After helping their IT teams and employees navigate the initial transition to working from home, CIOs are now shifting their roles to focus on employee mental health and well-being initiatives to stay connected and support its distant workforce, according to The Wall Street Journal.
IT leaders are reporting having more frequent, casual virtual meetings with their teams to boost interactions. Fletcher Previn, CIO of IBM, told the Journal that he hosts a virtual meeting with his team at least once a week to help support team morale. Mr. Previn is also leading activities, such as sharing photos of employees' home-office setups and interesting facts about themselves to help employees get to know each other better.
SurveyMonkey, an online questionnaire provider, has increased the number of times its IT staff meets remotely to three times weekly, up from once every two weeks before the pandemic, CIO Eric Johnson said. The company also is sending out surveys to employees companywide every two weeks to check in on their well-being and determine whether individuals need extra resources, such as stress management training or mental health services.
“What we’re finding is we have to be better in tune with the mental health of our employees,” Mr. Johnson said, adding that otherwise staff won't be as engaged with the company, which can cause lower productivity and hurt business.