Supporting Different Groups Remotely

Everyone will be impacted by COVID-19 in different ways and it is important that we are conscious on how companies can help those who might be facing additional barriers. Sharing with employees and managers these different experiences their co-workers might be facing can help make the transition to remote work more inclusive. 

Parents: Working remotely might be a good opportunity for additional family bonding, however it also might add additional stress to parents who are trying to juggle supervising and entertaining their children, while working. 

• Ask for an increase in patience with everyone during these times as there might be distractions such as children at home that won’t allow employees to be online exactly from 9am-5pm. 

• Share this article with employees who are parents with tips for effectively working from home during Coronavirus outbreak, when you have kids.

• Share these resources, a survival guide for WFH parents with kids at home too. 

• Consider how you can support parents more long term, such as Patagonia, who has had 100% retention of moms in the past 5 years. There are some great tips in this article.

Caretakers: Some employees might not only be taking care of their children, but possibly the elderly or other dependents. This can be even more stressful knowing the elderly or those with medical conditions are more susceptible to COVID-19.

• Change your paid sick day leave to also include when carry for others, not just when for the employees self. 

• Share these tips to caregivers on how to deal with anxiety and stress. 

• Encourage Managers to reach out and check in that their employees have the support they need. 

• Remind employees of mental wellness benefits available to them. 

• If not already available as part of their benefits, add remote therapists to Employee Assistance Programs. There are great tools such as Inkblot Therapy which connects people with therapists online. 

Community: Not everyone has the luxury to work remotely and many people are looking for ways to support their community and local businesses who aren’t as fortunate. Here are some ways you can let your employees know how they can help. 

• Stay home. The biggest way to support the community and get things back to normal is to reduce the spread of the virus, which can most effectively be done, if possible, by staying home. 

• Purchase gift cards for restaurants and other places that need to shut down and use at a later date. OR order their food for delivery. 

• If you need to stock up on items, check out your local and independently owned grocery and corner stores, there is likely a much shorter line up. 

• If possible and healthy, donate blood. Because of the outbreak blood donations could be in higher demand than normal

• Donate to food banks. Right now everyone is stocking up food for themselves, but that doesn’t mean the food bank isn’t in need of donations too. 

• Considering donating to or paying for services now to receive at a later date. For example, if you use a cleaner, massage therapist, hairdresser anyone who will likely be out of work during the pandemic. 

• Stay in touch and check in with loved ones and those who may be vulnerable. A quick hello can make a huge difference in someone's day. 

Persons with Disabilities: 

• Have you ever looked into hiring people with chronic illness or disability, but remote work was a barrier? Well now maybe it isn’t! Check out Chronically Capable to see their community of job-seekers who have a disability or chronic illness.

• As your recruitment team may be transitioning interviews to be remote, make sure they are informed of the different types of accommodations they may encounter and should be aware of. 

Other things to consider: There is an infinite list of how we can support different groups and who they are. Above we have only covered the tip of the iceberg. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you are looking for specific advice. Otherwise we have a few additional tips we encourage you to consider. 

• The internet is a privilege and not everyone will have the same access to use the internet in their home. Making sure your managers are conscious of this and are checking in to see their employees have what they need to successfully work remotely is important. 

• There are tax benefits available for costs incurred while working from home. Inform your employees of what is available to them in their region or if you have any company programs that will cover these expenses. 

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