HR managers on boosting employee morale during WFH

The goal of most of these initiatives is to help cope with isolation and prevent burnout. Representation pic

From being viewed as a major perk in pre-pandemic times, work from home (WFH) has unleashed a new set of unprecedented challenges that include extended working hours, diminished productivity, and dwindling employee morale. A 2020 report by the Martec Group that surveyed 1,214 individuals across various industries, demographics and seniority levels found a significant decline in mental health across all industries, with job satisfaction, job motivation, and company satisfaction being negatively affected.

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal conducts a meeting while petting an adopted stray. Pic/Twitter

Taking cognisance of these patterns, several organisations have been investing time and resources in engagement activities and initiatives targeted at making their workspaces more employee-friendly and boosting morale. Cab aggregator Ola, for one, has made its office dog-friendly, allowing employees to bring their pooches along to work. The company's electric campus at Bengaluru has also adopted all resident strays and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal made waves on social media by posting a video of him conducting a meeting while petting an adopted dog.

A team effort

Nishigandha Shendge and Vicky Kadam

"One of the biggest challenges of WFH is the isolation that can negatively impact mental health," shares K Sri Ganapathy, co-founder of Futwork. To counter this, they've decided to begin the week with a video call on Monday mornings. "During this call, it's mandatory for everyone to turn their videos on. Over 30-45 minutes, we share our successes from the past week and then spend some time playing a game. The last game we played was to guess the movie based on emojis. This helps us to start on a positive note and gives us something to look forward to that isn't work-related," he explains. The company has also created a culture of video team lunches, where teams share a meal with their cameras turned on. This, says Ganapathy, encourages bonding. Further, they conduct open sessions on Discord, a voice-based app, where employees can interact with other teams and learn about what they're working on. There's also a music channel that they can listen to while at work and share any new suggestions and recommendations.

Because we care

K Sri Ganapathy

A couple of months after the pandemic started, Vicky Kadam, human resource manager at Hireavilla started a special group on Slack for employees to celebrate the success of their colleagues. "From an office assistant to the CEO, everyone could share an achievement of another. At a time when morale was at an all-time low, this move helped our employees to feel appreciated and valued," he elaborates. Working in hospitality can sometimes make it difficult for employees to get access to nutritious meals and, in the long term, affect their physical well-being. To extend support, they've started a special kitchen to prepare home-style nutritious meals for everyone across the board to enjoy.

The right balance

For Nishigandha Shengde, manager - people success at Fynd, her focus has been ensuring that work responsibilities do not become overwhelming during WFH. "It's easy to spend all day glued to your laptop and completely neglect your physical wellbeing. To avoid this, we send nudges at noon and 6 pm every day, for all employees to log off and get some exercise or take a walk. We also have virtual talent shows so our teams can share skills they've acquired during the lockdown. Instead of calling our employees to work once restrictions eased, we took them on a workcation in March. The teams booked bungalows at scenic locations and could spend valuable time brainstorming and bonding. We're currently waiting for everyone to get vaccinated before starting the process again," she shares.

They have also started 'lunch dates', where four people are picked at random from across the organization to have lunch together, online. "They can order what they like and will be reimbursed. The idea is for them to make new friends and the only mandate is that they must not talk shop during the date," she clarifies. Finally, they send out a daily update on Slack asking employees how they're feeling. "In case someone is struggling, we reach out to offer our support," she concludes.