Employees WFH- Stress because of lockdown and growing pandemic.

Hi All,

The ongoing rise of Covid cases is giving a tough time to all of us - lockdown cities, dropping economy. We are an IT Company based out in Gurgaon and have allowed our employees to WFH from 6th March 2020. It's been so long that there is no social interaction apart from video conferencing and voice calls.

As an HR professional, I was thinking of looking out for some sort of online activity in which they all can participate to deal with the stress. All of us have been following a daily routine for so long, and suddenly due to this outbreak, we have had to forcefully change our routine.

Can you please suggest something for the same?

Thanks,
Tanya

Dear Tanya,

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and the stringent measures of nationwide curfew and restrictions on the movement of the public invariably adopted by all governments alike across the globe, sorry, your question seems a bit trivial to people like me who find it hard to assuage the fear of many industrial organizations whose very survival is uncertain and the hundreds of thousands of employees gripped with the imminent loss of livelihood. Imagine the plight of daily wagers and hawkers! It's a kind of total shutdown of all the societies on whom the threat of Covid-19 is looming large.

In this situation, blessed are your employees to have unabated employment and earnings at least by working from home. Let them be more blessed with sufficient spare and quality time to spend with their family members who also remain compulsorily indoors.

Dear Tanya,

I understand your concern for the employees who are working from home for a long time. There is no respite even for the weekend also. They have to sit at home whether for work or otherwise. However, this is general stress. It has been originated out of monotony. What about those who are sitting at home without doing anything? The employees of the malls, multiplexes, hotels, airlines, etc., are just sitting at home. Imagine their stress. Nevertheless, they have to grapple with the fear of loss of employment. It goes without saying that the lockdown will continue even after 31st March also, and when normalcy will be restored, life will never be the same again. Therefore, as Mr Umakanthan M has said, they are blessed to have a continuous cash flow.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Thank you for sharing your valuable inputs with me. This Covid-19 is hitting us hard. Let's hope for the best that this lockdown should turn out in the same manner as everyone thought, with a drop in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Thanks,
Tanya