With the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in New Zealand currently underway, employers should now be considering how they might support their employees through this uniquely challenging and potentially emotive time.

Aside from the legal complexities, thinking about and preparing your people for the vaccination roll-out as best you can, in a way that suits your business, is critical.

There are several areas and initiatives that businesses may like to consider when navigating this next phase. 

We spoke to Megan and Morwenna from Your HR Partners to find out more. 

Provide good unbiased communication: Keeping your people informed with unbiased information is important. Be as open and transparent as you can, identifying and explaining any needs within the business, keeping in mind the legal considerations as outlined by Cooney Lees Morgan and provide your people with the information they need to make informed decisions. Take time to think about what you need to communicate to your people and how you can do this in a way that will minimise any misunderstandings or misinformation.

Communicating well will help build trust and is a core part of supporting your people through this time. The Shine Collective has provided the Chamber with a helpful guide on internal communications – you can read this here. 

Support your people with their health and wellbeing: Although many will welcome the opportunity to be vaccinated, there will also be those who may be reluctant, or will refuse, or who cannot have the vaccine for medical reasons. 

Remember, everyone is experiencing this time differently, so empathy is key. A way to be empathetic is to show your people that you care about how they feel, and what they may be personally experiencing.  Listen, and allow people to really be heard. Once you understand how they are feeling, you can work through what you can do to support them. Allow time, space and patience for people while they process this new and developing scenario and any related information that is specific for your business.

Wellbeing and mental health will continue to be a focus for many businesses in this new phase as it has been over the past year. Supporting people with this may look like:

• Providing general information around good health
• Developing wellbeing initiatives
• Reminding people to talk to a trusted friend/family member or seek professional help if required
• Offering Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services if possible.

Continue to live by your values: Leading by example, and setting expectations around your values and behaviours that shape your company culture should remain a focus. They set the tone for how people treat each other, both internally and externally.

To support this, you could:

• Increase exposure of your values through your newsletter and/or other communications
• Recommunicate your values through your one-on-one meetings
• Invite and share stories around when your people have lived the values and the results that achieved
• Recognise and reward values and behaviours
• Provide timely feedback where you see behaviours that are not values aligned.

Promote a ‘psychologically’ safe working environment: During this time, people may have strong and/or differing views around the vaccine. However, the way these views are expressed should not make anyone feel excluded or uncomfortable at work. It is important that you think about how you will continue to provide a psychologically safe environment that supports your people. 

Some considerations that will support this environment could be to:

• Encourage constructive two-way dialogue throughout the business
• Have some simple feedback models available for employees to use, to empower them in their daily conversations where they may be feeling uncomfortable
• Have a clear conflict resolution model available for managers to refer to if they find themselves in a position where two or more employees disagree
• Have an accessible pathway for employees to follow for raising any concerns about others’ behaviour
• Get expert Human Resource or Legal advice if significant challenges arise.

Set your People Managers up for success to support their teams and people: This will strengthen alignment from a leadership and values perspective, ensuring People Managers are supported with the necessary tools if they have any situations where they may have to deal with any questions or conflict. 

To facilitate this, you can:

• Have clearly outlined and communicated expectations for People Managers, ensuring they are aware of the businesses overall approach and any relevant policies or proposed changes
• Ensure resources, including what is described above, are available for your People Managers.
• Inform your People Managers beforehand on business-wide communications, explaining the reasoning for the communication, any key watchouts, possible employee questions and how to address them
• Communicate vaccination information from the NZ Government website, which has up-to-date information regarding the pandemic and the vaccination rollout where applicable.

Being empathetic and supportive of your people helps build connection, trust and ensures people feel psychologically safe at work. This will go a long way to helping and supporting your people through this time, while creating an awesome place to work.  

If you would like further support, please get in touch with Megan, Morwenna or Jess on 021 205 8484 or info@yourhrpartners.co.nz

About Your HR Partners

We create awesome places to work through designing and delivering innovative people solutions in an agile and human centered way. Whether you are a large, medium or small business, we partner with you on everything people and culture.
Megan, Morwenna and Jess bring a variety of experience in designing people strategy, building people leader capability, supporting businesses with people matters, enhancing culture and engagement and delivering facilitation and coaching.