Insights

Over the last few months, we’ve witnessed a rising wave of strike action and unrest not seen since the 1980s miners’ strikes. Action has been taken by people across several different industries including rail workers, teachers, academics, NHS staff, Royal Mail, Border Force, and the Civil Service staff, with more announced for the coming weeks.

Whilst companies with striking employees will be the most negatively affected, this action is causing concern and disruption across most businesses.

According to economists at the Centre for Business and Economic Research, the strike action is expected to cost the economy close to £100m, with absences among those who cannot work from home and rely on the train network to commute, costing an additional £26m.

With expected long-term disruptions the impact is not just being seen in financial turnovers, the loss of clients, and employee absences, but also in employee productivity, morale, and engagement. Just as businesses are suffering due to these strikes, employees are also struggling with potentially devastating disruptions to their commute, caring arrangements, healthcare appointments, emergency healthcare, and long-awaited holidays.

So, how can organisations support their employees and maintain productivity?

1. Take a flexible approach

As a result of the Covid pandemic, businesses and individuals alike are generally better placed to cope with ongoing disruption. Moreover, for companies that have adopted flexible working, or are able to introduce some form of flexibility, the impact will be felt less. Enabling and helping your employees to work from home means they can avoid travel disruption, and as a company you can maintain productivity and performance.

Flexible working is not just about location. Providing flexibility in how, when, and where employees work will also lessen the impact of these strikes. With teachers and NHS staff striking some of your employees may be struggling with childcare, caring for loved ones, or navigating moving appointments. Enabling them to adjust their hours of work will show you care and want to support your colleagues, but again means the work still gets done.

Unfortunately, not all businesses can take a flexible approach, particularly those in the hospitality, leisure, and retail industries. In these instances, it’s important to understand the personal circumstances of your employees and find a solution that works for both of you. You may also consider:

Agreeing with employees to take a period of annual leave.

Agreeing with employees that they should use any banked time off in lieu.

Covering the cost of alternative accommodation or transport.

Re-arranging shifts, where possible.

Changing core hours employees need to be onsite.

Taking the time to understand the difficulties your people face and working to find a solution will build goodwill, loyalty, and commitment. Following this, your employees will want to support the business in return, and ultimately performance should not suffer.

2. Keep listening and communicating

As with any period of uncertainty, disruption, challenge, or crisis, regular transparent communication is critical. Communicating effectively with your people will ensure they understand what is expected of them, what the needs of the business are, and what support is available to them. It’s also important to communicate frequently, as the strike action is a dynamic situation and things can change overnight.

At the same time, it’s just as important to listen and understand how the strikes will impact your people, and provide opportunities for two-way engagement and feedback.

It’s important to remember that for some – particularly in those sectors that can’t easily adopt a flexible approach and whose performance is heavily impacted – this environment can drive concerns around job security. Consequently, line managers have a key role to play in reassuring colleagues, understanding their personal circumstances, and discussing the most effective way the strikes can be navigated for both the individual and the business.

3. Remember to check-in on your people

Employees may already be feeling stressed, burnt-out, and over-worked. This is only likely to be further exacerbated dealing with the fallout from strikes. Not only is the impact on all of our working lives, but for many it will also be impacting their lives outside of work – causing mental, physical, or financial distress. Parents will be managing childcare arrangements or concerned about how the university strikes are affecting their children far from home; people may be worried about their loved ones’ health with paramedics, doctors, and nurses standing at the picket line; or people may have long anticipated and expensive holidays delayed or even cancelled by the striking border force.

In addition, teams may be under greater pressure if they are having to cover the work of others, whilst leaders will be trying to juggle resources, ensuring client/customers’ needs are being met, and that the business can continue to perform.

Businesses should:

Encourage line managers and colleagues to check-in on each other.

Be empathetic and listen.

Remind colleagues of the well-being support available to them e.g., Employee Assistance Programmes, well-being apps, mental health or financial support.

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By helping your employees’ overall wellbeing, you are in turn protecting, as much as possible, their productivity and commitment to the organisation.

The ongoing strikes have created a difficult economic and social environment for businesses to work in and people to live in. By working together, understanding each other’s needs, and providing an element of flexibility where possible, businesses and individuals can navigate the disruption with limited damage to morale, engagement, and performance.

By Arabella Kofi, Employee Communications & Engagement Executive