In July 2020, as some organizations first considered reopening workspaces that had closed due to COVID-19, Leading Edge released Reopening Our Workspaces: A Playbook. Its focus was on the human side of reopening: how can organizations ensure that people are supported (and feel supported), and that team culture moves forward instead of backwards during a return to the workplace?

As of this writing (June 2021), public health and regulatory conditions are leading to a much wider variety of organizations considering reopening. As these discussions unfold, it is clear that for many organizations, the status quo pre-pandemic is not the goal. Rather, we have heard leaders and talent professionals say that they are trying to answer the question: What model of a workplace should our organization create?

We recognize that some organizations do need to answer this question. Staff at JCCs, Camps, Day schools, and other service providers, need to work in-person to perform their jobs, and therefore these organizations have fewer options. Other organizations that worked remotely even before the start of the pandemic have no plans to shift away from that. 

This article is geared toward organizations that were asking employees to come into a workplace most or all working days, but then shifted to remote work when the pandemic began. Without supplanting Reopening Our Workspaces, which covers many other aspects of reopening, this article addresses more deeply the issues and models at play around what a workplace can be.

As you decide whether to ask your people to return to your workplace, to continue working remotely, or to move to a hybrid model, here are some questions to help frame your decision-making process. 

In creating workspace policies, should you set one policy for all employees (everyone has the same expectations/requirements/options available to them)? 

Or, do you set different policies for different roles/teams/departments (employees have different work location requirements based on predetermined factors)? 

If implementing different policies, how will you ensure fairness and equity?

What has been gained from shifting to remote work? What are the benefits?

What has been lost from a lack of in-person work? What are the drawbacks?

Does what you have gained outweigh or offset what you might have lost?

Has the shift to remote work had a noticeable impact on outcomes or on quality of work?

Can the organization continue to fulfill its mission with everyone working remotely?

Has there been a decrease in innovation or creativity? 

How has the organizational culture been impacted by the shift to remote work?

What would help build a stronger organizational culture moving forward? 

Are people feeling overwhelmed or burned out? 

If so, what type of work model will best address this?

Are people able to connect and communicate sufficiently while working remotely?

Does your workplace meet new safety standards? 

Do people feel safe about the idea of being back in the workplace?

Do people feel safe commuting to and from the workplace?

If you were to ask all employees to come in, even for one day, how would your staff react?

Is your space shared with other companies/organizations?

If so, will employees feel safe sharing common spaces, lobbies, elevators, etc. with others? 

Are there employees who may need special accommodations or conditions in order to feel safe?

Do you (or did you) rent, lease, or own an office space? 

Do you need a space for in-person meetings with external stakeholders?

Is there a flexible space to use when needed to hold in-person meetings (e.g. hourly space rental, office of another organization, etc.)? 

Which model—in-person, hybrid, or remote—best suits the various types of work requirements? 

Are there organizational processes, programs, or activities that need to happen in-person?

What type of work do most of your employees do on a daily basis? 

Does the work require consistent collaboration, or is it mostly individual work?

Do certain roles, functions, or departments require more face-to-face interaction than others?

Do certain roles, functions, or departments require more collaboration than others?

Is there a desire to return to in-person work or to remain remote? (One way to gather feedback from your team about this is through a Pulse Survey). 

Will returning to the workplace help establish boundaries and routines that your people want?

What do the leaders prefer and what do the rest of the employees prefer? 

How can you balance the needs of all your stakeholders (leadership, funders, staff)?

How many employees have caregiving duties and/or needs?

What is the impact of caregiving responsibilities on potential commutes to the workplace?

Are employees able to connect to the internet as needed at home? 

Are they able to set up an appropriate space to work at home?

What are the financial implications of returning to a workplace?  

What are the financial implications of remaining remote or moving to a hybrid work model?

What supplies/equipment (technology, chairs, desks, etc.) are needed to accommodate employees who return to the workplace? 

What supplies/equipment are needed to accommodate employees working remotely?

Think by department. If some departments require more in-person collaboration in order to accomplish their work effectively, consider asking only employees in those departments to return to the office a few days a week. Other employees who can complete their work individually without in-person meetings can continue to work remotely if they prefer.

Consider time zones. If several team members live in different time zones, asking them to come to the workplace may not be reasonable or fair. In these situations, think about setting a few time slots each week where Zooms or video conferences can happen. 

