It has now been two years since the pandemic unfolded, changing our lives and the way we work in unforeseen ways. Overnight, the pandemic transformed our working environments and left organizations to adapt quickly to support the needs of their staff and reimagine the future of their workplaces.
It has now been two years since the pandemic unfolded, changing our lives and the way we work in unforeseen ways. Overnight, the pandemic transformed our working environments and left organizations to adapt quickly to support the needs of their staff and reimagine the future of their workplaces.
Several CMF members are sharing how they remained flexible throughout the pandemic to ensure their staff could navigate a new way of working in virtual or hybrid environments.
When the pandemic began, The Kresge Foundation transitioned to a fully remote and virtual form of working and is now exploring what the return to offices will look like. Currently, only essential facilities staff and those who wish to work in the office on a voluntary basis are in the foundation's Troy and Detroit offices.
The foundation's journey in supporting staff has been informed by its Pandemic Preparedness Task Force, led by Crystal Sewell, Kresge’s human resources director. The taskforce is a cross-functional team with staff representation from across the entire foundation.
Sewell shared that in collaboration with the executive team, the taskforce set four guiding principles to inform the decisions made around supporting staff.
The guiding principles include:
• Focusing on the well-being of staff and families.
• Committing to fully prioritizing racial equity.
• Building an adaptable and flexible structure to the way staff works.
• Protecting the health, wellness and welfare of staff.
The foundation also established an equity taskforce that developed a framework to elevate its work around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Kresge added new holidays including Cesar Chavez Day and Juneteenth and offered a range of opportunities for staff to build key competencies around DEI.
“We launched employee resource groups and a myriad of learning opportunities including reading clubs, film screenings and bringing in external speakers to elevate our commitment to DEI,” Sewell said.
Kresge focused on the wellbeing of staff and their families by adjusting paid-time-off policies and expanding childcare and family leave to meet the needs of staff.
The Grand Rapids Community Foundation (GRCF), which is currently operating in a hybrid model, has also prioritized the employee experience by adding floating holidays, updating its parental and bereavement policies while allowing staff to have a flexible work schedule to meet their personal needs.
“The health and wellbeing of staff was something we stressed, for themselves and others. Giving time and grace for whatever happened in their lives, giving them space to express how they’re doing during meetings and before meetings were important,” Kevin Harmelink, human resources and operations manager at GRCF said.
GRCF has an employee assistance program giving staff someone to talk and connect with.
“Some staff are single or don’t have family close and they may not have someone to talk to. Knowing that they can join that meeting or reach out to a colleague just to talk is important, so they don’t feel isolated,” Harmelink said.
Shiawassee Community Foundation staff have been working in-person in the office for almost a year.
Kim Renwick, executive director of Shiawassee Community Foundation said due to their small staff size, everyone was comfortable with returning to the office while following COVID-19 Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
“We’re continuing to monitor the data on cases and if numbers start to rise again, then we’re going to adapt to what we need to do. It’s easier now because we’re more prepared and there’s almost a normalcy to be flexible and adjust the way we work,” Renwick said.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, organizations are maintaining their flexibility with their approach to work while prioritizing their staff.
“This is a week-by-week process that we’re looking at. We’re trying to give staff as much of an advance as possible with plans but recognizing that it could change at any time,” Harmelink said.
Sewell shared that the onset of the pandemic presented a lot of things for organizations to think about and has been a time for human resource departments to contribute their strategic value to an organization.
“While we haven’t determined what the future will look like, we know we need to stay agile and serve the community in new and innovative ways because the community is going to change, and their needs will too. We have to be flexible and be ready to pivot,” Sewell said.
Want more?
MI Philanthropy Landscape Scan on Travel and Office Use in the Context of COVID-19
We are inviting all CMF members to respond to a landscape survey to share where your organization is in planning to return to the office, event travel and connecting in-person, and where you are individually, so that we can create a deeper shared understanding across our community of philanthropy on these important issues of peer engagement and connection.
This survey can be completed by any CMF member, and can be completed by more than one person per organization. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and closes at the end of the day on March 18.
