HR managers on boosting employee morale during WFH

From being viewed as a major perk in prepandemic times work from home WFH has unleashed a new set of unprecedented challenges that include extended working hours diminished productivity and dwindling employee morale A 2020 report by the Martec Group that surveyed 1214 individuals across various industries demographics and seniority levels found a significant decline in mental health across all industries with job satisfaction job motivation and company satisfaction being negatively affectedOla CEO Bhavish Aggarwal conducts a meeting while petting an adopted stray PicTwitterTaking cognisance of these patterns several organisations have been investing time and resources in engagement activities and initiatives targeted at making their workspaces more employeefriendly and boosting morale Cab aggregator Ola for one has made its office dogfriendly allowing employees to bring their pooches along to work The companyrsquos electric campus at Bengaluru has also adopted all resident strays and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal made waves on social media by posting a video of him conducting a meeting while petting an adopted dog A team effortNishigandha Shendge and Vicky KadamldquoOne of the biggest challenges of WFH is the isolation that can negatively impact mental healthrdquo shares K Sri Ganapathy cofounder of Futwork To counter this theyrsquove decided to begin the week with a video call on Monday mornings ldquoDuring this call itrsquos mandatory for everyone to turn their videos on Over 3045 minutes we share our successes from the past week and then spend some time playing a game The last game we played was to guess the movie based on emojis This helps us to start on a positive note and gives us something to look forward to that isnrsquot workrelatedrdquo he explains The company has also created a culture of video team lunches where teams share a meal with their cameras turned on This says Ganapathy encourages bonding Further they conduct open sessions on Discord a voicebased app where employees can interact with other teams and learn about what theyrsquore working on Therersquos also a music channel that they can listen to while at work and share any new suggestions and recommendationsBecause we careK Sri GanapathyA couple of months after the pandemic started Vicky Kadam human resource manager at Hireavilla started a special group on Slack for employees to celebrate the success of their colleagues ldquoFrom an office assistant to the CEO everyone could share an achievement of another At a time when morale was at an alltime low this move helped our employees to feel appreciated and valuedrdquo he elaborates Working in hospitality can sometimes make it difficult for employees to get access to nutritious meals and in the long term affect their physical wellbeing To extend support theyrsquove started a special kitchen to prepare homestyle nutritious meals for everyone across the board to enjoyThe right balanceFor Nishigandha Shengde manager people success at Fynd her focus has been ensuring that work responsibilities do not become overwhelming during WFH ldquoItrsquos easy to spend all day glued to your laptop and completely neglect your physical wellbeing To avoid this we send nudges at noon and 6 pm every day for all employees to log off and get some exercise or take a walk We also have virtual talent shows so our teams can share skills theyrsquove acquired during the lockdown Instead of calling our employees to work once restrictions eased we took them on a workcation in March The teams booked bungalows at scenic locations and could spend valuable time brainstorming and bonding Wersquore currently waiting for everyone to get vaccinated before starting the process againrdquo she sharesThey have also started lunch dates where four people are picked at random from across the organization to have lunch together online ldquoThey can order what they like and will be reimbursed The idea is for them to make new friends and the only mandate is that they must not talk shop during the date she clarifies Finally they send out a daily update on Slack asking employees how theyre feeling ldquoIn case someone is struggling we reach out to offer our supportrdquo she concludes