<p>In this premiere to Season 4 of <em>Honest HR</em>, hosts Gloria Sinclair Miller, Amber Clayton and Wendy Fong share stories on unexpected impacts of COVID-19, and Amber leads a discussion on the first 100 days of the new presidential administration and what it all means for businesses and employees. <br /><br /><b>Earn 0.50 SHRM PDCs for Listening to This Episode</b><br />Episodes of <em>Honest HR</em> help you build your competencies while also earning professional development credits (PDCs) toward your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP recertification. All relevant details, including the Activity IDs, are provided during the episode.</p>
In this premiere to Season 4 of Honest HR, hosts Gloria Sinclair Miller, Amber Clayton and Wendy Fong share stories on unexpected impacts of COVID-19, and Amber leads a discussion on the first 100 days of the new presidential administration and what it all means for businesses and employees.
Earn 0.50 SHRM PDCs for Listening to This Episode
Episodes of Honest HR help you build your competencies while also earning professional development credits (PDCs) toward your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP recertification. All relevant details, including the Activity IDs, are provided during the episode.
Amber:
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Gloria:
Welcome to Honest HR, the podcast for all of us HR professionals, people managers, and team leads intent on growing and developing our companies for the better.
Wendy:
We bring you honest forward thinking conversations and relatable stories from the workplace that challenge the way it's always been done because after all you have to push back to move forward.
Amber:
Honest HR is a podcast from SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management.
Wendy:
And by listening, you're helping create better workplaces and a better world. I'm Wendy Fong.
Amber:
I'm Amber Clayton.
Gloria:
And I am Gloria Sinclair Miller. Now let's get honest.
Wendy:
Let's get honest.
Amber:
Let's get honest.
Amber:
Hi all we are back.
Gloria:
We're back.
Wendy:
Yeah, you're back.
Amber:
Welcome to episode one of season four of honest HR. We have a lot going on and today we're going to be talking about Biden's first 100 days in office. There's been a lot of things happening. Of course COVID being the number one. You can't turn on the news nowadays without hearing about COVID and COVID vaccines. And we're going to be talking about that the COVID Relief Act and what's transpired between last year and this year, as well as information on immigration, women who have been impacted and actually others who have been impacted as well based on things happening with COVID. And we're just going to have a lot of information to share today. So let's go ahead and jump right into it. And we'll start with the vaccines. So have any of you been in vaccinated yet? I just made an appointment online. It was very difficult.
Gloria:
Yeah. So I am officially fully vaccinated. So I can go amongst the country again. So super excited. What about you, Wendy?
Wendy:
I have yet to be vaccinated, still waiting my turn, but I'll be interesting to see the supply and demand, because I've read things that they might be running out of supply, given the demand of people that want to get vaccinated. And also with all these different companies coming up with different vaccines how much accuracy are they? 94% versus 70% and also the booster shots. Some of these vaccines, now you have to get another shot after six months or 12 months just like the flu shot. So it will be interesting for us to see how the country rolls out to everyone.
Amber:
So Gloria, since you've been vaccinated, was there anything cool, interesting or funny that happened during your experience?
Gloria:
So I guess the cool thing is I was talking to where everyone was getting their vaccine and they're like, "Oh, I'm going to CVS. I'm going to a drive through at a parking lot." So I did have a drive through experience, but mine, because I'm based in Atlanta, was at the Delta Flight Museum, coolest place.
The downside is obviously it was a drive-in, so we didn't get to go in, but they have all the airplanes like all through the parking lot and it's a nice little place. So I mean, I felt like I had the coolest vaccine place to go to. But thankfully other than I mentally prepared myself for what... Of course we all became infectious disease experts. We all know everything about vaccines. Thanks to all of our constantly watching TV that I was prepared for every symptom. So I drank lots of water. So for the two of you, if you haven't gotten it yet, drank lots of water and prepared myself for maybe being tired. But thankfully I didn't have any of that. If anything, I had more energy, which was very interesting, but I still think I had the coolest place to go to get my vaccine.
