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Do you manage people? Do you manage people with young children? Here are some tips on how to help your team and set your organization up for long-term success:
Check In: Each of your employees may have a unique situation. Call them and see how they are managing. Check in with fathers and mothers equally.
Prioritize and Recalibrate Expectations: What can be dropped and pushed back? Don't wait for your team to come to you with priorities; some parents don't have the time or energy to do this important work right now.
Think Very Critically about what is necessary and what can wait. If it's a 'maybe' that means it's 'no' for right now.
Reassure: School and day care closures are out of parents' control. Reassure employees that the work they need to pull back on right now will not impact their upcoming reviews, their opportunities for advancement and raises.
Track reasons for accommodations and reduced workloads officially so that others involved with reviews, raises and promotions are aware that pandemic-related work disruptions cannot impact future opportunities.
Be explicit and proactive in sharing options for Leave of Absences. If your company or business doesn't have any options within it's benefit structure, can you create some?
If you can't create leave of absence options, direct parents to the federal Recovery Caregiver Benefit and help them navigate it: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-caregiving-benefit/crcb-who-apply.html
Supporting your team right now may hurt your productivity in the short run. But, it will reduce burn out and will increase loyalty and respect within your team. The long-term benefits of a strong team outweigh the short -term losses.
