Managing The Minds Of Your Furloughed Workers

How supportive are you as a business owner or director?

So, the tables have turned and most of you will now be in the process of resuming business as usual. But is it ‘as usual?’ And what are you doing to make sure your team are happy and supported on their return?

There have been a lot of assumptions roaming around regarding how fortunate people are, being sent home on what can be interpreted as an extended holiday and being paid 80% of their salary. One would naturally assume that they are the lucky ones. Well this isn’t necessarily so. I have had several discussions with company owners who have spoken of the negative impact furloughing has had on their employees who were ‘chosen’ to be furloughed.

Employees have responded in different ways. It’s true, some have welcomed the break from work as it has allowed them to spend time with their children. For many however, it has been a very difficult time with individuals struggling with different thoughts and emotions, including increased stress and uncertainty over the future, worries about their financial position and the longer-term stability of their employment. Some employers have realised they have been naive to the fact that some of their staff are feeling undervalued or that they have a lack of importance to the company. This can impact an individual’s feelings of self-worth and may lead to negative thoughts about their ability to do their job, thus creating a lack of confidence and a loss of sense of purpose and value. This can be compounded through a lack of structure dayto-day and having to spend most of the time at home. Increased feelings of loneliness and isolation through a lack of connection and communication with others, possible feelings of abandonment, especially where employers have not routinely kept in touch or included them in meetings.

An absence of work may mean existing mental health issues become worse, previous ones are triggered or new ones could start. If you have made sure you have engaged well with your employees over the lockdown period, it is likely that their return to work will be managed well.

If you have not had good communication with your staff during this time it is quite likely that there will be some discord to manage.

It is also important not to make any assumptions of how people are feeling on their return to work and to be as supportive as possible. Many people who have had negative experiences, whether this has been with their mental health, relationships, finances, or children etc, may struggle to communicate their experience and find getting back into work extremely difficult. There will be others who have taken the decision to be furloughed personally and will need reassuring that it was not caused by mismanagement of the company or underperformance.

Tips: Manage returns to work in the same way you would with long term sickness. Use the templates you would normally use for return to work interviews. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Be sure to treat everyone as individuals with their own unique experiences and work to together to create a plan to ensure they feel supported.

Do some fun team building exercises but most of all just be there and be supportive in whatever way you can. There is no quick fix when it comes to managing a person’s mind, thoughts and feelings. You need to be sensitive and available. Above all make sure you have support in place for yourself, because you can’t support your staff in the best way when you have your own personal problems to deal with as well as all of the operational tasks of the business moving forward.