Fairness and perception. One issue with organizations that have both in-person and remote employees is that one group may feel like “second-class citizens” based on their location status. This can cut in either or both directions. Fully in-person workers may resent that remote workers are able to work from anywhere. Remote workers may be perceived—or may fear being perceived—as working less hard or as being less dedicated. Rightly or wrongly, remote employees may also worry about unconscious biases in which leaders and managers prefer in-person workers for promotions or raises. Logistical moves such as ensuring that remote employees come into the workplace one day a week (or one week per quarter) can help mitigate these dynamics. But fair and transparent policies, communicated well, are the most important factor in preventing and mitigating harmful dynamics. Staff will be less likely to feel undervalued or mistreated if they understand the rules or circumstances driving the differences between who works remotely and who works in person.

Potential culture divide. Except on very small teams, team cultures are plural to some extent; individual departments/teams will inevitably develop subcultures. Adopting a hybrid work model may introduce another element of plurality into the workplace culture: remote culture vs. in-person culture. This split may affect not only different employees’ interpersonal dynamics, but also the dynamics between the same employees interacting digitally vs. face-to-face, as people often behave differently in a group chat or in emails than they do in person. This need not be seen as necessarily negative. Some extent of cultural division is inevitable in a hybrid workplace, but leaders and managers who are aware of this tendency can guide both types of team culture in supportive directions, while recognizing that they are bound to differ.

Equity issues. Not everyone has a home situation conducive to remote work. Those with roommates and/or those who lack an adequate workspace at home may be at a disadvantage and may not be able to be as productive or engaged while working remotely. At the same time, those with health issues or various pre-existing conditions may be anxious about COVID-19 even after they and all (or most) of their coworkers are vaccinated, and may not be comfortable being in the workplace. To address this concern, consider having one-on-one conversation with team members that might require certain accommodations. Consider providing stipends for employees to work remotely from a co-working space or funding for employees to set up a more comfortable workspace in their homes (if you haven’t done this already).

Ask your team. If you feel that you don’t have a good sense of what your staff is thinking or feeling about possibly coming back to the workplace—or even if you do have a good sense but want to check in a structured way— consider using a Pulse Survey to gather feedback.

Reboarding. If you do plan to bring all or some of your staff back to the workplace, either full-time or part-time, consider whether a reboarding process might be worthwhile. Use the return to the office as a chance to reinforce organizational philosophies, values, or norms, or as an opportunity to reset the organizational culture and start off strong. 

Communicate, communicate, communicate. During your decision-making process as well as after it, maintaining clear, sensitive, and ongoing two-way communication with employees is vital. Communicate what you know, what you don't yet know, and when you expect to know what you don't know. Sometimes it helps to plainly state what's unknown because your staff are likely wondering about it. For ten principles of excellent communications around reopening, see pages 21–22 of Reopening Our Workspaces: A Playbook.

Be clear about timeframes. What CEOs and leaders determine is best for now does not have to be a permanent decision. Employees want answers and certainty around where they can live and what will be expected of them. And yet, a decision made now does not need to be the way things will be for the long-term. Some organizations may choose to return to the workplace in phases, or may shift from one model to another over time to see which one works best. Best to be clear about these timeframes and when you will review these decisions. 

Vaccines. There are a variety of legal and medical issues complicating what organizations can and cannot do around vaccines. We encourage you to check with a legal professional before taking action. More information on vaccines can be found in the "Additional Resources" section below. 

When determining how your organization will move forward regarding remote work versus in-person work, it is not necessarily an either/or decision; there are a variety of approaches that fit somewhere in between a fully remote organization and the traditional in-person 9-to-5 model. All options are not right for every organization, depending on the answers to the questions above as well as an organization’s size, type, and needs. However, they may provide an appropriate or sufficient compromise. We have summarized some of these options below.

Regional hubs. If employees are more spread out across the country than they were pre-pandemic, consider having multiple in-person workplaces in different locations. This allows staff the freedom to continue living in the same place while also providing them with a space to connect with coworkers who are nearby or to work somewhere other than their home. 

Satellite offices. Similar to having regional hubs, you might consider having one main office for some (or most) of your staff, with an additional satellite office (or multiple satellite offices) in other locations. Organizations might use the main office for weekly or monthly all-staff meetings, but employees can commute to a more convenient satellite office on other work days.

