The current pandemic brought a sudden blow to businesses and countries’ economies, affecting millions of employees and their families worldwide. While business owners find ways to recover from the health crisis's financial impacts, employees also need support services to help them get through the physical, psychological, financial, and social effects of this pandemic.
Get to understand the available support services your employees need during this pandemic by reading below.
- Employee Assistance Program
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) refers to a work-based intervention program designed to help employees resolve personal problems that might affect their performance. Unlike traditional EAP, people are restricted outdoors and are advised to stay at home.
While your employees might return to work, they may also feel worried about staying in the office for too long, fearing of contracting the virus from colleagues and other people, then bringing it home to their families. So, how can EAP help employees during this time of pandemic?
EAP Counselling explains that innovative solutions, such as promoting mental health and well-being through artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to the workforce, should be provided. Such innovation should be accessible 24/7 to help employees emotionally and build resilience. With innovative EAP solutions, your employees still receive the necessary assistance they need even during this pandemic.
Here's how innovative EAP solutions can help employees during a pandemic:
- Employers can easily connect with employees needing EAP counseling.
- For better management and decision-making concerning health and safety, employers and employees can monitor progress through real-time data results.
- Help employers retain top talents and reduce absenteeism and tardiness by providing educational solutions that aim to increase the awareness and understanding of employees, especially about dealing with the health crisis and the emotional burden it brings.
- Health Education and Medical Services
Nowadays, health and safety are major concerns. Your employees need adequate health services to ensure they’re covered, especially when they or one of their family members contracted COVID-19.
Employers can provide health support services by:
- Disseminates information about COVID-19 by inviting health experts and cleaning and disinfectant specialists to talk about keeping the office or workplace safe from this virus.
- Ensure that you provide the right personal protective equipment to your employees, such as face masks and face shields.
- Hire a company nurse or doctor to monitor your employees' health, including testing specialists for COVID-19.
- Make sure you have adequate health insurance coverage and workers’ compensation benefit for your employees.
- Work Management Services
Because coronavirus is highly contagious, businesses need to shift from office work to work-from-home schemes. Work management services would entail adopting software programs that can help sustain daily business operations while employees work at home, such as project management software.
Also, as a crucial part of work management services, employees will need reliable work tools, such as laptops and internet connectivity. For a smoother work-from-home setting, providing high-quality and reliable computer hardware and software should be prioritized, helping avoid work delays and improve work-from-home productivity.
- Mental Health Services
A survey trusted source showed that 45% of adults said that the pandemic affected their mental well-being. Also, 69% of employees described the pandemic as the most stressful time in 2020. About 88% also experienced stress in four to six weeks.
As an employer, here are some tips to help employees promote good mental health during this pandemic:
- Reduce Stigma: Provide your employees resources they can use for self-care. Doing so will strengthen your employee wellness program. Also, reinforce effective ways to take good care of the body and mind, reducing the stigma brought about by this health crisis.
- Regular and Open Communication: Regular and open communication with your employees is a must. Make sure to keep all communication channels available for your employees to reach supervisors and managers to talk about any concerns about work and health.
- Show Empathy: Because of the feeling of uncertainty, employees may show a lack of motivation to work and end up feeling anxious. Employers should show their concern and empathy by hosting video calls to increase their employees’ morale and ask about their concerns and how the company can help.
Conclusion
During this pandemic, for your business to still thrive, your employees need all the support that they can get, such as medical services, innovative employment assistance program (EAP) solutions, work management, health education, financial, and mental health services.
Reduce stress and feelings of uncertainties by providing employee wellness programs and regular and open communication with your employees. Also, make sure that the workplace is regularly disinfected, and PPEs and testing for COVID-19 are available.
