“There is going to be a level of trauma that people remember from this moment.” That’s from Joey Price, thought leader, founder of Jumpstart: HR, LLC, and host of Business, Life, and Coffee. Joey joined me on Punk Rock HR recently to talk about work and life in the face of COVID-19. One of the topics we explored together was the notion of how to be a compassionate leader during this pandemic.
If your organization is in a pretty vulnerable position right now, there are organizations out there that are hiring. So people may feel like they need to jump ship and go to an organization that’s in a better position. What I fear is that people are going to get desperate and they’re going to take whatever work they can get. However terrible that job is, they’re going to do what they need to do for their families.
So, what is some advice for leaders or employers of those who must work at this time?
Joey believes leaders still have a responsibility to make the workplace as enjoyable, as a value add or as meaningful as possible. It must be a business mandate, according to Joey. “There’s a saying that people vote with their feet. People may initially sign up to work with your business because they have to, but what happens when there’s another opportunity across the street, or one that offers better working conditions?’ What happens when there’s an opportunity that they can log into from across the country? There’s still going to be the war to keep your talent, and you need to be aware of that.” He stresses, you simply can’t be a crappy employer.
Joey offers this final piece of wisdom, “How you attempted to alleviate their trauma or be a listening ear or even just say, ‘Hey, I value you,” that’s going to matter.”
To listen to my full conversation with Joey Price on humanness and healing during the COVID-19 crisis, head over here.