NZ Trucking Association
With Covid-19 restrictions continuing to cause headaches for many businesses, it can be a struggle to keep up with the changes, meet regulations, and support your staff. It is a difficult time for employers, and many are having to step up and add another layer of support for their staff as Covid-19 fatigue kicks in. This pandemic is worse than any natural disaster because it just does not have an end date.
Over the past year we have all got used to the breaking news public announcements across endless media platforms and dread that the news announcement is yet another level change or lockdown. Everyone deals with the news differently; among your staff you will have the person who thinks it is not necessary and overkill to lock down the country. In the same group, you will have someone who has multiple personal situations to deal with, such as kids to organise at home because the schools are shut. They may have elderly parents or high-risk family members to support and may be concerned about being separated from loved ones because of the locked borders, and are also concerned about contracting the virus themselves.
Employers need to make sure that the culture in their workplace is positive and supports and considers all employees and their different concerns. Be sympathetic and check in with each staff member to ask, ‘How are you coping with this?’
Limit any sceptical chats about different theories about the virus from so-called experts in your company, because this can be very distressing for some people. It is essential that you establish a Covid-19 policy for your business. Communicate it to your staff so that they can understand what will happen if someone at your business contracts the virus or is a close contact of a positive case. It is better to have that laid out clearly so everyone knows how the situation will be managed if it arises, and will avoid potential drama. It will save a lot of stress if it did happen, because you already have a plan of action and everyone knows what to do.
Establish a reliable source of Covid-19 information and news; do not rely on reporters who write their opinion in many publications. The key points are:
• Be aware that different staff will deal with information in different ways – show empathy
• Only use Covid-19 information from a reliable source
• Check in with your staff and ask how they are coping
• Establish your company policy about lockdowns and selfisolation, then clearly communicate it to your staff
• Limit the negative chats about Covid-19 theories and scepticism – take it seriously.
Employers need to make sure that the culture in their workplace is positive and supports and considers all employees and their different concerns.
Essential workers who keep working throughout the different alert levels and lockdown periods have more challenges and will need more support.
Financially the Covid-19 pandemic can be destructive for a business but that is not the case for all businesses. Encourage your staff to buy local and support small towns. Put up a noticeboard for staff to share business and travel information about local activities and deals. If we all spend our money in a local town it will help businesses to survive.
This pandemic caught us all by surprise and no one had any training to prepare or had any idea that this thing would stay around for so long. It is part of our life now, so it must become business as usual within the new normal. If you look at the positives, more frequent hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser has meant less spread of colds, bugs and the flu over the past year. Contact tracing is so important, so remind your staff to keep it up, scan wherever they go, and turn Bluetooth on in the Covid-19 tracer app.
New challenges will evolve as we continue to live with Covid-19. The vaccination programme will take time and there is still a lot to learn. In the meantime, company owners need to lead their team by example and have good policy systems in place. □