Wellbeing

It goes without saying that these are challenging times. The impacts of COVID-19 in the workplace are being felt in more ways than one.

Your employees may be adapting to changed working conditions whether it’s working remotely, returning to the office or following social distancing measures in the field. But there’s another invisible force to consider amongst all of this – the impact it has on people’s mental health.

No matter how tough they are, this situation will affect your team’s morale and overall performance.

Don’t forget, that you’re human too – in order for you to help your staff through these challenging times you need to invest in your own wellbeing as well.

So how can you look after yourself while looking out for your employees?

The truth is it’s the simple stuff that really counts.

With Energy Super support we recently hosted a webinar with wellbeing coordinator Carly Webster from SuperFriend, about mental health and self-care. The recording is a must for employers seeking the tools to help themselves and their teams during this time – broken into six parts, you can watch it all, or just what you need right now.

Most of us avoid difficult conversations because it takes so much effort, energy and discomfort. In the workplace, the difficult conversations employers have with employees include:

• Personal behaviour at work
• Personal performance at work
• Personal issues that maybe impacting on either their behaviour and/or performance
• Business performance including down turns or change of rosters/duties/redundancies/dismissals.

In the wake of  COVID-19, MEA has noted a spike in unfair dismissal claims. As such we strongly encourage members to speak to the Workplace Relations Team prior to having difficult conversations with workers – whether it’s about, behaviour, personal performance or business performance.

The Team regularly assists members with understanding IR legislation and their approach to consultation, selection criteria and process of redundancies. It also assists members preparing for dismissals for performance and/or conduct reasons.

If you are in need of assistance please contact the Workplace Relations Team on 1300 889 198 or email workplacerelations@mea.asn.au. Getting an impartial view from subject matter experts can help you in greatly improving your ability to defend a claim.

Once you’ve spoken to the Workplace Relations Team, having that difficult conversation can be made simpler if you’re prepared and have a few strategies to guide you: