The Coronavirus crisis has had a huge impact on every aspect of our lives, not least, on employment. The Government’s lockdown has meant that for many businesses, commerce has all but dried up, and many are having to mothball their businesses and furlough their employees for an indeterminate period.
Whilst this might be a life-line for your organisation, with so many being paid to sit at home, is there anything useful at all that your managers are allowed to do whilst they’re furloughed?
What can furloughed managers do?
If you find yourself with a workforce that includes furloughed managers, rather than simply expecting them to down tools completely, you may want to give some thought to how you can keep them engaged over what might turn out to be a very lengthy period of time. After all, when they eventually return to work, they’ll be the driving force in getting your organisation back up to full speed and for that, they’ll need to be match fit.
Given the speed with which action has been taken by so many organisations, it might not have been noticed by many (it was easily overlooked) that buried in the Government’s advice is the fact that “A furloughed employee can take part in volunteer work or training, as long as it does not provide services to or generate revenue for, or on behalf of your organisation”.
In fact, offering online training to your managers whilst they’re receiving government support, could be one of the best decisions you can make right now. Providing reliable training to busy Managers has always been a hit and miss affair with many prioritising last-minute work issues over attendance at courses they’ve been booked on. For those that did attend, returning to a frenetic workplace often meant that what had been learned was quickly forgotten. But now? Being unable to do productive work for the company means that there probably hasn’t been a greater opportunity to have all of your Managers focus solely on their own development and consistently develop some new skills.
Of course, communications need to be handled sensitively, but generally, there has been a significant uptick in interest in online courses during this period as people languish at home with little of interest to do. As well as giving your furloughed managers every reason to be hopeful and optimistic about the future, by training them, you’re also demonstrating your continued desire to invest in their development whilst also giving them the skills they’ll need to help them bounce back after the crisis, more resilient than ever and with improved skills to lead their teams for success.
Flexible training for managers in furlough
Our award-winning, 100% virtual management development programme, STAR® Manager, for example, enables your managers to develop a unique set of Operational Coaching® skills that they can use back in the workplace to engage their teams and direct reports more effectively, something that has been shown repeatedly to generate higher levels of productivity and overall performance.
The programme has been designed so that it can be completed in short bursts, anytime, anywhere and on any device making it perfect for furloughed managers who might have to organise their learning around other responsibilities at home.
Having been described as ‘better than a live programme’, even the online ‘live’ elements of the programme (with world-class tutors) can be completed remotely, so there are no downsides and nothing to stop your managers from learning online during the period they’re furloughed.
And now, by working consistently through the programme, your managers could also gain a Level 4 qualification without the need for onerous additional written submissions typically required by other programmes.
So, if you want your furloughed managers to learn brand new skills that will contribute to the bounce back when the crisis is over, take this unique opportunity to train your managers now.
The team at Notion are happy to arrange an informal ‘virtual coffee’ with you to answer all your questions and explore if there is an opportunity to stimulate and support your managers during this difficult period.
Click here to learn more about STAR® Manager Click here to call us on +44 1926 889885… or simply drop us your name in the form below and we’ll call you back.
Stay well,
Best wishes
Laura
Notion is a global expert in management development. For more information about how STAR® Manager can help your furloughed managers get ahead do visit the dedicated website, STARmanager.global, or call us for an informal chat on +44(0) 1926 889 885.
