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by Rik on Mar 2, 2024 12:18:36 PM
They are 24/7 in the news: the health care providers working overtime under tough physical and mental conditions to cope with the large number of corona patients. But other vital sectors are also working hard to keep the Netherlands running. That realization provides a great sense of purpose, a great driver of commitment.
But as an employer, you must of course do everything possible to ensure that people do cave under all that pressure. Open channels of communication are then essential. The Amsterdam University Medical Center, for example, has accelerated the rollout of our Plek platform to help combat the experience of a high workload.
Onboarding and retraining
In order to reduce the workload, new employees are being sought diligently, not only in healthcare but also in parcel delivery, for example. They must, of course, be able to start work quickly. But how do you arrange onboarding when you can no longer hold introductory meetings and new colleagues can no longer easily tag along? Our partner 'Yes! We Connect', for example, brings all their onboarding activities online.
Retraining employees to crucial positions can also reduce workloads. But again, existing solutions, such as course groups in a classroom, are no longer possible. E-learning and on-the-job training and coaching then become much more important.
Feeling unsafe at work
Most workplaces are not designed for social distancing. It is quite a task for organizations to organize work in such a way that people can perform it safely. Our advice: talk about this together in an open way. Also consider how employees can express feelings of insecurity - and then do something about it immediately.
Especially in healthcare, the lack of protective equipment is acute. This leads to a lot of anxiety and dissatisfaction among employees. Again, good information is crucial. "Don't raise expectations you can't meet," says a director of a group of nursing homes in NRC Handelsblad. He sees a lot of absenteeism because people no longer dare to do the work. This of course also increases the work pressure mentioned above. The director therefore fears a lot of of burnouts in the foreseeable future.
Social distancing at work
Zelfs als het lukt om overal de 1,5 m-regel te volgen doemt een ander probleem op: hoe behoud je de sociale verbondenheid als iedereen apart zijn meegebrachte boterhammen moet opeten, in plaats van gezellig samen in de kantine te lunchen? En als de personeelsvereniging geen uitjes meer kan organiseren? Ook in deze sectoren moet je daarom actief nieuwe (online) verbindingsprogramma’s opzetten.
Het is duidelijk dat het leven van mensen die ‘gewoon’ naar hun werk gaan ook ingrijpend is veranderd. En eigenlijk blijkt dus dat veel van de nieuwe communicatiestrategieën en -vormen die nu voor thuiswerkers worden uitgedacht ook voor hen van veel nut kunnen zijn. In deze blog blijven we die verzamelen.
Even if we succeed in following the 1.5meter rule everywhere, another problem arises: how do you maintain social cohesion if everyone has to eat the sandwiches they brought with them separately instead of having lunch together in the cafeteria? And if the staff association can no longer organize outings? In these sectors, too, you must therefore actively create new (online) connection programs.
Clearly, the lives of people who "just" go to work have also changed dramatically. And so, in fact, it turns out that many of the new communication strategies and forms now being invented for people working from home can be of great use to them as well. In this blog, we continue to collect those.
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