FEATURE
Stress in the Workplace Concerning COVID-19 By Glenn Miller, CGCS
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veryone is feeling the strain of having to adjust to this new, uncertain reality of COVID-19. In many ways, this pandemic has gone beyond normal job stress and is a true loss of normalcy at every level. Everyone handles stress differently but fear of economic loss and the lack of connection with co-workers, friends and family have led to tangible workplace anxiety for everyone. COVID19 is hitting us hard, and, as businesses, we are expected to balance the health, safety and financial concerns of ourselves, family, and clients. COVID-19 has made it abundantly clear that humans love to focus on the future and when our future is uncertain and our sense of security is undermined, we move slowly into a state of panic. Even if all your employees are well, they are still worried about the possibility of getting sick and the possibility of infecting their loved ones. In many cases, you are not dealing with facts but “what ifs” and that’s enough to stress any employer. Compounding this is the constant barrage of news with conflicting facts, and the everchanging governmental guidelines. What can employers do? Fortunately, there are some remedies to workplace stress that have a proven track record. The number one thing you can do to help your employees is communicate often. When you are silent, you leave employees to fill in their own answers. Communicate so they know what their options are and that they do have options. Making sure your employees know who to contact when they have questions about benefits, time-off policies, working from home, or other assistance programs you offer for COVID-19
related job stress. Communicate that the well-being of your employees and clients is a top concern for your business. Make sure to have a way for employees to communicate their concerns with you too. One-way communication can often be as stressful as staying silent. Every company should have a COVID plan available to employees that is being updated regularly. Your plan can inform employees and customers about ways to continue to work together, steps taken to ensure safety, and ways they can communicate their concerns with management. Workplace safety must be your top priority. That means ensuring employees wash their hands, have access to basic hygiene supplies including hand sanitizer or soap and water, masks, gloves and continue to social distance from one another. You will need to regularly disinfect highly touched areas and ensure managers are communicating proper behavior to every employee. All
these recommendations and guidelines can be found at the Center for Disease Control website at www: cdc.gov, State of California at www: cdph.ca.gov, the County of Riverside Public Health at www: rivcoph.org or at your local City’s and Chamber of Commerce’s websites (see page 24). If your employees feel like they have two-way communications and support for their job stress, they will feel better equipped to positively face the rest of the crisis with your clients and at work. We will get through this together, so be safe, stay calm, and during this summer heat, stay cool! Glenn A. Miller is the Mayor of Indio and Co-Owner & Vice President of Operations of Southwest Landscape & Maintenance, LLC. You can reach Glenn at Glenn@swlandscape.net or by calling (760) 590-8544.
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