Practical tips for managing people through COVID-19
Your team’s health and family come first.
These are tough times. It’s a global pandemic, our infrastructures are crumbling, and government response is questionable. Racially-motivated hate crimes are on the rise. Childcare and support is nonexistent. If you are a people manager, your team is likely stressed, burnt out, and overwhelmed. It’s more important now than ever to make sure that your people feel supported: your team’s health and safety should be your top priority.

Here’s some actionable tips on how to help your team through this crisis.
Enforce regular PTO
I’m fortunate enough to be in a company that has unlimited paid time off (PTO). Unfortunately, most people don’t utilize unlimited PTO, particularly in the United States. Now is a great time to enforce taking regular time off in order to prevent burnout!
I’ve started requiring everyone on my teams to take at least one day off every two weeks, myself and my product manager included. We are currently on our fourth rotation of PTO and will continue to do this for the foreseeable future. We keep a shared schedule to make sure that there are enough people to maintain our services.

People respond to trauma in different ways (more on that in a second) and some people use work as a coping mechanism. That’s ok! Just make sure to keep an eye on folks who do this and make sure they don’t negatively affect their teammates by working on their days off. PTO means no company-related work. Period.
If you don’t work at a place with unlimited PTO, now is a great time to start advocating for flexible work schedules, such as the 4 day/10hr week. Your people are relying on you to advocate for them. Get creative!
Regularly update roadmaps based on reduced capacity
You cannot have regularly enforced PTO without adjusting your team’s roadmap, otherwise your team will burn out from trying to catch up on their work. I partner closely with my product manager to regularly update our product roadmaps and assure the team they’re not behind. We estimate that right now our team is working at a maximum of 70–80% of their non-quarantine capacity due to stress from COVID-19. This is subject to change based on a variety of factors such as changing shelter-in-place rules, health of loved ones, anyone going on extended leave, and how cooperative children are at any one given time.

Expect that human capacity is lower than usual and adjust roadmaps on a regular basis. This also means the teams you depend on will have lower capacity and may further impact deadlines. We have removed several projects we hoped to get to this quarter and regularly update our leadership team on any changes. You may want to break milestones down even further into smaller pieces of work to accommodate shorter attention spans. Your team’s health and safety are more important than any new product feature. There is always going to be work to be done. Don’t burn out your team to meet a deadline if the deadline can be moved.
Be honest about financial repercussions
Many people are understandably worried about their financial situation. Be as honest and as transparent as you can about your company’s financials and priorities. Be honest about what cost-cutting measures are presently being taken, how they were considered, and what to expect in the future. With a record number of people filing for unemployment, it’s understandable to have anxiety around job security.
Companies are slowing down on growth right now. If you are able to influence the conversation, be sure to emphasize a human-centric approach to this tough subject. Continue to pay contractors and vendors. Cut non-essential perks. Ask for a deferral on office rent. Do whatever possible to reduce costs before having to discuss layoffs.
If you must do layoffs, do it with empathy. There are horror stories of mass layoffs done without empathy. Remember, “people will forget what you said, but will always remember how you made them feel.” (Carl W. Buehner)

Reduce unnecessary stressors
There’s a lot of uncertainty and chaos in the world right now. Reduce unnecessary stressors like reorgs or level changes to help make people’s work life as stable as possible so they can maintain some semblance of control over their daily lives. Organization changes are stressful enough without a global pandemic!
If you must implement a change, be as clear and as transparent about the changes as early as possible. Discuss why it’s important to make these changes now, what you need from people, and have an airtight communication plan, including a clear place to direct follow up questions and easy to skim action items.

Check in on parents and caretakers
As a manager without children, I knew that parents were struggling, but I had no idea how bad it was. The parents are not alright. Many countries rely on school infrastructure to ensure that parents can work during the day. Without this support structure, parents are having to homeschool their children, entertain them, comfort them, attend meetings, get their work done, feed them, bathe them, deal with their meltdowns, try to explain why they can’t see their friends, and deal with guilt of not being the parent they want to be. And also be as productive as their childless colleagues. Saying it’s tough is an understatement.

