation
Prioritize Communication: Isolation could lead to feeling like being left out from the group. To eradicate this, establish constant communication. Managers can establish groups to maintain this communication. This way manager can value the employee and show his/her empathy.
Set Clear Expectations: To be exact and vivid on what you are expecting from employee in terms of any daily target achievement, particular time requested to be online, while being mindful of possibility to be interrupted due employee working set up background.
Recognize Good Work: People do extraordinary work and demonstrate astonishing kindness in crises. Make sure to encourage people to recognize each other in whatever ways are available. Management should take extra steps to recognize and, if practical, reward employees for going the extra mile to help colleagues and customers. Recognition does not necessarily be formal.
Encourage Work/Life Balance: Be conscious to the natural feeling that employees might perceive as they are requested to be available all time. Ensure to restrict WFH to ordinary office hours and help employees feel stress free.
Demonstrate a Collaborative Culture: Use whatever tools you have to get people working together to solve problems. For example, social collaboration tools might be second-nature to some and completely foreign to others. Let the natives help the novices get on board (teamwork). Then use the tools to spread collaboration to mitigate the isolation of expanded work-at-home and other unfamiliar situations.
Give the freedom and authority to make decisions: Our world is in flux. It will be impossible to control everything employees do. Give them as much direction as time and circumstance allow, welcome questions, then allow them to do their jobs. Let employees know you trust them. It will help you get through this and will carry over when the crisis subsides.
As had mentioned above the challenges faced by aviation industry employees the strategies used in contrast by organizations helps to stay connected and stress free. The airline I work for manifested a fair culture throughout the year by enhancing engagement and motivation in multiple methods. Since passenger traffic ceased from March 2020, the daily flight operations were completely shut down. During the first wave of the pandemic, it was quite dreadful to experience a flight-free environment and specially the eventual job uncertainty. Company took a fair stance at the situation and created extra online learning portals to develop employee technical knowledge as WFH for operational employees. This certainly assisted the majority to get updated of current but obscure data and to be in touch. Regional scale online recreation events were organized to stay engaged, where sometimes even thrice a week all regional employees engage in playing virtual games. This truly did help maintain a stress-free environment. For those essential services such as cargo operations, maximum safety culture was mandated by providing personal protective equipment and periodic sanitizing of office premises and free PCR tests for any employee if deemed necessary. Transportation was arranged for all employees during curfew times. Employees certainly experienced productivity with motivation on constant rise, especially due to new task/project introductions for operations staff as WFH. This fair culture rejuvenates the morale and motivation of employees to cope with current crisis.
References
Akkermans, J., Seibert, S.E., & Mol, S.T. (2018). Tales of the unexpected: Integrating career shocks in the contemporary careers' literature. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA, p. 4., viewed on 02 December 2020.
https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v44i0.1503
Howe, L. and Menges, J., 2020. Mindsets About Remote Work Predict Employee Well-Being In Home Office: Evidence From The COVID-19 Pandemic. [online] Microsoft Research., viewed 02 December 2020.
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/mindsets-about-remote-work-predict-employee-well-being-in-home-office-evidence-from-the-covid-19-pandemic/>
Hr.pitt.edu. 2020. COVID-19 Pandemic: Supervisor Tips & Tools for Motivating Remote Staff To Stay Engaged And Productive | Human Resources | University Of Pittsburgh, viewed on 02 December 2020.
<https://www.hr.pitt.edu/news/covid-19-pandemic-supervisor-tips-tools-motivating-remote-staff-stay-engaged-and-productive>
International Labor Organization ILO monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work. Third edition updated estimates and analysis, viewed 02 December 2020.
Oecd.org. 2020. COVID-19 And The Aviation Industry: Impact And Policy Responses., viewed on 02 December 2020.
<http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/covid-19-and-the-aviation-industry-impact-and-policy-responses-26d521c1/>
Rani BM, S., Curtis, P. and Reddy K, J., 2020. A Study on Work from Home, Motivation & Productivity of Employees in Indian Population during COVID-19 Pandemic, pp.5-6., viewed on 02 December 2020.
<http://file:///Users/mankum/Downloads/AStudyonWorkFromHome-MotivationProducivityofanorganizationduringCOVID-19pandemic.pdf>
SHRM. 2020. How To Engage Remote Employees During The Coronavirus Pandemic., viewed on 02 December 2020.
<https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/how-to-guides/pages/how-to-engage-remote-employees-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic.aspx>
UNDP. 2020. Coronavirus Disease COVID-19 Pandemic | UNDP., viewed on 02 December 2020.
<https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/coronavirus.html>
