Coping with COVID in Orlando, Florida
When most people think of Orlando, Florida they picture a lively, bustling, and beautiful city. How can anyone possibly be unhappy in this beautiful place? We are one of the destinations for travel and tourism, which is why many of us were hit particularly hard when the COVID pandemic hit. When your economy is built on tourism and fun, what happens when a worldwide Pandemic comes through and shuts everything down?
I wanted to take a look at how individuals and businesses are doing now that we are a year into this thing. Even more so as a therapist, I wanted to take a look at how others are coping and supporting one another through tough times. I had the chance to sit down with a friend and executive at Sonny’s. From my day-to-day, I often work with specific mental health challenges, yet talking to him was refreshing when I learned of the holistic approach Sonny’s took to improving the well-being of workers. As a social worker, I align with this philosophy in addressing the psychological, environmental, and financial aspects of being an employee. When I asked him how his company was dealing with the pandemic, I was truly blown away by the amazing leadership and care for the employees as well as the community at large.
Many of us know that restaurants were some of the hardest-hit businesses at the start of the pandemic. Sonny’s Barbeque has over 5,000 employees that live day to day off paychecks and are struggling to make ends meet. To ensure no employee went hungry, they set up weekly food and supply allowances, providing a weekly allowance for groceries. They also provided employees with paper towels and toilet paper, items that will live forever in infamy due to their scarcity at the start of all this.
One of Sonny’s goals was not to lose a single employee because of family hardships or fear caused by the pandemic. In order to retain employees, they created new positions such as the “quarterback” who cleans and sanitizes all areas of the store. This way individuals who were not comfortable providing direct service could still keep their jobs without the risk of contracting the virus from contact with others. They allowed those employees facing child care issues or who needed to care for sick family members to furlough if needed with the promise of a job waiting for them when they were ready to return. I was truly impressed by the efforts of Sonny’s, but what about companies and managers who do not have the resources accessible to them that Sonny’s has.
Not all companies and employers have been able to fare as well in this pandemic and as a result, some tough choices have had to be made.It’s hard as a manager to make difficult decisions during a tough time when no one really knows when the end will come. You might feel responsible for not being able to provide for your employees or allow them to retain their jobs. You may have lost employees that you considered as family. Maybe you have taken on the emotions of the employees and the impact being laid off may have on their families. Maybe you are carrying around guilt about the decisions you have had to make. Maybe you have trouble sleeping at night. Many managers are faced with the reality that they may not be able to retain employees or provide financial assistance in this way.
If you are lucky enough that you have been able to maintain your business and employees, it is important that you take care of those employees as well as yourself. Give yourself and your employees grace when you or they have had a bad day. If you have a disagreement or don’t see eye to eye on something, apologize and remember from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Seek first to understand then to be understood.” We are all struggling and might hit our limits at different times, so if someone is acting out of character, take the time to talk to that employee and understand what is happening instead of labeling them as a problem or difficult. Sometimes all you need is a listening ear, not advice or feedback but someone who can sit with us and say “This sucks.”
If you, yourself, are feeling off or having a bad day, take a mental health day and take some time to take care of yourself. We all have different ways of caring for ourselves, whether it is going for a round of golf, going for a hike, or getting take out from your favorite place. Whatever it is, take some time to mellow out and refocus. It has been such a long year and no one is really sure when this whole thing will be truly over. Sometimes we also get stuck in negative thought patterns that we may or may not be aware of. Sometimes, when bad things happen to us or continue to happen to us, we start to feel hopeless, we might think “what’s the use” or “it’s not worth it” if we feel like our efforts are not being recognized. It can be helpful to try to become more aware of those thoughts, examine where they may be coming from, and try to replace those thoughts with more helpful thoughts. One strategy to help replace negative thoughts is to think of the most outlandish opposite thought to what you are thinking. So if your thought is “Everything is awful” first you think of the opposite of that which might be “This is the best day there ever was, there will never be a better day than today.” Then, think of a thought somewhere in the middle. My typical go-to is “Could be worse, could be better.” This is called the middle path or balanced thinking in DBT. It helps us see things from a different perspective and realize things might not be as bad as they seem.
Hopefully there will be an end in sight to the difficulties caused by this pandemic. Until then, as an employee and as a manager it is important we take care of ourselves and take care of each other. We have all hit our limits at certain times with the restrictions to our lives and stress of making day to day decisions. Remember you never know what someone else might be going through, and if you can be anything, be kind.
https://hellodowntime.typeform.com/to/Hw5qD0#source=Marla%20Starnes
