{"id":19756,"date":"2020-10-02T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benefitscanada.com\/news\/how-ibm-is-using-flexibility-to-safeguard-employees-mental-health-150286"},"modified":"2020-10-02T09:00:20","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T13:00:20","slug":"how-ibm-is-using-flexibility-to-safeguard-employees-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2020\/10\/02\/how-ibm-is-using-flexibility-to-safeguard-employees-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"How IBM is using flexibility to safeguard employees\u2019 mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"84675148_123RF\" <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Martha Porado<\/span> | October 2, 2020 <\/p>\n

At IBM Canada Ltd, if an employee joins a meeting, but doesn\u2019t turn on their camera, the solution is simple: don\u2019t worry about it.<\/p>\n

This is one attitude the company has formalized during the coronavirus pandemic to safeguard the mental well-being of its staff, says Katherine Faichnie, the technology company\u2019s director of human resources.<\/p>\n

From a technology perspective, the organization had a fairly easy time transitioning to a work-from-home model, she adds. However, just because employees had the right tools, it didn\u2019t mean every employee could simply continue with business as usual. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t as easy as just telling people to work from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Hyundai Canada addresses coronavirus with mental-health, connectivity initiatives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Early on, IBM Canada was aware of the many reasons employees might have trouble settling into a work routine at home. Managers were given the discretion to allow workers up to 10 paid days off outside of normal vacation time, taken in either full or half days, to give them time to complete tasks that would settle them better into a routine.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s senior executives followed this with a pledge to set the tone for the pandemic, says Faichnie. \u201cThe purpose of this pledge was really to embrace a mindset across the company about what it really means for an IBM employee to be working from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pledge promised the company would be family-sensitive and flexible with personal needs. It also formalized support for employees so they didn\u2019t have to be camera ready for video calls and encouraged everyone to be aware of potential video fatigue. As well, IBM Canada stressed the need for kindness, continued connectivity and check-ins, but emphasized the importance of setting boundaries.<\/p>\n

Read: Best Buy helping staff work out from home with virtual fitness classes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis came out in early May and has been foundational to how IBM has asked employees and managers to think about working from home,\u201d she says. \u201cWe asked managers to talk about it a lot and to role model it. If you\u2019re not camera ready, just say you\u2019re not camera ready. And if someone isn\u2019t on camera, assume they\u2019re not on camera because they\u2019re not camera ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

This flexible attitude toward being on camera is also extending into the organization\u2019s focus on being family-sensitive, adds Faichnie. \u201cIf they\u2019re on the call and their children walk into the video, acknowledge them, say hi and wave. And if the child has something to say to their parent, encourage them to share it with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

These moments of joy, she notes, are something workplaces should be looking to foster because so much of what employees and their families typically do for their own enjoyment remains constrained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pledge has been instrumental in reminding everyone at the company how this is not the old, normal time. And how we maintain our awareness and sensitivity to this time will have a huge impact on who IBM is in the future, what the culture is and whether people think it\u2019s a great place to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: How to energize employees using virtual wellness<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martha Porado | October 2, 2020 At IBM Canada Ltd, if an employee joins a meeting, but doesn\u2019t turn on their camera, the solution is simple: don\u2019t worry about it. This is one attitude the company has...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}