People Lead Wisdom
We recently hosted a virtual sharing session with ~15 People Leads: here is what we learned
If there was ever a time to acknowledge how important and valuable People Leads can be to an organisation, it really doesn’t get more obvious than now.
Last week, we hosted a virtual sharing session with ~15 leaders from a number of portfolio companies — including Aidence, Anyfin, Disperse, Graphy, NA-KD, Personio, Spacemaker, Truelayer, Trustpilot, Wagestream and Zopa — who are all working hard to support employees and navigate their organisations during these surreal and challenging times.
Here are a few topics on their mind:
Working Remotely
How do you best manage your teams remotely? How do you address communication challenges?
A few learnings led by Martina Ruiß at Personio:
Create a taskforce: organise a diverse team to focus on key topics — such as teamwork & leadership, tools & productivity, culture & employee support
Overcommunicate: don’t rely on static guides but continuous live updates and opinions
Host regular team meetings: connectivity is more important than ever during this time
Don’t cancel meetings: keep business as usual to the extent possible as no ones knows when things will go back to normal
Experiment with virtual “co-working sessions”: working in each other’s virtual presence can be refreshing for extroverts
Fund employees tech set-up: give people an amount to set-up their home office properly and be comfortable in their own space
Think through virtual on-boarding: small touches such as sending merch in the post can make a big difference in gaining a sense of belonging
Mental Health
When you do not see people every day, how do you take care of them as an employer? How do you look-out for their well-being during a crisis?
Take time for 1–1s: touch base with people often to hear their concerns, frustrations and issues
Check-in on people living alone: colleagues can play an even more important role in people’s lives during the crisis
Support parents: be understanding of employees with children and offer flexibility where possible
Put existing benefits to good use and explore new ones: remind employees of any existing provisions they have access to and consider other support schemes (e.g. Sanctus, Calm, InsightOut, Headspace, Spring Health)
Set boundaries: if anything, employees tend to work too much rather than too little in these times, make sure you advocate breaks, exercise and fresh air where possible
Workforce Management
Given liquidity constraints, what ways are you utilising to manage your workforce including local government schemes?
Consider temporary, creative solutions: examples include 4 day weeks or salary-to-equity swaps that keep employees engaged and motivated
Take advantage of government schemes: keep up to date with local regulations and provisions
Here at Northzone we’ve put together a global list of country guides for business resources available here