4-and-1. If you believe in the importance of having everybody together in the workplace but want to provide some flexibility, consider a 4-and-1 model in which employees come into the office Monday–Thursday and are encouraged to work from home or remotely on Friday. The CEO of Netflix, who said in a September 2020 interview that not being able to connect in-person has been a “pure negative” for the company, anticipates that many companies will shift to a four-day-office and one-day-remote schedule eventually. An analogous 3-and-2 variation (3 days in the office and 2 remote) could also fit some organizations’ needs.

One week every quarter. If your people prefer remote work, and you do not want to rush into asking employees to return to the workplace regularly, it may still be worth having everyone meet face-to-face at some point. Consider having a week out of every quarter where all employees are asked to come into the workplace. This can help to maintain strong relationships among your staff and provide crucial time to brainstorm new ideas or discuss important strategies for upcoming projects or programs. These weeks should be set in advance so that employees who live elsewhere can plan travel or caregiving needs. 

One day together every week. Similar to the option described above, this model allows employees the flexibility to work remotely four out of the five days of the week. On one day, all employees will be asked to come into the office for meetings, discussion, updates, etc. For some organizations, this solution can offer the best of both worlds in terms of providing employees with the freedom to set their own schedules the majority of the time while also having some in-person time each week. 

50-50. In this model, half of the staff is expected to come into the office on certain days and work remotely the other days. The other half of the staff is generally on the opposite schedule, meaning that they work at the office when the other half is remote. For example, you might have half of your departments come to the office on Monday and Wednesday, and the other half come in on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday could be an everyone-works-remotely day or a flex day where employees can choose to come to the workplace if they would like. These options often work well for organizations that want to save a bit of money on office real estate, or those that are simply unable to supply enough space for everyone. It could be a useful solution if people feel safer being able to maintain a degree of physical distance when together in person. 

Hoteling. Already a growing trend in office management even before the pandemic, hoteling is a system of shared office space that eliminates assigned seats or assigned desks. Typically, employees reserve a seat or a desk online on a daily or weekly basis, with availability changing depending on which employees are traveling or working remotely at that time. The advantage of hoteling is that it allows the company or organization to cut costs by not needing to have an assigned space for every employee. The downside is that employees cannot create their own personalized workspace with their items, photos, etc. because they likely will be working in a different room each day or each week. 

Semi-flexible. If employees want to be at the workplace only some of the time, and you want to provide flexibility for them to determine what works best for them, consider requiring employees to spend at least two or at least three days per week in the office, but without deciding which days. That way, people whose schedules change from week-to-week can plan as they go and still be trusted to get their work done. Google announced they will be testing a new policy where employees will be required to spend at least three days in the office for “collaboration days”, but can work remotely the other two days, if they prefer. Microsoft has a similar new policy allowing employees to work remotely up to half of their required hours. 

Completely flexible. Many companies and organizations are shifting to a model in which they will still maintain a centralized workplace, but employees have the freedom to choose when, how often, and for how long they are at the office. Some companies, such as Ford, have instituted systems that require employees to have conversations with their managers to set a schedule for how much time they need to spend in the office. 

Reopening Our Workspaces: A Playbook. Leading Edge

The Hybrid & Remote Work Playbook. LifeLabs Learning

“Dealbook: How to Navigate the Postpandemic Office.” The New York Times

The Nonprofit Return to the Workplace Advisory. NYLPI

“When Employers Can Require COVID-19 Vaccinations.” Allen Smith, SHRM 

“Can I Ask My Employees If They Have Been Vaccinated?” SmithAmundsen

“Explaining HIPAA: No, it doesn’t ban questions about your vaccination status.” Allyson Chiu, The Washington Post 

“Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People.“ CDC Vaccination Guidance

“Work From Home Has the Power to Advance Equality—or Set It Back.” Rebecca Greenfield, Bloomberg News

“Hybrid Work Is the New Remote Work.” Christoph Hilberath, Julie Kilmann, Deborah Lovich, Thalia Tzanetti, Allison Bailey, Stefanie Beck, Elizabeth Kaufman, Bharat Khandelwal, Felix Schuler, and Kristi Woolsey, Boston Consulting Group

“28 Surprising Working From Home Statistics.” Maddie Shepherd, Fundera

“WFH Doesn’t Have to Dilute Your Corporate Culture.” Pamela Hinds and Brian Elliott, Harvard Business Review

“What Is Your Organization’s Long-Term Remote Work Strategy?” Erin E. Makarius, Barbara Z. Larson, and Susan R. Vroman,  Harvard Business Review

As vaccination rates rise and restrictions abate, leaders face new decisions and challenges about where and how we work together.

