We are living in a much different world from what any of us could have ever predicted a year ago. COVID-19 has impacted all aspects of our society and economy. Our current reality is that we must adapt and live with the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some tips for managing employees who may now be working remotely during this period of new normal.
Challenges
There are several human relations challenges associated with doing business during the COVID-19 pandemic:
■ Managing employees when you do not have face-to-face supervision
There is no doubt that it’s challenging to shift from in-person supervision of employees to remote work instantaneously.
This shift in supervision is particularly concerning when you have employees that “worked to do the minimum,” and you may have used techniques like stopping by their desk to check on how they were doing to ensure their productivity.
■ Employees lack access to information they need to be productive
When working in-person, an employee can walk down the hall to get information from a colleague and are regularly gleaning important information from colleagues at the lunch table or the coffee pot.
For reasons associated with the internet (discussed below) employees may face challenges accessing the same data they could instantaneously access from their computer at the office.
■ Internet challenges
Bandwith issues are an issue for those living in both urban and rural America. For your feed or grain business, there is a high probability that your employees live where internet access is not as reliable.
■ Internet security
This is another internet challenge you should be thinking about when you have employees working remotely. While your business computers may have strong internet security, do your employees? What sort of internet security do you have now that many of your employees access data and files from their home internet accounts?
■ Employees have poor or non-existent home office space and face distractions at home
As recently as a year ago, the likely “standard recommendation” for you as a manager approving an employee to work from home was first to ensure that the employee had a separate dedicated workspace at home with an appropriate desk and office chair. They may have had to show that they had appropriate daycare arrangements for their children.
COVID-19 suddenly dropped us into an environment where none of these arrangements could be made.
■ Employees feel “unfair or unequal treatment” when some work on-site and some work remotely
There is always the potential for employees to feel they are receiving unfair treatment when they have different working conditions than others in your business. These feelings are common, and COVID-19 provides one more opportunity for that to emerge. Some employees will want to work remotely, but their jobs require them to be on-site and vice versa. With COVID-19, some employees will be concerned about their health and that of their family members. Others will want to be on-site as they crave the socialization or the chance to be away from home pressures.
■ Social isolation being felt by workers
While this was noted in the previous point, the challenge of social isolation is profound. Even strongly, introverted people need interaction with other humans, and a workplace is a common place for interaction.
Managing remote workers
Address this challenge in the same way you address other business challenges — by planning and taking action.
First, recognize the challenges you are facing and any associated constraints. Next, identify and take action on the challenges you can change and control. In some cases, you will be making some new investments for your business, such as upgrading your internet security. You should evaluate each new investment in the same systematic way that you evaluate other investments for your business.
Finally, for those challenges you cannot control, you need to identify what they are, identify the impact they are having on your business and then manage around them.
■ Employee home workspace
By now, you will have identified the employees who will be doing remote work for the long haul. Now is the time to communicate with the employee and develop and implement a plan to set up a workspace at home for them.
Yes, there may be some costs associated with this, but you may keep the additional costs to a minimum with creative thinking. Can you take furniture and computer equipment that the employee would have used in the work office (properly inventoried, of course) and set up a home office for your remote workers? Things to keep in mind here include having your legal department develop a form that the employee signs, so there is a paper trail and record of the location of all inventory. The desk, office chair and computer are not productive for your business if they are sitting unused in your office while your employee struggles at home.
■ Internet issues
As noted earlier, there are several issues related to the internet ranging from bandwidth to security. Your internet security may need to be upgraded, and this is an investment you really cannot afford to put off as the costs of getting hacked can easily outweigh the costs of improved security. You may also need to explore alternative options for your remote employees’ internet connectivity, like providing them a hot spot.
■ Follow all OSHA and other health and safety rules
Safety is always important in the feed and grain industry, and COVID-19 presents the need to expand those safety measures to cleaning surfaces, policies for wearing masks and social distancing of all people (employees and customers). Being deliberate and transparent about your safety protocols has numerous benefits.
First, you increase the probability that employees and customers stay safe. Second, you send a message stating your commitment to safety, which has positive public relations impacts for your business. Those employees working on-site will feel safer in the workplace and thus be more productive.
■ Focus on outcomes rather than time spent
Changing the way you measure productivity requires a change in your approach to management. Since you cannot supervise your remote employees face-to-face, it’s time to adopt an incentive structure that matches your environment.
Many managers find that this new supervision approach is very beneficial — employees often respond and take ownership of their work, and productivity increases. One management approach that some managers need to work on is to micromanage less. Focusing on outcomes gets you away from micromanaging.
■ Trust and empower employees
Trusting and empowering your employees goes along well with focusing on outcomes. At the end of the month and year, when you are looking at customer satisfaction and business profitability levels, it’s the outcomes that matter to you. Now is the time to change your approach to management.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have hit all businesses over the past months. And it may be many more months before we can safely return to our office spaces.
Effectively managing your employees working remotely will be important in meeting your goals for customer satisfaction and profitability in the coming year. ■
About the Authors
Dr. Joan Fulton is Professor and Associate Department Head, Department of Agricultural Economics and Center for Food and Agricultural Business, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
Dr. John Foltz is Chair, Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, and Dean Emeritus, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID.