I’ve started lurking in our company’s parents Slack channel, reading any resource I can, and being as flexible as possible for the parents on my team. We’ve recently started experimenting with a 4 day/10 hour work week as well as shifting time zones. Ensuring that parents have a flexible schedule, access to family leave plans, and regular PTO is crucial to making sure that your people are cared for.
Our company has also done a stellar job of celebrating children joining meetings on zoom, providing education and entertainment resources for parents, allowing part time schedules if necessary, and reminding folks of paid family leave options. As a leader, proactively speaking about parental benefits can help lessen the amount of guilt and stress on caretakers who may need additional support working multiple shifts at home without a break. Normalize speaking about families, childcare, and support systems in your regular team and company announcements, especially if you are a male leader.
Be on the lookout for trauma responses
As someone with PTSD, I felt the effects of the pandemic early. For many folks, increased stress tends to cause PTSD symptoms to flare up. This can present itself in multiple ways (source):
- Hopelessness about the future
- Feeling detached from family and friends
- Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much or driving too fast
- Trouble concentrating or sleeping
- Irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior
- Overwhelming guilt or shame

Different people exhibit symptoms of a trauma response in different ways. Some people have trouble concentrating. Some people concentrate too hard on the little things or throw themselves into being “productive”. Mental health is still stigmatized in many communities, so many folks may not even know if they can ask for help. Simply asking “do you need help?” may elicit a standard “I’m fine” response, especially for those who live in a Guess culture.
I really love these lightweight check in questions by Lara Hogan to see what people need in order to survive without making people feel like they need to explain why they feel a certain way.
Some teams have started using Slack statuses to announce personal capacity at any one given day. I don’t personally prefer this method because if a person is in a toxic environment, it can feel unsafe to admit weakness. But, if you are in a high trust environment like a private team Slack channel, this can be helpful in setting expectations for capacity.

As a manager, it’s your responsibility to be on the lookout for these symptoms and recognize when they are becoming unhealthy. In times of sustained stress, be sure to enforce regular PTO and professional mental health resources. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
It’s also important to remember that managers are not professional mental health experts. Encourage your team to regularly utilize professional mental health resources and make sure to model these behaviors yourself!
For additional resources on how to structure 1:1s in times of crisis, I highly recommend checking out Lara Hogan’s post on managering in times of crisis.
Check in on individuals impacted by racially-motivated hate
There has been a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the United States and abroad. There’s also a significantly higher impact of COVID-19 across communities of color and immigrants. Be sure to regularly check in on your teammates from these communities. People may be dealing with the additional burden of worrying for the safety of their communities, the health of their family members, and existing as a person of color.
Be sure to speak up when you hear someone use racially-insensitive language to speak about COVID-19. Be cautious of the types of news sources that you share and encourage trusted, neutral sources. Read up on relevant hashtags about people’s experiences. Donate or volunteer if you are able to. Lastly, understand if your teammates don’t wish to discuss something. It can be exhausting to explain complex feelings on race and often folks may want to focus on their work.

Take care of yourself
Lastly, be sure to take care of yourself. We managers love to say “put on your own oxygen mask first” but have you actually been doing it? Have you been going to therapy? Have you been taking time off with the rest of your team? Have you been enforcing work/life boundaries? Have you been clearly communicating how much work you can realistically take on?

Managers are often the caretakers of the organization, so we take on a lot of the emotional labor from our teams and our higher ups. Be sure to take care of yourself so that you can serve your team better. You can’t pour from your cup if it’s empty!
Conclusion
I hope that these practical tips of managing through COVID-19 are helpful. It’s an incredibly tough time right now, and nothing is normal. Be sure to check in on your folks, enforce regular PTO, adjust roadmaps, and remove as many stressors as possible, particularly for parents and people impacted by racially-motivated hate.
Stay safe and go schedule some time off!