Amber:
I don't know. I had a friend of mine who actually went to a parking lot and I don't know if you're familiar with, when they sell fireworks on different parts of the road and they have those giant containers and they sell the fireworks out of those containers. Well, they actually had one of those set up and that's where they got their vaccination. So they thought that was really funny that it looked like a firework stand.
Gloria:
Yeah. I was jealous because I heard in New York they actually had the ability you could take like photos. So you think about like when you're at parties and you go to the photo booth. They had like the photo booth experience at a location in New York. So I think it's a serious time and I think people are just trying to make it more more fun because we need that coming through this past year.
Wendy:
I have seen people posting pictures on social media of their vaccine card that they got vaccinated, but be careful because it does have a lot of confidential medical record information on there. So make sure it's blurred out if you're going to post that on social media.
Amber:
Yeah, absolutely. And I do want to share this. This is kind of interesting in this area that was doing something called joints for... It was something like joints for jots or something to that effect where you actually get a marijuana joint for getting a COVID shot. I couldn't believe it. It was an actual real thing. And I don't know how many people participated in that, but it's very interesting because in the workplace we have to deal with marijuana and employment in the state and local laws around marijuana. And I just thought it was interesting because we've got that now with the vaccine. So an interesting incentive to get people to get vaccinated.
Gloria:
Can you just imagine coming into the HR department and having to deal with that issue. "Well, I was getting my vaccine, but they offer this with it," right before their drug testing.
Amber:
Oh goodness gracious. Exactly. Well that was a really interesting thing that I've heard. So in the past year we've all had a lot of challenges and when everything's back to normal what is the first thing that you want to do that you haven't been able to do in the past or when you get back to the office, if you get back to the office?
Wendy:
Well, I would say for me, at least personally, travel is like the number one thing that I need to do. But I do miss traveling and trying to go different places, but definitely miss the overseas travel. We want to go to, hopefully, the Maldives. I don't know if you've heard of that island. So it's an island in like Southeast Asia and supposedly by 2100 because of the ocean water rising levels that it might be completely immersed underwater. So it's definitely on my bucket list to travel to the island before it's completely submerged underwater.
Gloria:
Yeah. I would agree with you, Wendy travel has definitely been the thing. So we actually do have a trip booked for July. So me and my other half are formula one race fans. So we are booked to go to a formula one race in the UK fingers crossed wow over the summer. But definitely and really want to get out and really want to travel.
Amber:
So with that being said, we've talked about the 100 days, we know that a lot has happened. Last year, we actually had the paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the FFCRA, which allowed for paid leave for employees of certain employers to get leave, whether they were sick or had a loved one who was sick due to COVID or because their children may not have been able to go back into school. Wendy, I know you have a young child and I have a teenage daughter myself that's still in school. What was the impact on you? Did you have to utilize that paid leave last year and with the Biden administration this year, we've got a voluntary extension. If employers want to provide that leave, that's similar to the leave that was under the FFCRA they could do so and get tax credit. So were you someone that had to take advantage of that?
Wendy:
Well, thankfully I didn't have to because SHRM and my manager, my people manager, has been extremely flexible allowing me to work from home. And thankfully she's been at home for school, so it's more the challenge of having to work and be at home teacher at the same time. In the beginning, it was a little rough because there's that learning curve for children. Even how to use technology, how to turn on the computer and how to log into your account and type in different web pages and logins and whatnot.
Almost like I'm half IT as well for her. But now it's been a lot smoother. She went back to school this past week, hybrid. So like just two days a week for four hours a day. And she's really enjoyed going back and getting that interaction. I think, especially for smaller children or maybe just the learning environment in general we all crave that human interaction. So I definitely appreciate that there are those safeguards if I did need to take time off. And I just think about all the workers out there, especially the essential workers who definitely needed to utilize that resource, especially during these unprecedented and stressful times, that was definitely much appreciated. What do you think Gloria?
