The purpose of our blog was to address how employee engagement has been affected by the impacts of COVID-19. To do this we discussed the specific ways employees have been negatively affected and proposed ways managers could address the issues employees are experiencing.

Lee, G. K., Lampel, J., & Shapira, Z. (2020). After the Storm Has Passed: Translating Crisis Experience into Useful Knowledge. Organization Science, 31(4), 1037–1051. doi:10.1287/orsc.2020.1366.

The authors review 19 research papers in Organization Science to explain how organizations learn from crisis. They attempt to understand the COVID-19 pandemic and apply their understanding to the literature around learning in organizations. This article outlines the importance learning from past crises has on adapting organizational processes and preparing for future crises.  We can use the information from this article to outline the importance of learning from experience in crisis situations and how managers can direct their focus on learning  from different psychological perspectives. This article also provides support in why we suggest organizations turn to the advice from the Boin and Hart (2003) article. 

Boin, A., & Hart, P. ’t. (2003). Public Leadership in Times of Crisis: Mission Impossible? Public Administration Review, 63(5), 544–553. doi:10.1111/1540-6210.00318

The authors analyze research done on reform and leadership in times of crisis. They argue that there are fewer opportunities for reform in times of crisis than expected, because the requisites of leadership counteract the requirements of reform. They outline the difficulties of leading during a crisis and offer advice for leaders to apply before and during the event of a crisis. This information is important for helping us outline the demands of leadership on employee engagement during a crisis. We can use the advice in this article and apply it to the difficulty’s managers could be facing currently in the ongoing pandemic interfering with employee engagement in organization goals. 

Risley, C. (2020). Maintaining Performance and Employee Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Library Administration, 60(6). https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/01930826.2020.1773716?scroll=top&needAccess=true

This article explains how San Mateo Libraries, a company in Northern California increases employee engagement, and how to achieve excellent performance. Adding little surveys for the staff, and weekly check ins allow the employees to feel important and valued. Once the pandemic shut everything down, the company, like many others, faced uncertainty and setbacks. When San Mateo Libraries focused so much on their employees before the pandemic, the company knew what to prioritize when the pandemic shut everything down. Focusing on the trust in their staff, and their ability to adjust to working online makes a difference in how the employees perform and the effect of the virus in the employee’s day to day life. We can use this information to analyze the positive and negative effects of COVID-19 on how employees stay engaged.

Meenakshi Kaushik, & Neha Guleria. (2020). Employee Relations and Engagement during COVID-19. Sparkling International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Studies, 3(2), 1-11.

https://www.johnfoundation.com/journals/sparkling/sijmrsv3i2-2020/s-31/

This article talks about the importance of employee engagement and relations during Covid-19. They state that Covid has changed the way that people are working and that keeping employees satisfied and happy will help to boost productivity and performance. The article also talks about how employee engagement is linked to productivity and performance in the workplace and that a good relationship between employees and employers is essential, especially right now. Employee engagement is extremely important within the whole organization and this article explores key factors that play into employee relations and engagement specifically during the pandemic. We can use the information within this article to explore different ways that Covid has affected employee engagement as well as some ways that companies may be able to improve employee engagement and relations throughout this pandemic. 

Return to work: Revise policies, procedures. (2020). HR Specialist: Employment Law, 50(6), 1–2.  http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=bf60f667-b750-442d-99e0-48391839dd7d%40sdc-v-sessmgr02 

This article talks about how employees are going back to work after the coronavirus. In this article, by the HR Specialist, they give advice and what to expect about returning to work. They state how the policies and procedures are now going to be very different than they were before. Some of these new policies will affect the employees greatly, which includes their engagement. In this article they explain the legal risks of making it mandatory for employees to get tested and forcing temperature checks. Along with these risks, they give helpful tips on how companies can get these results in a timely manner. The longer it takes to follow these new procedures, the more of the employees wages will go towards waiting time. We can use this information to help explain the new protocols that employees will have to follow and explain why they will affect their full engagement at work. 

Chanana, N., & Sangeeta. (2020). Employee engagement practices during COVID-19

 lockdown. Journal of Public Affairs, , 1.

 doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/10.1002/pa.2508

This article talks about how during the pandemic, employee engagement has become a primary issue for corporations. Its authors explore creative ways to engage employees during this difficult time of the pandemic which calls for innovative solutions since employees are largely working from home, in isolation.  Such solutions include online team building activities, webinars with industry experts, online conducted weekly alignment sessions, online social interactions, and many more approaches to corporate community building. Such activities have shown to be productive. Increased online social involvement encourages employee dedication to the company and results in increased productivity and higher quality work. 

Tuzovic, S., & Kabadayi, S. (2020). The influence of social distancing on employee well-being: a conceptual framework and research agenda. Journal of Service Management, 20(1). doi:10.1108/josm-05-2020-0140 https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/1757-5818

The authors in this article provide an overview of how the current pandemic could be affecting employee well being. They discuss these factors at a macro-, mecro- and micro-level and discuss possible effects of well-being of employees at psychological, physiological and physical levels. The goal of this article is to provide a framework for future research to go in depth on studying effects of pandemic situations on employee well being. This article is useful for our research blog, because well-being is directly related to engagement in the workplace. One way to improve employee engagement is to incorporate the knowledge of employee well-being factors that are described thoroughly in this article.

By: Megan Paoli, Sierra Meyer, Anne Sullivan, Sarah Kurath, Iyan Manju