Keeping a sense of team spirit between full-time and furloughed staff

How do you prevent resentment growing between full-time and furloughed staff? It’s a challenge that Radioactive PR founder Rich Leigh had to tackle when the crisis forced him to run the business on a skeleton team.

Rich put two-thirds of his 15-strong team on furlough when the company lost 60 per cent of its business at the end of March.

As Rich explained, keeping the harmony between full-time and furloughed staff was always high on the agenda. He needed to make sure he offered the right support, because each group of employees would experience unique challenges during the period.

Showing full-time staff that they’re valued

Many business owners faced the difficult decision of whether to “top up” furloughed employees’ pay from 80 to 100 per cent. Rich considered it, but he realised it might damage the motivation of his full-time staff.

“I did flirt with the idea of paying the furloughed guys 100 per cent. But, for me, it was important that the guys who were still working felt like there was a benefit to this. I didn’t want that creeping resentment that can happen when you think, ‘I’ve been slogging away and trying to keep this business afloat’.

“Being furloughed isn’t a load of fun. Your name’s effectively on the list of people that the company can do without for a period of time. That can’t be the nicest feeling, but I wanted people to know that we value their work. It was a funny decision and something I thought a lot about.”

Maintaining camaraderie during furlough

The business works through WhatsApp groups – there are groups for clients and one for the team. Rich told furloughed staff not to look at the existing groups, but he created a new one to keep the team feeling connected.

“We created a separate group for the inanity of office life. You know, ‘hey, look at my dog’. Just chatting about what’s on TV. Then every week I’d give a bit of an outline of where we were and what was happening,” he said.

Even if he couldn’t provide a concrete plan or reassurance about their future with the business, it was crucial to give them a channel where they can share concerns.

“I checked in regularly with the team, especially furloughed employees. Just asking, ‘how are you?’ Quizzes are fine, but they didn’t really get to the fundamental issue: these people were worrying that they were going to lose their jobs and I couldn’t promise them that they wouldn’t. All I could ask was that they came as positively as they could to team calls.

“Everyone’s back off furlough now, apart from our office manager. I have no idea when we’ll be back in the office. The last thing I need or want is all our team sitting around wearing masks and scared to pick up the kettle. But I still speak to her all the time.”

There’s a lot for your employees to be worried about right now.  As a boss, how do you avoid making it worse – and maybe even make it better? Download our expert guide to staff wellbeing and workplace engagement for SMEs.