We have gathered the following resources with those needs in mind.

This document outlines some basic tips for maximizing remote work and maintaining well-being while working from home. While many of us who have been working remotely for almost a year have figured out how to be productive, some reminders might be helpful. 

SHRM: How to Engage Remote Employees During the Coronavirus Pandemic

A second list of quick tips for remote work from the Society for Human Resource Management. If you’re looking for ways to keep your people motivated and engaged while they’re working remotely, this list provides some basic ideas. 

These inspirations offer ways for leaders, HR professionals, or “people people” to support their employees while they continue to work remotely. The list may spark some ideas of ways to take action at your organization. 

This guide may help you plan and implement better virtual meetings and includes information on how to plan a meeting agenda, check-in at the start of meetings, and finish strong so employees know who is responsible for what pieces of a project. The guide includes some templates for inspiration, too. 

SHRM: Measuring Employee Engagement During a Crisis

If you’re thinking about how to get a better sense of how your people are doing, this article reviews options for understanding how employees are handling the changing work environment, including surveys, focus groups, internal social media platforms, and interviews. It also shares some important advice for avoiding common pitfalls.

Harvard Business Review: How to do Performance Reviews — Remotely

This resource is particularly useful in listing Do’s and Don'ts of performance evaluations during the pandemic and includes case studies with examples of how managers handle different situations with employees. 

SHRM: Amending Your Performance Review Template for the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article provides performance review templates for employees with a variety of responsibilities and competencies, including ideas to measure adaptability and flexibility, creativity and innovation, and change management. It also offers suggestions for raising expectations in ways that promote employee growth.

The Management Center: Onboarding during COVID-19

This resource provides examples of how to prepare for new hires before they start at the organization, as well as tips for helping them feel part of the group once they start. It also provides ideas for setting up a good manager-staff relationship and for setting up the new hire for success, including goal-setting and ongoing feedback. There’s also a checklist available to download.

LifeLabs Learning: The Ultimate Remote Work Guide

In this guide, LifeLabs Learning outlines some of the common mistakes of remote work, like miscommunication, procrastination or distractions, overwork and burnout, invisibility and under-communication, and loneliness.

Leading Edge: Reopening Our Workspaces Playbook

This playbook can serve as a guide for organizations considering returning to the workplace. It includes information to help you decide when to open and tips for communicating these decisions with staff. It includes questions to consider when deciding to reopen, components of a healthy organizational culture, and checklists of important steps to take before, during, and after reopening your workspace.

Harvard Business Review: 5 Ways to Bring Women Back Into the Post-Pandemic Workforce

In this article, HBR offers suggestions to offer women support if they have experienced furloughs or job loss during the pandemic. Some ideas include offering a 12+ month leave of absence for women with caregiving responsibilities, scaling return-to-work programs, or training women in new skills to help with reentry into the workforce.

Harvard Business Review: What to Do If Your Team Doesn’t Want to Go Back to the Office

This resource offers ideas and tips for balancing the needs of both senior leaders and employees. These tips include having conversations with leaders to determine what their main concerns are, and if those concerns are about all employees or a few employees working from home. Other suggestions include allowing employees to choose where they work, new habits to help normalize remote work, and matching the communication rhythm of senior leaders to keep them at ease even if staff choose to continue working from home.

LifeLabs Learning: 5 Ways to make return to work brain-friendly

This is a quick, easy-to-read sheet with fast and easy tips that can make returning to the workplace feel safer for staff. It offers some how-to’s which are useful as they are, or they could be used for inspiration to create your own reopening plan.

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Leading Edge is happy to help organizations think about their reopening strategies regarding organizational culture. However, we are not health experts, so we advise you to review federal, state, and local guidelines for information about vaccines and reopening your workspace safely. 

Center for Disease Control (CDC) on COVID-19

SHRM: Does a Strong Workplace Culture Require In-Person Work?

In this interview, Natalie Baumgartner of Achievers talks about ways to create connections with employees even if they’re working remotely. The top priorities include ongoing feedback, recognition, empathetic leadership, and a sense of belonging at an organization.