Office, remote, or hybrid? One policy for all, or different policies per department? Leaders face new decisions and challenges about where and how we work together.

Office, Hybrid, and More: Models for the New Workplace

We have gathered the following resources with those needs in mind.

This document outlines some basic tips for maximizing remote work and maintaining well-being while working from home. While many of us who have been working remotely for almost a year have figured out how to be productive, some reminders might be helpful. 

SHRM: How to Engage Remote Employees During the Coronavirus Pandemic

A second list of quick tips for remote work from the Society for Human Resource Management. If you’re looking for ways to keep your people motivated and engaged while they’re working remotely, this list provides some basic ideas. 

These inspirations offer ways for leaders, HR professionals, or “people people” to support their employees while they continue to work remotely. The list may spark some ideas of ways to take action at your organization. 

This guide may help you plan and implement better virtual meetings and includes information on how to plan a meeting agenda, check-in at the start of meetings, and finish strong so employees know who is responsible for what pieces of a project. The guide includes some templates for inspiration, too. 

SHRM: Measuring Employee Engagement During a Crisis

If you’re thinking about how to get a better sense of how your people are doing, this article reviews options for understanding how employees are handling the changing work environment, including surveys, focus groups, internal social media platforms, and interviews. It also shares some important advice for avoiding common pitfalls.

Harvard Business Review: How to do Performance Reviews — Remotely

This resource is particularly useful in listing Do’s and Don'ts of performance evaluations during the pandemic and includes case studies with examples of how managers handle different situations with employees. 

SHRM: Amending Your Performance Review Template for the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article provides performance review templates for employees with a variety of responsibilities and competencies, including ideas to measure adaptability and flexibility, creativity and innovation, and change management. It also offers suggestions for raising expectations in ways that promote employee growth.

The Management Center: Onboarding during COVID-19

This resource provides examples of how to prepare for new hires before they start at the organization, as well as tips for helping them feel part of the group once they start. It also provides ideas for setting up a good manager-staff relationship and for setting up the new hire for success, including goal-setting and ongoing feedback. There’s also a checklist available to download.

LifeLabs Learning: The Ultimate Remote Work Guide

In this guide, LifeLabs Learning outlines some of the common mistakes of remote work, like miscommunication, procrastination or distractions, overwork and burnout, invisibility and under-communication, and loneliness.

Leading Edge: Reopening Our Workspaces Playbook

This playbook can serve as a guide for organizations considering returning to the workplace. It includes information to help you decide when to open and tips for communicating these decisions with staff. It includes questions to consider when deciding to reopen, components of a healthy organizational culture, and checklists of important steps to take before, during, and after reopening your workspace.

Harvard Business Review: 5 Ways to Bring Women Back Into the Post-Pandemic Workforce

In this article, HBR offers suggestions to offer women support if they have experienced furloughs or job loss during the pandemic. Some ideas include offering a 12+ month leave of absence for women with caregiving responsibilities, scaling return-to-work programs, or training women in new skills to help with reentry into the workforce.

Harvard Business Review: What to Do If Your Team Doesn’t Want to Go Back to the Office

This resource offers ideas and tips for balancing the needs of both senior leaders and employees. These tips include having conversations with leaders to determine what their main concerns are, and if those concerns are about all employees or a few employees working from home. Other suggestions include allowing employees to choose where they work, new habits to help normalize remote work, and matching the communication rhythm of senior leaders to keep them at ease even if staff choose to continue working from home.

LifeLabs Learning: 5 Ways to make return to work brain-friendly

This is a quick, easy-to-read sheet with fast and easy tips that can make returning to the workplace feel safer for staff. It offers some how-to’s which are useful as they are, or they could be used for inspiration to create your own reopening plan.

__________________
Leading Edge is happy to help organizations think about their reopening strategies regarding organizational culture. However, we are not health experts, so we advise you to review federal, state, and local guidelines for information about vaccines and reopening your workspace safely. 

Center for Disease Control (CDC) on COVID-19

SHRM: Does a Strong Workplace Culture Require In-Person Work?

In this interview, Natalie Baumgartner of Achievers talks about ways to create connections with employees even if they’re working remotely. The top priorities include ongoing feedback, recognition, empathetic leadership, and a sense of belonging at an organization.

Harvard Business Review: 9 Trends that Will Shape Work in 2021 and Beyond

While the decision of remote or in-person work is on the minds of many leaders, this article explores 9 trends that will impact organizational culture and lives of employees. Some of these expected trends include organizations prioritizing employee mental health, helping staff with work/life balance, and adopting stances on social issues. Other trends may include an increase in the gender wage gap, legal consequences for organizations based on their vaccine requirements, and more.

