News began to emerge that a new virus, causing flu-like symptoms and pneumonia, had been reported in Wuhan Province in China. The virus was given the reference Covid 19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Currently, no specific treatment options exist for the treatment of this particular pathogen and as a result, the spread has been rapid and by the end of January, evidence of COVID 19 infections had been identified worldwide, including the UK, US, Australia and Italy. Particularly vulnerable to the virus were elderly people, classed as over 70, or over 60 with underlying medical issues such as heart disease or respiratory issues, but the sheer quantity of the potential number of cases – one estimate has around 70 – 80% of the population contracting Coronavirus (COVID 19) with a 1% mortality rate – meant that enormous pressure would be placed on medical facilities across the world. On the 11th March 2020, after 118000 reported cases and more than 4000 deaths across every continent except Antarctica, the WHO declared the Coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak to be a pandemic. By this time, Governments across the world had begun to mobilise their responses to varying degrees of severity in order to reduce the rate of contraction of Coronavirus (COVID 19) – to ‘flatten the rate of infection curve’ thereby enabling health services to cope better with the numbers involved. From full ‘lockdown’, including the closure of towns, offices, shops etc. and home confinement, to advice to workers to avoid travelling to work if they could, suddenly a large portion of the workforce globally have found themselves working from home – whether they wanted to or not.
Most of us are in a lockdown and we are working from home. Everyday we are bombarded by News of employees being laid off, job cuts and economies crashing down, thus it is highly essential to keep the morale and confidence of your employees high whenever you meet them in Zoom meetings or if they are coming down to the office:
1. Have you met the last person we hired?
2. How many miles do you travel to/from work each day, and how long does it take?
3. Is risk-taking in the team encouraged, and what happens when people fail?
4. Do you want more feedback about your performance?
5. Do we get together as a whole company often enough?
6. What would you want our team to be known for 20 years from now?
7. Have you ever been afraid to suggest an idea at work because you thought someone might shoot it down?
8. Do you feel like you know what is expected of you in each of the areas you are responsible for?
9. If someone asked you to describe the vision of the company, would a clear answer immediately come to mind?
10. How is our team doing with gender equality? (You can keep your response private; it won’t be shared.)
11. Do you have time in your day to learn?
12. Do you feel like we have too many meetings?
13. What is the most repetitive part of your job, and do you have any suggestions for streamlining it?
14. What changes would you suggest making to our monthly team meeting structure?
15. Do we provide enough context about how we are doing as a company?
16. Are there things you do not know about the company that you feel you should know?
17. Is there one specific part of your job that you find the most difficult? What is it and why?
18. Which core value of the team speaks to you most, and why?
19. Do you crave more depth in any area of the work you do?
20. What are your top 2 Wishlist items for your desk/workstation?
21. Do you feel like your ideas are being considered?
22. Do you feel comfortable speaking up if you see something at work that does not feel right?
23. Are you afraid of anything at work?
24. Do we take the time to recognize each other for a job well done?
25. Are you proud of how we treat our customers?
26. Is there anyone at the company you wish you could apprentice under or shadow for a day?
27. Are there any small things we could do to show our appreciation for each other’s work?
28. Did you have at least one 4-hour block of uninterrupted time to work last week?
29. Have you been confused by any recent decisions at the company?
30. What is your most productive time of day and environment?
31. Are there any benefits we don’t offer that you’d like to see us offer?
32. Did you take a vacation last year?
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath