Coronavirus: How to keep furloughed staff engaged using digital

Keep them in the loop

Fuelling a positive culture for remote workers can be a challenge. It’s also just as important to keep furloughed staff feeling like they’re a valued part of your organisation and their team still. Not only will it keep them motivated and prevent feelings of social isolation, keeping furloughed staff in communication will save you time and productivity in the long run.

Encourage staff to keep in contact with colleagues who are on furloughed leave, and if you send out staff newsletters make sure furloughed staff are included. They aren’t allowed to work, but you can still involve them in any after-work social time without a specific agenda, such as Friday night ’pub’ sessions over Zoom. The video platform has loads of ideas for staff social activities over on its blog.

Consider setting up regular wellbeing catch-up video calls with furloughed staff, whether one on one or together with other furloughed colleagues, which can be a great opportunity to share not only the latest news and developments from your charity but also take a minute to share what everyone’s doing to keep well and simply to reconnect.

Just like adding structure to face to face meetings can help them flow more smoothly, bringing a little structure into video calls can help make people more comfortable and allow them to relax and connect in the moment. For example- going around the group and asking a specific question like ’What’s one thing you’ve done to be creative this week?’

Provide training opportunities

While staff can’t carry out work under furlough, or risk being disqualified, training is allowed as long as it does not also provide services to or generate revenue for the organisation while they’re undertaking it. Carrying out an online training course could be a good way of using the time to upskill staff in areas that are valuable to your organisation

Everyone is different – while some people might welcome the opportunity to work on new skills while furloughed, others might need the time to look after children or vulnerable relatives, so it’s worth asking furloughed staff what their goals might be during leave.

The skills to make the most of digital are now an even more sought after commodity for everyone. It might be as simple as working on their Microsoft Excel skills or how to use Google Docs, which can be done through informal sessions over video.

It’s worth noting that if staff are required to complete online training courses while on furlough, they must be paid for the time spent training - at the National Living Wage or National Minimum Wage, even if this is more than the 80% of their wage that’s been subsided.