Bostinno
How Boston Companies Are Supporting Employees During Coronavirus
By: Rowan Walrath
Karyopharm Therapeutics, an oncology-focused pharmaceutical company based in Newton, is no stranger to how illness can take a toll on families.
When coronavirus began to tighten its grip on Massachusetts about two months ago, Karyopharm was one of scores of Boston companies that sent their employees to work from home. Karyopharm’s team went a step beyond, though. The company was able to access personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, which the team then put into care packages and shipped to each of Karyopharm’s 350 or so employees, about 200 of whom are based in the Boston area.
“We were able to secure masks, gloves and hand sanitizer from one of our partners, of all places, in China,” said Ian Karp, the company’s vice president of public and investor relations. “We’ve licensed our drugs to another pharma company in China, and they were able to secure us quantities of masks and gloves for our employees as well as for our clinical sites and our trials.”
Karyopharm has shared this bounty beyond its own employees: Karp said the company has donated supplies to local hospitals and clinics as well. And outside of the clinical setting, Karyopharm has incentivized employees to help local businesses. Workers have been cleared to expense takeout and delivery orders from restaurants in Newton that have suffered from coronavirus-driven shutdowns.
As the virus shapes the nature of work in Massachusetts and across the nation, Boston-area employers are finding creative ways to support their employees—through virtual happy hours, new wellness programs, town halls with executives and programs designed specifically to support working parents.
“Managers and leaders and executives, everyone up to the CEO, need to be connected to their teams more than ever,” said Sarah Hamilton, director of human resources at workplace management software provider Workhuman. “Not from a place of monitoring or clock-watching, but more from a place of caring and compassion. Recognizing that everyone is juggling emotions and challenges.”
Workhuman has created a channel on the company-wide Slack called #parenthuman where parents are sharing dinner tips, workbooks to keep kids entertained and, well, commiserating. (Gov. Charlie Baker announced this week that Massachusetts schools would be closed through the end of the school year.)
Advertising agency CTP Boston has taken a similar tack, and it has also begun holding a weekly virtual event specifically tailored to kids. Magicians, dances, games and other events have all made appearances so their parents can get some relief—and time to work without interruptions, Christine Hickey, the agency’s director of human resources, said in an email.
A common theme: Human resources and people operations teams at Boston-area firms want their employees to be engaged in a way that allows them to bring their whole selves to work, something that managers have been increasingly pushing over the last few years.
These days, with employees working from home and dogs, kids and husbands occasionally wandering into the frame on a Zoom call or making noise from the next room, bringing one’s whole self to work has become the default.
“I’ve seen more people and had more exposure to more of our employees than I did when I was in the office,” said Elisa Gilmartin, chief people officer at cloud communications and collaboration software platform provider Fuze. “It’s been really fun.”
At Workhuman, Hamilton is actively encouraging employees to share more of their home lives.
“When someone is shushing their dogs or kids, we’ve been saying, ‘Wait a minute, who is that? We want them here! Bring them in!'” she said. “It fosters connection, and you get to know people more normally.”
Some managers have also been turning to an age-old tactic to help employees avoid burnout: encouraging them to take time off.
CTP Boston has established what it calls “Wellness Time,” a 90-minute block each weekday from noon to 1:30 when employees are not expected to be online. Wellness startup meQuilibrium has similarly blocked off noon to 1 p.m. each weekday for a lunch hour, which chief marketing officer Pam Boiros points out people might not be inclined to take if they’re taking back-to-back video calls or are otherwise glued to their desks.
Then, of course, there’s the classic staycation day.
“Even if it seems like, ‘I can’t go anywhere; why take a day off?’ it can actually do wonders,” Hamilton said. “There’s still something to be said for taking care of yourself and taking that time off, even if you’re just home.”
