It can be tough keeping morale high especially with redundancies looming, generally, employers focus on those being made redundant and forget about those left behind feeling a little deflated and anxious about the situation. To keep motivation up, it is vital employers understand that even those not at risk of being made redundant can still be greatly affected by the whole process.
Survivor syndrome
Survivor syndrome was coined by organisational psychologists to describe the emotional, psychological and physical effects of employees who remain at a company undergoing redundancies. This can impact people differently, leading to a loss of motivation, increased stress, lack of productivity and generalised feelings of anxiety. Not only can this affect the work produced but it can also be damaging on employees wellbeing in the following ways:
Feelings of guilt about “surviving”
Worried about job security in the future
Grieving the loss of colleagues/ work friends
How to communicate with your employees
Communication is key especially during these times, keeping your staff up to date with what is going on in the company will alleviate a lot of stress. As a business, you have a legal obligation to be transparent with your staff regarding redundancies. Things you should consider are:
Letting your staff know about redundancies before they actually happen
Ensure that the decisions are made fairly
Be consistent with the information
Encourage employees to be a part of the decision
Keeping your staff motivated
Now for the hard part, how do you make sure all your staff are motivated to keep working to a high level with everything that is going on? There are a few strategies you can adopt to boost morale:
Be supportive, this is an unprecedented time for everyone so make sure that you are supporting your staff with whatever their needs are.
Recognise and reward your staff. Arguably the most common way to motivate your team is by offering incentives for good work.
Create a positive environment. Working during a recession and a pandemic means that it’s easy for the fun to be sucked out of your business, you must ensure that you are still creating a positive environment for all your staff even if they are remote working.
Are you having to make redundancies? Don’t leave you ex-staff in the lurch! Equip them with all the skills they will need to be able to find a new job. Check out our employer explainer video for everything you need to know.
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