McKinsey: The future of work after COVID-19

This report offers a closer look at how different industries were impacted by the pandemic and how remote work might reshape each going forward. Some predictions include the continuation of remote work and virtual meetings after the pandemic and the adoption of new technologies. McKinsey also includes predictions on which industries may experience job growth or decline in the coming years.

As remote and hybrid work arrangements continue, organizations still need guidance on how to manage workers remotely and encourage employee engagement.

As the pandemic and remote work arrangements continue into 2021, organizations still need guidance on how to encourage employee engagement, manage workers remotely, and look toward the future of work after the pandemic.

Remote Work Resources

Originally published at eJewish Philanthropy.

One February, Sam and Jamie both began jobs at the same Jewish organization. Sam had one summer of relevant work experience while Jamie had three years of relevant experience. They both started with annual salaries of $56,000. Sam’s manager explained that she would receive only a small raise at the end of the first year, but if she continued to improve she would be rewarded more significantly after another year or two. Jamie’s manager didn’t tell Jamie anything about a future career trajectory.

The two met at orientation and sat near each other at the office, and they quickly became friends. One evening they went to dinner after work and ended up talking about their paychecks. Jamie was shocked to learn that they were both paid the same amount. She had assumed that she made more than Sam because of her experience and the fact that her role required more advanced skills; Jamie’s job description included rigorous data analysis, while Sam’s involved administrative support and responding to emails. 

When Jamie learned that she was paid no more than Sam, her motivation went out the window. It seemed clear that her supervisors didn’t really value her skills, her effort, or the value she was providing. And even though she knew it wasn’t Sam’s fault, Jamie also couldn’t seem to stop herself from feeling a little resentful of Sam. Their new friendship began to cool.

What Jamie didn’t know was that her manager had been planning to give her a significant raise at the end of her first year. But since the manager had never communicated this to her, Jamie assumed that she and Sam were on the same pay trajectory, despite Jamie’s more extensive experience and the fact that her role required a more advanced skill set. As Jamie grew more frustrated with the situation, she began job hunting, and left for a new opportunity before the end of her first year. 

Jamie had a bad experience and the organization needlessly lost a talented and dedicated employee, both because the organization didn’t have a structured compensation strategy and because managers weren’t consistently communicating the right information.

Okay, truth time: Sam and Jamie don’t exist. But their problem of an organization’s compensation seeming unfair and unintelligible to employees sure does. It’s all too common in many sectors, and unfortunately Jewish nonprofits are no exception. The 2019 Leading Edge Employee Experience Survey found that about one out of three respondents feel they are unfairly compensated compared to others in similar roles, and only 38% of respondents said they understand how pay decisions are made at their organization. 

Don’t undervalue the point about understanding the decisions. A 2017 PayScale survey of over 500,000 employees found that “employee satisfaction is driven mostly by feeling that pay is fair, not by how much someone is actually paid.” A 2015 study even found that most employees were satisfied with a lower-than-average salary as long as they understood the rationale behind the decision. 

That’s not a reason to be stingy; organizations are wise to pay people well when they can, both because they’ll reap value for that investment and because they’ll strengthen the community around them. But whether or not an organization can afford to meet or beat the average going rate for talent, clarity about the process of making pay decisions is always extremely valuable and virtually cost free.

One of the best tools for achieving this kind of clarity is by implementing salary bands.

Salary bands are ranges of pay that provide structure to salary decisions. Each role in an organization is assigned to a band based on the amount of responsibility required of the position, years of experience, and/or the job level.

Salary bands are important for four main reasons:

First, they encourage consistency, ensuring that employees with similar skill levels and years of experience are paid within the same range. 

Second, they promote equity and fairness, forcing managers and Human Resources professionals to stay within a designated range when determining salaries. This will help to reduce all kinds of biases, including those that contribute to racial and gender pay gaps that still unacceptably persist. Salary bands will also help to minimize other universal human biases like status quo bias, the halo effect, and more.

Third, salary bands provide an opportunity to create or revise an organization’s compensation philosophy—a written statement of the values, principles, and goals that shape how employees are compensated, answering questions like “Will we lead, lag, or match market rates”, “How will we respond when people negotiate salaries”, and more. Having a formal compensation philosophy can help managers making pay decisions stay consistent with the principles and practices specified, and with one another, over time.