Gloria:
No, I mean, I would agree with that as well. The fact that we have this option where if people need to have that time off. So I didn't, again, need to take advantage of that option. But for those employees out there who needed it's great that they have that protection.
Amber:
Yeah. And we had SHRM research that we just did recently that actually showed over 50% of employers are still providing some type of paid or unpaid leave, even though they're not necessarily required to under federal law or under their state and local law. So I think that's great that employers are being flexible. They're being empathetic to the situations that are occurring. They're experiencing it just as much as their employees are. So it's really great to see that they're taking advantage of these tax credits that were offered under the relief package. And they're still given those that leave to employees as they need it.
So one of the other things that came about with the relief package is unemployment benefits. And last year, when we had many people who were losing their jobs as a result of COVID or their hours were being reduced, they were signing up or registering to get unemployment.
And many of them who did have an opportunity to return to work and did not want to return because of fear of returning, they were not eligible for unemployment, but this year with the relief package, they are eligible for unemployment. And interestingly, I had a conversation with someone the other day who said do you think it's right for someone to be at home and not work, but still get a salary? I believe he said a $35,000 salary a year.
And I thought that's a good question, because we do get that question a lot in the knowledge center where employers are saying, what can I do about someone who decides not to come back to work because they're getting unemployment and it's a better benefit than coming into work and spending money on transportation and gas and things of that nature. So what are your thoughts, Gloria, about the unemployment for people who decide on their own not to return to work?
Gloria:
Yeah, no, I think it's a great question and I appreciate the debate that's out there about it, because it's tough because you want your employees to come back to work. You want some sense of normal for your organization and hopefully for them. But the reality is we're all dealing with something that we haven't dealt with before. And the employer's ability to give some grace during this period is important.
And thankfully we do have the laws and legislation that's in place that is giving a little bit of that grace to people who may not be ready to come back into the workforce at this point. And we as employers, as leaders, have to respect that because what we don't want is for someone to come back when they're not ready. And we haven't touched on it yet. And I know we will, even in the course of this episode and as we get into the season. But there's this continued conversation about mental health and the impact that this pandemic has had on individual's mental health. And I'd rather someone take the time and the space to care about themselves versus coming back and not being able to perform in the organization. So I'm happy that we have some of these protections in place. Wendy, what are you seeing in California?
Wendy:
Yeah. That's going to be a huge theme this year, in the coming years of empathy and mental health. Research last year showed that one in four employees suffered some sort of depression or stress and anxiety because of everything going on, because of everything you're seeing in the news, and all of the unknowns. Even after all of this is over, what are all the like ramifications that we're going to go through, as of all the post traumatic stress, it's going to be very interesting and being prepared now to support your employees as we're going to go through this.
Amber:
Yeah, absolutely. And mental health employers, some employers haven't really known what to do about that, whether or not they should even be involved with someone's mental health. And it's really important to be involved in the sense that you're providing the education of resources. If you've got benefits like the employee assistance program, maybe something through your healthcare provider, there could be information that you could be giving your employees through the Department of Health. But this is a really good opportunity for employers to again, show that empathy and to be able to provide that information to them and to let them know that it's okay to take a leave or take a day off. As you said, people get stressed and they're anxious. And even though they're working from home, that doesn't mean that stress and anxiety has gone away.
As you mentioned, Gloria, we tend to work longer hours when we work from home. And then of course being that teacher, Wendy you are as well as an employee, there's probably a lot more stress on you, having to juggle both of those. And that goes for a lot of people. So don't be afraid to step up and say something and make sure that your employees know that they can come to you and talk to you and also look for signs, signs of any type of mental health issues. Wendy, have you experienced anything like that where you've worked with someone and you've seen signs of mental health issues, has there been any kind of benefit or anything that was provided to the employees within that organization?