Harvard Business Review: 9 Trends that Will Shape Work in 2021 and Beyond

While the decision of remote or in-person work is on the minds of many leaders, this article explores 9 trends that will impact organizational culture and lives of employees. Some of these expected trends include organizations prioritizing employee mental health, helping staff with work/life balance, and adopting stances on social issues. Other trends may include an increase in the gender wage gap, legal consequences for organizations based on their vaccine requirements, and more.

McKinsey: The future of work after COVID-19

This report offers a closer look at how different industries were impacted by the pandemic and how remote work might reshape each going forward. Some predictions include the continuation of remote work and virtual meetings after the pandemic and the adoption of new technologies. McKinsey also includes predictions on which industries may experience job growth or decline in the coming years.

As remote and hybrid work arrangements continue, organizations still need guidance on how to manage workers remotely and encourage employee engagement.

As the pandemic and remote work arrangements continue into 2021, organizations still need guidance on how to encourage employee engagement, manage workers remotely, and look toward the future of work after the pandemic.

Remote Work Resources

Flexible Hours. To support employees who are unable to work normal hours, consider allowing them to adjust their schedule to accommodate personal or family needs. If employees are able to work more productively late at night or on the weekend when they can focus, this should be an option. While many organizations are already doing this informally, it’s helpful to be as explicit as possible so that employees don’t feel pressure to check and respond to email at all times. Leaders and managers can also suggest that employees list work hours in their email signature, block off working and non-working on their calendars for coworkers to see, or put up an out-of-office message if they are not working during the typical work day.


Reward Hard Work. It’s important to also recognize and reward employees who may be taking on a larger-than-usual share of the workload. There are a variety of ways to do this. Send a card to say you’re grateful and appreciate their efforts. If folks are working remotely, consider sending a small gift to employees’ homes to show the organization’s gratitude. Just expressing to employees that their hard work is acknowledged and noticed can go a long way towards improving morale for those who are going above and beyond. 


Prioritize. With many staff working remotely, communication can be difficult. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lose track of what’s most important. Weekly check-ins or team meetings can help staff determine which tasks and projects are most important for the week. This way, even if staff are working flexible hours they know what is expected of them and can work to achieve short-term goals. Managers can also create a template to mark the status of each task or project with a green light, yellow light, or red light, assigning a color to help an employee visualize what is on track, paused, or removed.


Safe Spaces. While 2020 has proven to be eye-opening for many around issues of racial justice, discrimination in the workplace has long been known to communities of color. Research has shown a trend with mental health concerns resulting from workplace discrimination. Managers should consider appropriate ways to address equity within their organization and provide a space for people to talk about it. A human resources or talent professional can reach out to employees offering the opportunity for discussions about issues relating to racial justice. Some staff may want to meet privately while others might prefer sharing their thoughts among a group of individuals facing similar challenges, where they can speak openly and offer support. The manager organizing the discussion should be mindful to listen and let participants do the majority of the talking. Another option is to form a book club focused on DEIJ-related books as a way to spark discussions about racial justice in the workplace. 


Time off. Employees may be less willing to speak up if they need to take time off to deal with mental health. But organizations should consider that those struggling with mental health issues often need rest, away from the computer, the same way that those dealing with physical ailments do. Think about offering mental health or wellness days, in addition to PTO days for employees to utilize if needed. These could take the form of organization-wide “Rest and Recharge Days” where the entire organization shuts down for a few days, or “Summer Fridays” where the whole organization is off on Friday afternoons. No matter what policy you implement, ensure that senior leaders set the example to help normalize the practice. Otherwise, employees may not feel comfortable taking advantage of the new policy. 


Re-think Meetings. The way that meetings are structured and scheduled can have an impact on how employees feel throughout the day. One suggestion is to end all internal meetings at 50 minutes past the hour to allow for at least a 10 minute break between calls/Zoom meetings. This may help to avoid dreaded Zoom fatigue. Another option is opening internal meetings with a scale of one to ten in response to “How are you feeling at this moment?” so that employees have the opportunity to speak up if they are not feeling well and others can offer support. 


Coverage Uncovered. Make sure your employees know exactly what kind of mental health services are covered under your policies. Sometimes navigating coverage questions can be a barrier to taking advantage of the available options. Make it easy for employees to access insurer-provided therapy and support. Consider a lunch and learn, HR office hours, or even a thorough memo to help explain what is available, how to find providers, and how folks can access everything. Include time for questions and answers so that employees can have all of their concerns addressed. 


