It’s Still Time to Take Care Of Your Team. Covid Isn’t Over For Everyone.

So the world is back.  Offices are reopened — they’re just different from before.  In many cases, very different.  Events are back, dinners, lunches.  2nd and Howard in downtown SF is even packed again with Internet startups and execs.  And it’s good.  It’s really good.

For many of us, Covid memories are fresh, but muchly in the past.  Heck, Team SaaStr just got back from Coachella.

But we’re not all past it.  I’m still watching many folks struggle.  I’m watching folks who lost family members struggle. I’m watching folks still anxious about the world.  I’m watching parents struggle.  I’m even watching VCs and others that moved away, that now are a bit … lost.  Even lashing out in some cases. I’m seeing reverberations everywhere.   And in Asia, in many cases, it’s just a different world.

It’s just a reminder that while many of us are over all this — quite a few aren’t.

A few probably pretty obvious thoughts:

• Don’t make anyone go back to the office.  Find another way.  If that means exceptions for current hires vs. new hires, so be it.
• Do better on healthcare.  This is really, really important to many employees.  Even if as a founder you don’t care as much.  Invest more here.  Some employees will really appreciate it.  Like, a lot.  Even at Team SaaStr, we added an extra $200 a month of wellness benefits on top of everything else. To just use that $200 extra each month — in any way to make you feel better.
• Be sensitive to folks that don’t want to meet in person, or hang out all day inside an office.  Some are still wearing masks.  Some never really want to sit in an office with recirculating air anymore or ever again.  It’s fine.  Make sure they aren’t second-class citizens.
• Do regular step meetings.  Don’t just do your 1-on-1s, do monthly step meetings with your reports’ reports.  They value it.
• Stay distributed-first in all your processes and workflows.  Most of us are, but if you aren’t, perhaps rethink it.

Some of us are still healing.  And some perhaps won’t really heal fully at all.

They’re your team.  Your job isn’t done here.

image from here