Wendy:
Oh, absolutely. So even just thinking about what SHRM offers, so SHRM has employee assistance programs, and I think they even increased the number of sessions that you could talk to a trained professional or a therapist if you needed to, that was completely covered by insurance or an anonymous hotline you can call. There was an app that we were given and we could download that had a bunch of like quick read articles on like eating healthy or de-stressing, dealing with anxiety. I think last month we had some meditation exercises, completely optional and they're virtual, or we had a meditation expert come in and kind of talk about self-compassion and being compassionate with ourselves. We're all going through this difficult time.
Gloria:
I think going back to something that both of you mentioned in our organizations around being able to allow employees, the ability to, when they are feeling stress there's programs that are out there. But at the same time, managers have to feel, at least being able to know the signs of when someone has checked out. When their behavior isn't exactly the way it was before. I remember having this conversation with someone and I just decided, I'm going to turn my camera off. I'm not going to do the camera this week. I'm just not in the mood. And I won't say that I was depressed or anything, but I was just done at that point. But someone immediately reached out to me within three days. "Are you okay? Is everything all right? Is there anything you need?"
And I think manager's ability to do that and be okay with doing that, so people feel like if I need to take a timeout, I can. I think that's so important that people just need to pause and notice that if a change in behavior that might be a cry for, I may need something. And sometimes it's not, but just at least asking that question.
So I think that's why the conversation around mental health, which used to be very taboo and Wendy mentioned PTSD. We used to only mention... We mentioned PTSD when we talk about military members, which is a big bias that we have. And the reality is this is front and center right now. And we need to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable and having some of these conversations. And the good news is even Wendy talked about what we have for SHRM, but with our SHRM Foundation, the partnerships that we have and the resources that are available around mental health. Our members can definitely take advantage of as well.
Amber:
Absolutely. Well, we know that's important and I'm sure that we're going to have some other episodes on mental health. And with that, I mentioned this is about the 100 days that Biden has been in the office in the new administration. There's been a lot of different changes in people's roles. People being appointed to various roles within the government as is the case when there's a new administration. And the relief bill was a big part of it, of course. And we've talked a little bit about that with the extended unemployment. And we've talked about the leave under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act, the tax credit.
The other thing that is part of that relief package was the 100 percent COBRA subsidy. And I thought that was really interesting because we know how much COBRA cost. I think many HR professionals, especially benefits individuals know that it could be very costly for people. And so I felt like this was a really good thing for people who had lost their jobs due to COVID related reasons. Had you known anybody or anyone who's actually taken advantage of that COBRA subsidy yet?
Gloria:
So I personally don't know anyone, personally that has taken advantage of it, but I do know my former colleagues and those who are currently in HR are definitely making sure that people are aware of it and promoting it wherever they can. Again, I think there's a lot that's out there and the more that we can continue to share that information and guide people to that information is critical.
Wendy:
Yeah, same with me. I don't know anyone, personally, but that's great to learn about all the different bills that are being passed through the different administrations to try to get us through all of this together. Well, I know there's support for like small businesses as well to take out different loans. Amber, do you know more about that as well?
Amber:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are businesses that had to shut down or reduce their hours. And so now there are some loans available to those businesses which is great, because then they could take advantage of that to be able to pay their employees, to reopen their businesses and operate again. So that's great.
And of course with the vaccinations once more individuals get vaccinated, that more businesses will be able to open at higher capacities and with the summer months coming and many of the states where it gets a little warmer, there'll be more outdoor activities. I'm already hearing things about concerts and sports starting to get more people to participate and to attend those now. So it's great.
All of this is good stuff in my mind. And one of the things that came about during the first 100 days is more guidance from OSHA on safety. And yesterday I actually was at a nail salon and I thought it was so creative. They actually had clear shower curtains up to make a barrier between us and the nail technician. And so I just want to hear from you, what is the most creative or crazy thing that you have seen as far as safety measures out in public?
