What Google’s Covid-19 response can teach you about employee morale

Google, Slack, Facebook, and Amazon all announced that their employees have the option of working from home until the end of 2020. This strategy will positively impact engagement and morale for the companies. 

·      People thrive psychologically at work when they are given autonomy. This means having self-directed freedom and is the opposite of being micromanaged. There may be employees that are extremely excited to get back to the office and others who want to continue to work near their family. If productivity and collaboration are not being materially affected, it’s likely that the impact of increased engagement would outweigh any downside. 

·      Google and the other technology companies are demonstrating that they trust their employees. They trust their employees to make the right decisions for their company, the right decisions for their health, and that they will continue to execute as if they were in the office. It also provides the employees with professional and personal flexibility.

·      Working virtually encourages cross-team and cross-functional collaboration. Several of the business executives whom I have worked with over the past six-weeks have shared that increased collaboration has been a silver lining from the stay-at-home order. Employees are building new relationships and gaining exposure to different aspects of the company. In an office environment, employees will spend the majority of their time building relationships with the people who are physically around them. In the current zoom-filled days, everyone in the organization is equally accessible. In today’s environment video is replacing email and phone calls and face-to-face interaction is a stronger way to connect to another human being.

Interested in Virtual Workshops, Executive Retreats or Keynote Talks for your team? Contact@arriveathappy.com to schedule a consultation so we can learn more about your situation to make recommendations or possible referrals.