How should IT leaders manage morale, well-being and productivity as lockdown continues?

When the coronavirus lockdown began in March, few suspected that it would still be very much in place by September. That fact that it is continuing and that restrictions are likely to increase with new cases spiking in the UK, gives IT and business leaders further challenges when it comes to managing staff.

The first priority for many is staff well-being and morale, and ‘psychological safety', according to Jeremy Cooper, senior director, IT operations at Charles River Laboratories.

"Most of this comes down to psychology safety by ensuring the team are feeling comfortable enough to raise concerns. A lot of people, including myself, went into lockdown thinking this is all temporary, and we will be back to normal in a few months. That meant I didn't change my routine and fought against things like what time I'd exercise, what time I could start work, and this brought on a very negative mindset and a bit of anxiety.

"As leaders we should be setting the new normal for our team, showing that it's OK to change or flex our patterns to fit what we can do."

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Jane Deal, IT director at the Law Society said that happy staff are also more productive.

People will be more productive if they're feeling good, feeling less pressure - Jane Deal, Law Society

"People will be more productive if they're feeling good, feeling less pressure. We have range of staff, some were doing home-schooling, and now the kids have gone back to school they have school runs to do, which has added another dimension. Then there are issues around how we choose who can go back to the office early? We're not planning for most to return until 2021, but you have people who are house or flat sharing, and maybe their office is sitting on their bed with their laptop on lap which isn't healthy. Or perhaps their home environment is difficult."

She added that there are various strategies for helping staff feel more comfortable in their work.

"It's important to see how you can divvy work around the teams, checking what people need and making sure they're taking holiday. We're also making sure we have given them processes that allow for more automation.

"For instance we've been concerned that when people needed new devices they would need to be cleaned and made safe first. So we've been working with Windows Autopilot, so we can build it all remotely.

Besides that we do lots of checking up on people. Some like to have a walk outside while they're chatting on the phone. Someone may have burning issue to get off chest. We also offer lots of online services for people, like mindfulness, wellbeing, pilates, even Joe Wicks. We've put on courses for people too; I've been learning Korean and Italian - Korean's much harder I have to say!" said Deal.

Productivity can also start to be an issue when managers and teams haven't shared the same physical space for months on end, and some people can start to become disassociated from the rest of the organisation. Some organisations have been looking at monitoring software to check what their people are doing, but Cooper warns against that practice.

I wouldn't recommend monitoring software as there is a risk of increasing anxiety - Jeremy Cooper, Charles River Laboratories

"I wouldn't recommend monitoring software as there is a risk of increasing anxiety, especially with job security as we enter a recession, if you feel your manager is watching/tracking you. Try asking staff about what do they need to be more productive, whether it's tools, equipment, software, and asking what processes need to change. This will make them more productive but also they'll see you are supporting them.

"We have improved some processes regarding requirements for wet signatures as not all people have a printer and scanner at home. This fixed an issue, however, also sets us up for future efficiency and sustainability. Being a good leader means supporting your staff and breaking down road blocks for them, this is a great time to help them!"

Deal explained that monitoring isn't always about measuring productivity.

"We got a question from someone asking if there's a way to provide stats on people's access to a system over a two-month period. Whether they were suspicious around productivity or not we don't know. Sometimes you need that information when you're looking to change or automate a system.

And sometimes what looks like low productivity can actually just be the result of competing objectives.

"When you look under the bonnet you might see some teams are not as busy as you might have thought. That can be because teams get overburdened, despite telling people to follow process and prioritise. For instance procurement can get bombarded, which often links to compliance and legal. Contracts need negotiation, security and IT teams need to check that it won't break something else, or we don't already have something which does what's needed."

If you don't trust your staff, have you got the right people? Are you motivating them well? - Jane Deal

Those activities may not be what the business is looking to measure from the team in question, so the output could look low, whilst the reality is very different.

"But be careful with monitoring around why we you want to use it," Deal continued. "If you don't trust your staff, have you got the right people? Are you motivating them well? Why is there an issue, ask that question. It's about understanding the working environment, allowing the flex that people need. The Law Society has been good at that, and I've noticed that productivity has been maintained despite remote working.

"Lots of people realised they are more productive as there's no need to commute, so they're less tired. They can flex their day a bit more, and get a better work life balance."

Deal added a tip for those looking to cut down on the hours spent in meetings.

"There's a capability in Outlook to set your meetings to last 55 minutes instead of the full hour. So you don't go back-to-back with meetings, it gives you time to breathe. In early days I was telling people not to set their meetings to start on the hour, as the network providers were finding big spikes then. When they followed the rule and started at ten past they had no problem with video meetings in the heady early days of lockdown."

One certainty is that with lockdown continuing, organisations are more reliant than ever on IT.