COVID-19: Support for employers, HR professionals and business champions

COVID-19 is creating an unprecedented challenge for businesses in terms of adapting to the fast-evolving situation and maintaining business continuity.  Employers are having to implement new working arrangements at lightning speed and communicate freqently and efficiently with their workforces, clients and suppliers to minimise myriad potential risks.  They are also concerned about supporting colleagues as best they can through this uncertain time,  helping them continue to work productively and to manage the impact on their homes lives as well.  We are watching these developments closely and are constantly considering how we can use our resources to positively support you so that you can in turn support your colleagues over the coming weeks. To this end, we have moved the Cityworks network offering wholly online for the foreseeable future. Planned physical events have been converted to webinars, and we're busy researching, writing and collating fresh content to provide you with advice and examples of how other businesses and HR professionals are responding to these challenges. 

Below is a list of all our relevant resources; we have also collated relevant articles from Cityworks and other workplace experts and signposted other online resources. Please let Kate know if there are particular questions or topics that you would welcome information and support on.

Webinars 

We have an extensive range of COVID-19 focused webinars. Recordings of all our webinars are available online to Corporate Members and Individual Pass holders here (login required).

Expert Advice

Our News articles are full of relevant examples and advice from a wide range of experts and professionals.  The following articles in particular may be helpful to you in considering how best to support colleagues, maintain productivity and boost morale:

• Why it’s time for active inclusion:  the impact of Covid 19, the economic downturn, the rise of sustainable investing and stakeholder capitalism and public calls to take a stronger stand against racial injustice and inequalities.
• Five ways to build trust in remote teams: trust plays an important part in the effectiveness of any team. You need to be confident that your colleagues can be relied upon, not only to do the role that has been assigned to them, but also to provide practical and emotional support when you require it. 
• Coronavirus: Could this be a turning point for better gender balance in business: Coronavirus has had an impact on all aspects of business operations. But could there be some positives that result from the pandemic.
• The Covid-19 Balancing Act: Supporting Working Parents: The pandemic has forced visibility of the work and family juggle, and shown that home working is demonstrably possible in many more jobs than before; certainly, those that are desk based.
• Practical Support to Line Managers during COVID-19: highlights from our recent Cityworks webinar on this topic where we shared our advice for how to support line managers during this crisis.
• The (long) road to childbirth in the face of COVID-19; how employers can help: all fertility treatments are suspended effectively for both NHS and private fertility clinics, representing an unimaginably difficult situation for many employees.
• Recruitment dilemma - when home becomes the office: insights on how organisations can adapt their recruitment practices in the current crisis and how this might just change approaches more permanently.
• Maintaining employee productivity and morale during COVID-19: highlights from our March webinar providing guidance on managing this crisis and supporting employees.
• The future of work: trends in the 21st century workplace: Dame Janet Gaymer, eminent employment lawyer and high profile Government advisor, sets out what the future of work look like in the 21st century workplace and how organisations need to adapt to meet these changes.

• Best Practice Checklists

These downloadable Checklists offer at-a-glance guidance on workplace policies and initiatives to support employees (login required):

• Maintaining employee morale and productivity during COVID-19
• Mental health support in the workplace
• Managing a blended, hybrid workforce
• Practical support to line managers during Covid-19

Virtual Networking

To share your priorities, approaches and questions with other Cityworks members please join our private LinkedIn Network group, here.

Other Helpful Resources

Here are some links to external articles and resources to support you. If you have any other suggestions, please contact Kate

• Social distancing without disconnecting (Simon Sinek, Optimist & Author)
• 10 strategies for productive remote working (Talking Talent)
• Practical ways to deal with coronavirus disruption (Personnel Today)
• COVID-19 advice for employers and employees (ACAS)
• Employer Response Guide (CIPD)
• Supporting Mental Health whilst Working from Home (Mental Health First Aid England)
• Guidance for employers on supporting working parents (Working Families)