How to Recover from Corporate Long Covid (CLC) in 4 Steps

Reading Time: Less than 7 minutes.

Synopsis: Recovering from Corporate Long Covid is like healing any ailment. Here are four recommended steps to regain business health: 1) recognize the symptoms, 2) diagnose the cause, 3) get treatment, 4) and monitor to make sure the problem is gone.

Below is an excerpt from a recent white paper from Explorance where we define our perspective on “Corporate Long Covid.” We sum up the effects of recent history on every workforce and breakdown what CEOs can do about it.

Corporate Long Covid could be costing your enterprise millions of dollars.

To detect Covid-19, we needed new tests for the antigen. And to help people recover, we needed new treatments like antiviral pills.

The same goes for Corporate Long Covid.

Fortunately, healing a physical ailment is a lot like dealing with any business problem.

These four time-tested steps point the way:

1. Recognize the symptoms
2. Diagnose the exact cause
3. Treat with the best practices
4. Monitor to make sure the problem is gone

Step 1: Recognize the symptoms

• Are you facing mistakes, accidents, or delays in regular processes?
• Are you challenged to find well-qualified candidates to fill open positions?
• Do you have trouble filling all your orders, on time?

These are all classic symptoms of CLC.

But you need more than anecdotal evidence. You need reliable data on the actual state of your workforce. You may not have this on hand.

Or you may be gathering lots of data already, but not using it to support positive results.

One especially rich data source that many enterprises collect is from 360 reviews. But not all companies use this data effectively to measure their workforce capabilities.

To succeed in step 1, you must find enough data to diagnose how much your enterprise is suffering from CLC.

Using 360 reviews as a strategic resource

A simple review involves one employee and their manager. A “multi-rater review” draws on more people for a wider perspective.

And a full 360 review surveys everyone an employee interacts with: peers, clients, and suppliers.

Most executives believe these reviews only help focus discussions between an employee and their manager. But you can use 360 data in far more strategic ways.

For example, you can:

1. Compare cohorts such as those who left, those who stayed, and those just hired
2. Evaluate gaps in skills and competencies by roles
3. Pinpoint management effectiveness in different divisions

Best of all, you can use your 360 data to gain a new strategic overview of your entire workforce. This is the essential first step in healing from CLC.

Step 2: Diagnose the exact cause

In this step, you pinpoint what’s undermining your enterprise performance.

This calls for expert analysis of your workforce data. This analysis could be done by in-house analysts, or by third-party consultants well-versed in this specialized area.

Done properly, this analysis will give you a new strategic overview of your whole workforce.

This is like getting an MRI for your workforce: a procedure that reveals new patterns, trends, and issues you couldn’t see any other way.

With this view, you can quickly determine how much damage CLC is doing to your enterprise.

Step 3: Treat with the best practices

In this step, you use industry best practices to remove the cause of the problem. For this, you need to follow the emerging best practices for recovering from CLC.

Once you’re infected, it’s too late to get vaccinated. But timely use of antivirals can stop a virus in its tracks.

In the same way, timely use of best practices can help re-engage employees who are drifting away and restore performance that is wavering.

This requires far more than a pep talk.

This may call for redesigning your fundamental processes for hiring, on-boarding, compensating, developing, and promoting your employees.

This step is like making some much-needed changes in lifestyle: eating better, getting more fresh air and exercise, and so on.

Patients who resist these suggestions will likely continue to suffer. Those who make these changes will quickly experience healing.

Step 4: Monitor to make sure the problem is gone

In this step, you monitor the health of your workforce over time.

This is like a doctor making regular follow-ups to make sure that a chronic condition is under control or that an infection is healed.

For this step, you need consistent monitoring to make sure the recovery is complete. That means collecting year-over-year data in a compatible format so you can track trends over time.

And this gives you advance warning so you can take quick action if you see any telltale signs of CLC or a similar ailment in the future.

The right partner can save years in recovery

When an executive suspects their enterprise has CLC, they should seek advice from a professional firm that specializes in fighting off that ailment.

The right partner can help you through all four steps:

• Setting up instruments
• Gathering reliable data
• Analyzing that data in thoughtful ways
• Sustaining your efforts at strategic workforce management into the future

The body can clear some illnesses by itself, given proper conditions and enough time. But judicious diagnosis, treatments, and follow-ups by a trained professional can dramatically cut the recovery time.

The same applies to CLC. If you do nothing to fight CLC, it could take five to seven years of depressed results for your enterprise to recover.

But judicious diagnosis, treatments, and follow-ups by a professional partner can save your enterprise many years in recovery.

The ideal partner for diagnosing and curing CLC can offer strong industry expertise, robust tools and technologies, and a proven track record of success.

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Or click here to download the entire white paper.