Finally, salary bands can be a starting point for a more general move toward increased salary transparency, as many organizations choose to share some or all of their salary bands with employees. 

Salary transparency is a big topic, and it’s not just one model — it’s a whole range of choices and practices. At the most radical end of the salary transparency spectrum is the social media company Buffer’s choice to post all its employees’ salaries online publicly. A small number of other organizations share all salaries internally with employees; others might let employees know which roles are in which salary band (whether in their own department or organization-wide) without knowing any individual numbers. 

There’s no one right answer for every organization, but the broader point is that moving toward salary transparency is generally good, and more organizations should consider it. Moving in the direction of more transparency will help employees feel valued, fairly treated, and engaged; make salary negotiations an easier and smoother experience for both sides; and help minimize turnover and inequity, both in the organization and in our whole sector.

There’s a lot more to be said about salary bands. How should we set them? How do we benchmark the numbers? Should the bands overlap? Which job goes in which band? How should job titles relate to salary bands? How do we transition from an ad hoc status quo to a new, structured system?

We at Leading Edge have just completed a new guide exploring these questions and more. Our newly-released guide is Salary Bands: Valuing Talent with Intention and Transparency. 

Download it at leadingedge.org/salary-bands. Share it with your colleagues, your CEO, or your HR professionals. Talk about it with your manager or at a staff meeting. The more we can break through the idea that talking about salaries is taboo, the more quickly we can achieve a Jewish nonprofit field in which our people are paid fairly, know it, and know why.

Most employees don't know how salary decisions are made at their organizations. Here's why that's a problem.

Beyond the Money: Being Clear About How Pay Works

Flexible Hours. To support employees who are unable to work normal hours, consider allowing them to adjust their schedule to accommodate personal or family needs. If employees are able to work more productively late at night or on the weekend when they can focus, this should be an option. While many organizations are already doing this informally, it’s helpful to be as explicit as possible so that employees don’t feel pressure to check and respond to email at all times. Leaders and managers can also suggest that employees list work hours in their email signature, block off working and non-working on their calendars for coworkers to see, or put up an out-of-office message if they are not working during the typical work day.


Reward Hard Work. It’s important to also recognize and reward employees who may be taking on a larger-than-usual share of the workload. There are a variety of ways to do this. Send a card to say you’re grateful and appreciate their efforts. If folks are working remotely, consider sending a small gift to employees’ homes to show the organization’s gratitude. Just expressing to employees that their hard work is acknowledged and noticed can go a long way towards improving morale for those who are going above and beyond. 


Prioritize. With many staff working remotely, communication can be difficult. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lose track of what’s most important. Weekly check-ins or team meetings can help staff determine which tasks and projects are most important for the week. This way, even if staff are working flexible hours they know what is expected of them and can work to achieve short-term goals. Managers can also create a template to mark the status of each task or project with a green light, yellow light, or red light, assigning a color to help an employee visualize what is on track, paused, or removed.


Safe Spaces. While 2020 has proven to be eye-opening for many around issues of racial justice, discrimination in the workplace has long been known to communities of color. Research has shown a trend with mental health concerns resulting from workplace discrimination. Managers should consider appropriate ways to address equity within their organization and provide a space for people to talk about it. A human resources or talent professional can reach out to employees offering the opportunity for discussions about issues relating to racial justice. Some staff may want to meet privately while others might prefer sharing their thoughts among a group of individuals facing similar challenges, where they can speak openly and offer support. The manager organizing the discussion should be mindful to listen and let participants do the majority of the talking. Another option is to form a book club focused on DEIJ-related books as a way to spark discussions about racial justice in the workplace. 


Time off. Employees may be less willing to speak up if they need to take time off to deal with mental health. But organizations should consider that those struggling with mental health issues often need rest, away from the computer, the same way that those dealing with physical ailments do. Think about offering mental health or wellness days, in addition to PTO days for employees to utilize if needed. These could take the form of organization-wide “Rest and Recharge Days” where the entire organization shuts down for a few days, or “Summer Fridays” where the whole organization is off on Friday afternoons. No matter what policy you implement, ensure that senior leaders set the example to help normalize the practice. Otherwise, employees may not feel comfortable taking advantage of the new policy. 


Re-think Meetings. The way that meetings are structured and scheduled can have an impact on how employees feel throughout the day. One suggestion is to end all internal meetings at 50 minutes past the hour to allow for at least a 10 minute break between calls/Zoom meetings. This may help to avoid dreaded Zoom fatigue. Another option is opening internal meetings with a scale of one to ten in response to “How are you feeling at this moment?” so that employees have the opportunity to speak up if they are not feeling well and others can offer support. 


