Euro Projects Recruitment Business Leaders Zoom Call
For Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology, Transportation & Logistics Professionals
HR & Covid Update + Creating Resilience for You and Your Business
Summary of Key Points: 27th July 2020
Covid-19 & Business Update
Stephen Brown from Euro Projects Recruitment
Welcome to our 19th week of hosting this Zoom Call.
This week saw a switch back to quarantine for travellers returning from Spain.
Helen Dyke, Senior Associate Solicitor, Irwin Mitchell LLP
DDI: 0121 214 5242
Mobile: 07435966985
- Spain 14 day quarantine period be aware there are likely to be flair ups of Covid-19 in different parts of the world and UK.
- Serious impact on businesses.
- Businesses recommended keeping up to date with it –as it’s changing rapidly.
- You need good communication with staff around what happens if they are affected so they are clear on implications if booking a holiday.
- Recommend a policy or at the least some written communication to explain what situation will be. e.g. If quarantined they have to legally comply with that – return to home immediately and remain at home for 14 days - can’t go to work / shop / exercise.
- Then follow employers absence reporting procedure otherwise unauthorised leave
- Explain how you plan to deal with it
- They can work if well and can work from home
- Must not ask them to return to work and if they do you need to send them home. Criminal offence. £1,000 fine to each individual
- If they can’t return / work from home suggest they take holiday / unpaid leave.
- If employee was previously furloughed they can be put back on furlough for the quarantine period.
- Yes you can put back onto furlough.
- Make sure you let staff know position in advance
https://imbusiness.passle.net/post/102gc9s/coronavirus-how-to-deal-with-staff-returning-from-spain
- Some businesses have assessed this risk is too great and are temporarily increasing sick pay to encourage people to be off sick if they are, rather than contaminate everyone else.
- If you do this then be careful it’s not abused, make sure test results are shown to prove it.
- Also be clear this is a temporary amendment to sick policy and reasons why.
Test & Trace:
More details announced about a Test, Track & Trace App for everyone ready for the winter, allowing individuals to get test results within an hour and isolate accordingly.
Results currently back following day, some employees who don’t want to be in work saying results are taking longer as an excuse to be off work.
Flu Vaccine:
From a welfare perspective businesses should be encouraging staff to get flu vaccine – eligibility changed. Autumn / Winter – the more people vaccinated the better; this will also prevent employees with flu symptoms thinking they may have Covid-19.
David Tomlinson, HSBC Bank
Financial / economic landscape and trends the bank is seeing:
- Prudence is the key word
- Lot of caution
- Project funding / acquisition funding – cautious market with a ‘sit and wait’ mood
- Advice right now is really get inside your numbers, forecast out two years and stress test your revenues and margins to see what level of reduction they can withstand.
- Know your breakeven point
Stephen Brown, Euro Projects Recruitment
- We are now at 70% of budget
- Some pent up demand maybe – some vacancies from before lock down so not all new business but signs wheels are starting to turn.
Creating Resilience for You and Your Business
Bevis Moynan, MD of Magenta Coaching Solutions, Performance Coaching and NLP Trainer & former England under 18’s Cricketer…
- Introduction links back to his dreams to be professional cricketer except he self-sabotaged the opportunity as he was afraid of failure and didn’t turn up to trials
- Started coaching business to help others recognise a fear of failure and move past it
- Many clients are business owners who when faced with stress, pressure, challenge, resentment from staff, these pressures can lead to them putting their finger on the self-sabotage button, this can be in a big way like big mistakes or a subtle small way by damaging our relationships – personally and professionally
- Those closest can get the worst of it
- Stephen: We’re hearing about a lot of bitterness between non-furloughed and furloughed employees – Two silos forming
- Emotions such as resentment / bitterness etc. furlough vs not, all have the same root cause of stress – If you bend a ruler it will flex and then return to its previous shape but if kept under pressure for too long, or over stretched it will have marks. And if too far = snap
- Stress is a negative emotion, for some its bitterness, anger, anxiety, fear, for others its disappointment – when people act from emotion that’s where the problems occur
- Important to get people to realise that if acting from this state of negative emotion, the only person who is going to suffer from this is themselves.
- But this is a natural thing and shouldn’t be demonised either, we’ve all snapped at a loved one.
- Emotional resilience comes from the perspective of being able to step away from the emotion, which requires a greater degree of awareness that its our own thoughts that create our own emotions.
- To quote Steven Covey – if you’re going to chop a forest down, the first thing you need to do is sharpen your axe – we all use our minds but who is sharpening the axe – Taking time to make sure you look after yourself
- To reduce stress and resentment in your business you must therefore create a culture where it’s OK to look after yourself. Its then not about being selfish, it’s about being self-full.
- Everyone benefits if leaders in good psychological place.
- Then everyone benefits from staff being in a good psychological place.
- In essence we want to avoid judgement; ultimately if you judge and don’t forgive then it can be like drinking poison and expecting someone else to suffer.
- Train people to understand it’s the triggers such as redundancies or overwork causing the negative emotion and we need to create release valves when people find themselves stressed by creating a culture it’s ok for people to look after themselves.
- If healthy culture need to start at the top with leaders
- Leaders need to avoid taking on too much pressure and creating a Hero-Culture
- Business success is about clear, strong and good decisions. A Mission and Vision, which is communicated clearly, linked to values.
- All these require the individual to be in a clear and good state of mind
- Step 1 = be kind to yourselves. Often our expectations can be so high that we cause ourselves problems.
- Accept that in these times it’s ok if things aren’t going to plan, learn what you’re capable of. Recognise that this is not how you want to be running your business long term – not sustainable
- Healthier to be more stable rather than big spikes of activity.
- Lower your brain wave activity throughout the day.
- Realise you are not your brain, it’s an organ
- Your higher self tells the emotional mind to be rationale, self-sabotage happens when the amygdala mind is the one making the decisions.
- We all get frustrated – danger is when you act from that place
- Take a step back
- Create a routine to start the date the right way
- Build in a release valve in your day somewhere
- Reptilian mind – allowed to overtake some thinking – catastrophic thinking
- Going forward – focus on service over sales, these are interlinked - Consider how you can “serve” and detach your service from a financial outcome, if you do things right you will get this anyway. There’s a lot of trust involved
- Higher self – asks how can I serve and help….lower brain asks what’s in it for me? Listen to your higher self and see an upturn in your business.
- Neuroscience – demonstrates that when we’re not feeling good we’re not thinking clearly
- Self-awareness is the key to resilience.
- Take action and think solution not problem….as soon as you blame someone else you move away from solution
- Everyone in same boat – yes we will blame but the quicker you move on the quicker you get back to better decisions.
On behalf of Bevis, Euro Projects is delighted to extend the offer of a complimentary discovery session for business leaders, bookable via https://calendly.com/magentacs or bevis@magentacs.co.uk