“Walk-in-my-shoes.” Sometimes we don’t know the full story of what a team member is working on or going through. Make space for folks to share what’s hard for them during their work days along with any visible or invisible challenges. This could be done during a sharing circle at a team lunch, on a Slack channel where team members share what they are struggling with in real time, or any other forum that works for your team. To make sure that folks feel safe and comfortable to share, have the leadership share first to establish a safe and brave space. 


Accountabili-Buddies. An “accountabili-buddy” is an accountability partner who you speak with daily or weekly, where you support each other and hold each other accountable. It could include anything from fitness check-ins, making sure they are taking mental health days, keeping up with work goals, or sticking to a professional development plan. An “accountabili-buddy” is a great way to make sure your employees have someone to lean on during stressful moments and to have at least one person to check in with to make sure they are doing OK. Set up “accountabili-buddy” pairs for a specific period of time (1-3 months, 6 months, etc.) and make sure that the two individuals are not in a supervisor-supervisee relationship. 

Other Resources. Management can explore local resources to find a counselor that teaches coping skills or wellness strategies. Leaders can also consider scheduling a singular training or a series of training sessions to help improve staff morale, self-care, or well-being. A counselor may be available for one-on-one sessions, if the organization wants to offer this resource. Even sharing a list of online resources, recommended mental health professionals, or free online courses could be helpful. Think about bringing in experts to run workshops or guest speakers on various mental health topics. Consider paying for a meditation or exercise app to share with staff that would help them manage their mental health.


Manager Discussions. Leadership can offer managers-only meetings for senior leaders or middle management focusing on the challenges of managing teams during this time. These groups can be helpful and supportive environments. Meetings can also provide an opportunity for learning mindfulness and stress management techniques tailored for managers, which could reduce stress, increase focus, and set positive examples for their teams.


Listen to Staff. Provide a list of resources for any issues that haven’t been explicitly addressed already. For example, a list of hotlines for mental health or domestic violence could be helpful to staff who may not feel comfortable sharing these personal aspects of their lives in the workplace. Additionally, there may be a spoken need among several staff for more support around a particular issue, like homeschooling their children. Be open to what staff say their needs are, and think about how to address needs that may be unspoken.


Here are some additional tips to support mental health and encourage well-being at your organization:

Have a “rest hour” everyday in the afternoon when meetings cannot be scheduled

Have walking meetings instead of Zoom calls to encourage fresh air and movement

Play a quick game at the start of your next meeting to bond as a team and to have some fun

Have a quick coffee date or lunch break with a coworker just to chat (not about work)

Buy a small plant to put on your desk at home or in the office

Take a few hours (or a day) off from social media

Have your team take a personality test; understanding that everyone has different strengths can help your team work well together

Ask everyone on your team to share their stress styles in order to gain a better understanding of how each person responds to stress; this makes it easier for coworkers to support each other

Encourage staff not to read their emails during a 2-hour block each day, or to set specific times for checking email during the day 

Set up calendar invites for a stretch break every few hours - employees stretch on their own but the invite serves as a reminder to get up and move

The current work environment presents many challenges that may be impacting health and well-being. Employees are juggling childcare needs with job responsibilities, caring for sick friends or relatives, struggling with isolation, and more. This list provides some ideas and suggestions to support your people and their mental health.

Supporting Employee Mental Health

Melissa Walters is Senior Program Manager, Leading Places to Work at Leading Edge, managing projects related to surveys and communities of practice for talent professionals. Before Leading Edge, she worked as a fundraising manager at OPERA America and as a fundraising associate at Surprise Lake Camp.

With a degree in sociology, Melissa co-designed and administered a workplace satisfaction survey among faculty at Moravian College, the findings of which she co-presented at the Eastern Sociological Society Conference in 2014. She completed a certificate in Data Analytics from Cornell University in 2020. She finds the work of Leading Edge to be a fascinating union of her interests in data and social science.

Senior Program Manager, Leading Places to Work

Melissa Walters

Melissa Walters is Senior Program Manager, Leading Places to Work at Leading Edge.

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