Coverage Uncovered. Make sure your employees know exactly what kind of mental health services are covered under your policies. Sometimes navigating coverage questions can be a barrier to taking advantage of the available options. Make it easy for employees to access insurer-provided therapy and support. Consider a lunch and learn, HR office hours, or even a thorough memo to help explain what is available, how to find providers, and how folks can access everything. Include time for questions and answers so that employees can have all of their concerns addressed. 


“Walk-in-my-shoes.” Sometimes we don’t know the full story of what a team member is working on or going through. Make space for folks to share what’s hard for them during their work days along with any visible or invisible challenges. This could be done during a sharing circle at a team lunch, on a Slack channel where team members share what they are struggling with in real time, or any other forum that works for your team. To make sure that folks feel safe and comfortable to share, have the leadership share first to establish a safe and brave space. 


Accountabili-Buddies. An “accountabili-buddy” is an accountability partner who you speak with daily or weekly, where you support each other and hold each other accountable. It could include anything from fitness check-ins, making sure they are taking mental health days, keeping up with work goals, or sticking to a professional development plan. An “accountabili-buddy” is a great way to make sure your employees have someone to lean on during stressful moments and to have at least one person to check in with to make sure they are doing OK. Set up “accountabili-buddy” pairs for a specific period of time (1-3 months, 6 months, etc.) and make sure that the two individuals are not in a supervisor-supervisee relationship. 

Other Resources. Management can explore local resources to find a counselor that teaches coping skills or wellness strategies. Leaders can also consider scheduling a singular training or a series of training sessions to help improve staff morale, self-care, or well-being. A counselor may be available for one-on-one sessions, if the organization wants to offer this resource. Even sharing a list of online resources, recommended mental health professionals, or free online courses could be helpful. Think about bringing in experts to run workshops or guest speakers on various mental health topics. Consider paying for a meditation or exercise app to share with staff that would help them manage their mental health.


Manager Discussions. Leadership can offer managers-only meetings for senior leaders or middle management focusing on the challenges of managing teams during this time. These groups can be helpful and supportive environments. Meetings can also provide an opportunity for learning mindfulness and stress management techniques tailored for managers, which could reduce stress, increase focus, and set positive examples for their teams.


Listen to Staff. Provide a list of resources for any issues that haven’t been explicitly addressed already. For example, a list of hotlines for mental health or domestic violence could be helpful to staff who may not feel comfortable sharing these personal aspects of their lives in the workplace. Additionally, there may be a spoken need among several staff for more support around a particular issue, like homeschooling their children. Be open to what staff say their needs are, and think about how to address needs that may be unspoken.


Here are some additional tips to support mental health and encourage well-being at your organization:

Have a “rest hour” everyday in the afternoon when meetings cannot be scheduled

Have walking meetings instead of Zoom calls to encourage fresh air and movement

Play a quick game at the start of your next meeting to bond as a team and to have some fun

Have a quick coffee date or lunch break with a coworker just to chat (not about work)

Buy a small plant to put on your desk at home or in the office

Take a few hours (or a day) off from social media

Have your team take a personality test; understanding that everyone has different strengths can help your team work well together

Ask everyone on your team to share their stress styles in order to gain a better understanding of how each person responds to stress; this makes it easier for coworkers to support each other

Encourage staff not to read their emails during a 2-hour block each day, or to set specific times for checking email during the day 

Set up calendar invites for a stretch break every few hours - employees stretch on their own but the invite serves as a reminder to get up and move

The current work environment presents many challenges that may be impacting health and well-being. Employees are juggling childcare needs with job responsibilities, caring for sick friends or relatives, struggling with isolation, and more. This list provides some ideas and suggestions to support your people and their mental health.

Supporting Employee Mental Health

Leading Edge launched the Pulse Survey in May to empower nonprofit leaders to get frequent and ongoing feedback from their employees about how they are experiencing work in the current environment. Leaders are using results to understand and improve their employees’ work experience over time, empowering them to do their best work. 

Like the Leading Edge Employee Experience Survey, which has been conducted annually since 2016, the Pulse Survey asks Jewish nonprofit employees about their experience at work. But this year, due to the pandemic, one long survey didn’t seem appropriate or useful, and year-over-year comparisons are not relevant because of the uniqueness of the current work environment. The Pulse Survey is a shorter, simpler, and more frequent way to check in with employees. As part of the survey process, Leading Edge offers pro-bono consultations to help leaders analyze their results and plan action. 

