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Life post COVID

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// // As people start going back to workplaces next week, and restaurants re-open with 20 people allowed inside for a sitting, we've entered a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic...

// As people start going back to workplaces next week, and restaurants re-open with 20 people allowed inside for a sitting, we’re entering a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic…

A lot of people may have gone into the COVID-19 crisis with extraordinary stress levels, so where do you start to create the new ‘business as usual’ post pandemic?

There’s no doubt that living in one of the most isolated cities in the world has helped, but as many have reminded us: we’re not out of the woods yet.

We don’t have a vaccine. And won’t for many months at least. So for now, we have to be careful.

As staff start to return to some offices, and we enter cafes and restaurants again, we have been warned to retain our social distancing.

Look after each other

When COVID-19 hit, life took a sharp turn. Within days, normal life was turned on its head and ‘business as usual’ didn’t exist any more.

For most businesses, employees were sent home, doors were closed and human resources were scattered to the wind. Stress increased exponentially (and with it the risks of burnout) as everyone was plunged into chaos, and there was very little line of sight to how each individual was coping.

In a flash, every job left standing has moved online. Startups get this, but it was still an upset. Some markets and contracts disappeared.

Think what it must have been like for co-working spaces – at last count, there were 55 on the Startup News ‘Hubs’ database.

At home, we had little control over the ergonomics staff were working within. A lot of them are coping with sharing space with partners and children. Leaders have been flung into managing teams from a distance, remote operating platforms are being stretched to their limits and productivity may have taken a hit.

As COVID-19 is slowly brought under control, it is natural that everyone starts to turn their attention to the future.

Looking forward

With this comes important questions that need answers:

  • What does your business’s future need to look like?
  • What do your employees need you to provide?
  • Where will the stress and burnout equation be, when your employees are allowed to emerge and return to the workplace?
  • How will the mental health of your workforce impact your ability to move forwards?

There are lots of answers to these questions, but there is one thing that everyone can agree on, no matter where they are in the world: when lockdown and social distancing restrictions are eased, life will never be the same again.

Left as is, every companies’ human resources will emerge from this with their mental health in a more fragile and battered state.

Every individual is different, so every individual will need a different solution to help them navigate their way through this crisis.

Developing and implementing a flexible Organisational Health & Wellness Plan that provides tools and activities customisable at the individual level, and doing it now, will help you to understand the needs of your employees, provide them with access to tools that enable them to create individualised plans to reduce stress, and increase general well being and collectively move forward in a healthier way.

Creating your new ‘business as usual’ now is critical, to allow you to hit the ground running when ‘normal’ operations commence again.

~~

Article Advice taken from: Bronwen Sciortino, SheIQ Life. Main photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels.

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Startup News has been the home of West Australian startup news and events since 2013. We publish several news stories, interviews, tips and events relating to WA startups every week, with over 1,900 articles in our archives. We also produce the 'Startup West' podcast, and host the 'Hubs (Ecosystem)' database of WA startup programs, places and events.
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