Wendy:
Well, I did get take out the other night from a Japanese restaurant down the street. And the dividers they used were made of saran wrap. They just got saran wrap and just put it all over to divide them. And then the customers, I thought that was pretty interesting. Because then you could just change it every night. You just throw it away and put new saran wrap.
Amber:
That's awesome. So one of the things, another thing with regards to the 100 days here is that we've seen that COVID has had a negative impact on certain protected classes, like females. And one of the things that we've learned is that during this period of COVID that a large percentage of women in the workforce actually left due to COVID and due to the fact that they had caregiving responsibilities in addition to trying to work full time and they've had to leave the workforce. So I just wanted to talk about that for a little bit. Again, we have families and loved ones partners. What's your thoughts on it? Did you happen to know anyone that had to leave the workforce due to COVID?
Gloria:
So I do know of a few friends and former colleagues who did have to make that decision to leave the workforce. And the stats are, we already know that there's definitely a difference between the amount of men versus women and leadership positions. And there's always been that conversation. But I think we've seen women at higher levels of organizations leave during this time, when we already had an issue of having women promoted to more senior levels and a couple of these individuals happen to be more senior level in their organization. And part of it was... Most of it was around family. I need to focus on my family first. I need to focus on my children. And it doesn't matter what the organization is going to offer me at this point.
It's not going to replace this time that I need to spend with family, but it is scary, quite frankly, thinking about the inequity that already exists and what the impact is going to be moving forward in our workplace. So I know one of the conversations that we plan to have this season is around this equity conversation. And it's not just women. We're looking at people of color and just what the impact was on the workplace. But we could also talk about the disparity that exists in healthcare. I mean, there's so many equity opportunities that we have within not only just our workplace, but within society as well.
Wendy:
Yeah. Not just taking care of our children and immediate families, but also like caregiving as well. Caregiving for our aging parents, and being kind of that sandwich generation where you have to take care of your kids and your parents. And how all of that is unpaid labor and does require a lot of time and hours. So I definitely understand why women are choosing to leave the workforce, as you said, Gloria, putting family first. And to your point about the growing disparities, but also the rise in hate crimes. There's been a rise in hate crimes in the Asian American, Pacific Islander community. Putting blame of COVID on that ethnic group for misinformation or whatever information. And it is tragic to see that happening in the country, along with the rise of police brutality and shootings.
Gloria:
Absolutely. Just what's happening out in our community. And we have to remember that just because it's happening in one community or another community, it's impacting all of us and it's impacting all of us in different ways.
Amber:
Absolutely. And we are hearing a lot about the various impacts that COVID has had on different groups. And I was just going to mention that we were talking about women leaving the workforce and the White House actually had a jobs report back around week seven, where it showed that women of color disproportionately were leaving the labor force.
And during the 100 days too, there's also been some other movement. There was some executive orders that was signed by president Biden with regards to racial equity. But there's a lot that's happening right now. And it's good to know that this is a topic of conversation and will continue to be a topic of conversation because we can't move forward if we don't talk about it. So that's where I wanted to kind of end it for today. And hopefully we'll be able to get to some of these other topics soon, and we hope that you all will be able to join us again. Thank you so much for your time today, Gloria and Wendy.
Gloria:
Thank you, Amber.
Wendy:
Thanks, Amber.
Amber:
All right. Great. And we look forward to more episodes in season four.
Wendy:
Season four.
Gloria:
Season four.
Gloria:
Thank you for joining us for our first episode of season four. This podcast is approved to provide recertification PDCs, but only if you listen to the full podcast. Now that you've completed it, you are eligible to enter this activity code it's activity code 2-2-U the number 5 NCE. Again, it's 2-2-U as in uniform, the number 5, N as in November, C as in Charlie and E as in echo. If you'd like to learn more about the Honest HR podcast or get more information and resources on what was discussed in today's episode, head over to shrm.org/honest HR. To learn more about the other SHRM podcasts, check out shrm.org/podcast. Until next time, thanks again for joining us on honest HR.