Corporate World: Pausing Reopening = More Profit For You
A very easy, diplomatic, and strategic way to win good morale with your workforce and make yourself more money.
We are at a crossroads in economic history the likes of which have never been seen. Trillion on trillions in deficit spending, an economy that is rebounding with revenge spending after a global pandemic, technology leading the charge to a brighter future for content creators, their businesses, and the world at large.
On the flip side, we are in a moment of human burnout and internal questioning the likes of which have also never been seen. Trauma from COVID abound, all of humanity feeling like we need a well-deserved break, and folks leaving the working world in droves.
The Great Resignation, it has been called, as people everywhere hit pause to reevaluate their lives and reflect on what matters in their world.
And just as things seemed to be going smoothly with offices planning reopenings, the economy roaring back, and vaccine distribution accelerating, COVID pulls a last-ditch effort to take us back to the dark days. The Delta variant — the most virulent and deadly form of the virus so far — has taken the US (and the world) by storm as it marches through communities and threatens to undo everything we have worked towards until now. The CDC issued updated guidelines requiring masks for vaccinated populations in certain areas. Hospitals — including the one my fiancee works at — have re-implemented mask and face shield policies for all staff. My cousin, an anaesthesiologist in New Jersey, told me stories of his colleagues who are vaccinated but have still shown symptoms and tested positive for the virus (lost their smell, had a cough, etc.).
COVID is not in the rearview. COVID is very much in the present.
It hurts incredibly deeply to say those words. The virus has taken so much from us already and now it is threatening to take even more.
As we navigate this ever-changing landscape in our personal, professional, and cultural lives, it’s even more important for us to put our mental and physical well-being at the top of our priority lists to avoid further burnout.
An easy way for corporate America to do this while also making more money? Pause your office reopenings now indefinitely until we have more information and data to better judge and analyze the situation, and communicate this fact to your people.
Every minute that your employees are sitting at home and watching the Delta variant ravage our country, seeing the CDC issue more stringent guidelines, and hearing stories of folks getting sick, their stress increases. And every day that goes by without company leadership telling them that office reopening will be paused until further notice leaves them feeling more stressed, more uncertain, and less in control.
It can also make them feel like you do not value their lives, simply because of your inaction in implementing what should be a no-brainer communication: “we will not send you into the offices towards your impending death and doom.”
The longer you wait until making such an announcement, the less your employees will have confidence that their safety is your utmost priority. Damage is being done to your company’s morale, culture, and productivity.
It’s well documented that happier employees are more productive employees. The companies with bean bags, game rooms, and meals are the most profitable in the world for a reason. Attrition has been proven to be lower when employees are happier. This is logical: the more miserable employees are, the more likely they are to quit, and the happier they are, the more likely they will be to stay. 2 + 2 =4.
Communicating to your employees that office reopenings have been paused indefinitely pending the progression of the Delta variant is advantageous for multiple reasons:
- Your employees will feel cared for. This will indirectly lower attrition and increase productivity = more money for you.
- You can always change your mind and shift the reopening schedule back if (hopefully) the Delta variant is smacked down.
- You are leading by example. History is being written as we speak, and it will not look kindly on businesses that mistreated their employees.
- It’s the morally right thing to do.
Of course, cash rules everything around us but that is why it’s ever more important to weigh the very tangible value that boosting employee morale and company culture can have, and recognizing how this moment can help you lead your company in a direction that will not only make your employees feel valued but also increase your margins.
Pause reopening (or at least tell your employees that you are!). It’ll make you more money in the long run.
And isn’t that the whole point?
