How to Get Through Difficult Staffing Decisions During COVID-19
Having to furlough employees and reduce salaries due to challenging circumstances stand out as some of the most trying times of my decades-long career. I remember the gut-wrenching feeling of having to make those hard calls, knowing that it would impact people’s livelihoods and families due to no fault of their own. I can only imagine what today’s employers are experiencing, who have had to let people go, in order to comply with mandates while trying to keep their businesses afloat. These men and women have been in my prayers. Whether it is to positions or salaries, making cuts is never simple, yet there are ways to help lessen the blow both for you and your employees.
First, it’s crucial to keep top of mind that although these short-term actions will temporarily burden your staff, sometimes, it’s necessary to keep your business and their positions from going away permanently.
Secondly, when you have decided for sure that temporary furloughs or budget cuts are in the overall best interest, take time to personally call each individual who will be impacted by your decision.
I have worked at companies with over 50,000 employees. Hence, I understand that a leader of a company that size or larger can’t call everyone. Still, reserve time to call as many as possible, and have other managers make similar calls so that each person who is impacted receives a personal phone call to know you care about them.
In that call, explain the situation to the impacted employee, tell them how sorry you are that they and their families are being affected and that your decision has nothing to do with their performance. Show them that you care about them as people and that you understand this is very difficult for them and their families. Explain to them how you had to reduce expenses since revenues had fallen dramatically, to try to keep the company from going out of business so that when the economy is reopened, the business will still be viable and can rehire people again. Ask them if they want to be considered to be rehired, and if so, tell them where to send an email expressing their interest in being rehired along with their contact information, and if any of their contact information changes, to send the company an additional update email.
You will need to set up an email to receive that information and compile a database from it. You will be glad you have that database when things turn around.
In times like this, everyone must do their part to help the company get through a difficult time. You might consider temporary reductions in pay for everyone, including those that have higher salaries taking larger percentage reductions than those with lower pay. I found that this helps the team see that we are all in this together.
These are times when a team looks to its leaders to see how they handle the situation. If you communicate to them with care and transparency and do your personal best to take care of everyone, they will recognize that you’re a leader they can trust and would want to work for again if possible.
My final recommendation is to contact other leaders you know making similar decisions, as well as anyone else you know or suspect may be impacted by such decisions, and let them know you care about them and are thinking and praying for them. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”
Are people around you seeing the love you have for them even through this difficult time? It is not too late to let them see the light of Christ shining forth from you, while everything else appears so dark. Who can you reach out to today?