Over 3,800 employees have used a Pulse Survey to let their leaders know how they’re doing during this turbulent time and how their needs and concerns are evolving. The combined data from all of the Pulse Surveys provides valuable insight into how employees in our field are experiencing the current reality. The overall picture they paint is described below. 

90% agreed that they have enough work to remain appropriately busy during this time

65% agreed that their workload is manageable during this time

Given the difficulties balancing work with caregiving responsibilities, shifting priorities, and the myriad of other challenges brought on by the pandemic, it is expected that many employees feel overwhelmed. To address this, some organizations are allowing employees to work flexible hours while others are finding ways to reward employees who are going above and beyond during this time.

 86% agreed that their immediate managers are appropriately responsive

84% agreed that they feel supported by their immediate manager during this time

During this difficult time, it is noteworthy that a large majority of employees feel that their supervisor is adequately responding to them and their needs.

87% of respondents feel that they have colleagues who they can turn to for support

85% feel that their immediate team is finding ways to stay connected

Despite the lack of opportunities for in-person connection currently, a high percentage of employees feel supported by and connected to their teams. Still, staying connected is no easy task; organizations continue to explore various options to foster employee connection, including changing the frequency and length of meetings and adopting new channels of communication.

83% agreed that their organization is taking appropriate steps to prioritize their physical health

69% agreed that their organization is taking appropriate steps to prioritize their mental health

Figuring out how to support employees’ mental health is challenging as everyone is experiencing this time differently. Many organizations are already making an effort to support employee mental health and yet leaders are recognizing that there is more that can be done. Some organizations are implementing new programs, interventions, or policy changes, and others are engaging with mental health professionals to provide employees with training or counseling.

87% agreed that they are able to connect their daily work to the larger goals of the organization

87% agreed that their organization remains committed to its core values

72% agreed that they have clarity around current organizational goals and priorities

69% agreed that they know where to find their organization’s updated HR policies

Organizations are generally remaining true to their values, and yet many are reassessing goals and priorities to address the changing needs of those they serve. While the policy number is relatively low, many organizations identified this as an area of growth and are already working to ensure that policies are easier to access.

84% of respondents feel that they have access to the information they need to work effectively

76% agree or strongly agree that they have the physical tools enabling them to work effectively

78% agreed that leaders are sharing timely updates around organizational changes

64% agreed that they are included in decisions that affect their work

In order to support employees in their ability to work remotely, some organizations are providing stipends for purchasing tools or technology to set up a home office. Given the quick decisions that leaders have made in response to the changing work environment, it is not surprising that some feel that they’re not being included in important decisions. Many leaders are working to communicate the reasons behind these decisions — even if they cannot include employees in the process.

Eighty-seven (87%) of employees at Jewish organizations feel that they have colleagues who they can turn to for support. That’s one of many things Leading Edge is learning from a series of “Pulse Surveys” that have been conducted by over 90 organizations nationwide.

Leading Places To Work Pulse Survey Themes

Leading Edge recently asked members of our talent community — professionals focused on recruiting, HR, retention, and other people-oriented work, as well as organizational leaders — to fill out a brief survey to share with us how their organizations have been responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Our questions focused on three areas:

Ways organizations are supporting employees' health and well-being.

We received responses from 95 organizations, including Federations, JCCs, educational institutions, national umbrella organizations, and more. The sample represented a broad range of Jewish organizations in North America, but we should emphasize that this was not a random sample. So these results can't be generalized or considered a precise representation of the full field. Nonetheless, these organizations represent a significant number of prominent Jewish organizations, so we feel some of these insights are worth sharing.

1. Returning to the workplace: Most of these organizations don't have a clear timetable.

2. PTO and vacation policy: More than half of these organizations have either already made changes to PTO or vacation policies since the pandemic began, are planning such changes, or are considering such changes.

3. Furloughs & layoffs: A majority of these organizations have either laid people off, furloughed people, or are planning/considering layoffs or furloughs.

4. Salary reductions: A majority of these organizations are not reducing salaries, but many have done so or are considering it.

Salary reductions have taken different forms at different organizations — from across-the-board reductions to tiered salary cuts to cuts targeted by department or role.

We asked professionals focused on talent in Jewish organizations about their people-oriented policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some of their answers.

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