This document provides tips for supporting employees through the COVID-19 crisis using principles of diversity and inclusion (D&I). It outlines 10 tips, such as communicating available mental health resources, offering various virtual social events for employees, designating a point of contact for COVID-19 questions, and being flexible given the challenges of working from home. The document advocates being inclusive, raising awareness through consistent messaging, and empowering employees by reinforcing their importance during these challenging times.

1. 1MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
Supporting Employees Through COVID-19, with
Wisdoms of D&I
Melissa Dobbins Naba Ahmed
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About Melissa Dobbins
In 2016, Melissa Dobbins formed a HR tech company to remove bias from hiring by shifting the focus from
resumes to qualifications. Removing bias from candidate screening does more than engage a wider candidate pool
in today’s fierce competition for talent; it drives diversity, efficiency, and compliance. Career.Place tackles bias and
the resulting diversity, compliance, and efficiency challenges by removing bias-laden resumes from talent
evaluation and replacing them with a HR solution that combines the best of technology and human touch to
objectively measure candidate qualifications. Candidates remain anonymous, enabling fair evaluation and
comparison without names, gender, ethnicity, age, or other bias-triggering information.
About Naba Ahmed
Naba went to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and majored in Journalism and minored in Integrated Marketing
Communications. After working as Editor-in-Chief at the campus newspaper, she became interested in developing
content across multiple platforms, and now works as a Content Marketing Specialist at Aggregage, providing some of
the most interesting thought-leaders across a wide variety of industries with a space to celebrate the diversity, depth,
and experience of their professional cultures, personalities, and passions.
Trends in Recruiting & HR Webinar Series

4. 4MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
Supporting employees
through COVID-19
With Wisdoms of D&I
April 2020

5. 5MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION IS
COVID-19 CAUSES
D&I WISDOMS FOR THE COVID-19 CRISIS
Support employees
through COVID-19
with inclusion,
awareness, and
empowerment
Driving Inclusion
Increasing productivity and
engagement by ensuring
everyone feels welcome
Unwelcoming environments
Demotivation through empty
streets, extreme isolation, fear
and uncertainty of the future
Confusion
Mixed, confusing messages on
the risk of the virus, duration of
crisis, impact to jobs
Raising Awareness
Removing the ignorance and
fear-based assumptions behind
discrimination
Empowering Everyone
Shifting mindset and equipping
all employees to be part of the
solution in enabling D&I
Helplessness
General sense that life is
upside down and out of our
control

6. 6MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 1: SHARE MENTAL
HEALTH BENEFITS
Inspired by D&I Tip: Prepare an FAQ to
answer all those questions your candidates
won’t ask but really need to know
Communicate mental-health
benefits, resources, and options
to all employees.
• Many employees who need help
won’t ask, so be proactive.
• List mental health providers, options
for families, and value of services.
• Use multiple forms of communication -
email, internal sites, social media, etc.

7. 7MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 2: OFFER A RANGE OF VIRTUAL SOCIAL EVENTS
Give employees virtual social outlets
using a variety of topics and options
• Isolation increases depression and
anxiety, decreasing productivity.
• Offer time and topics for social time –
catering to a range of interests.
• Ideas include mentor chats, virtual
coffee, book clubs, parent support…
• Enable with tech – some are free:
gchat, zoom, facetime, duo…
Inspired by D&I Tip: Culture is more than
Happy Hours and Holiday Parties

8. 8MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 3: RAISE AWARENESS TO AVOID
DESCRIMINATION
Inspired by D&I Tip: provide guidelines on
acceptable, universal behaviors
Issue guidelines on acceptable,
universal behaviors.
• Discrimination against people of east-
Asian decent are on the rise.
• Hurtful age-based COVID jokes and
topics are increasing in social media.
• All discrimination is compounded
when interacting behind a screen.

9. 9MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 4: COMMUNICATE SHORT, ACTIONABLE COVID-
19 CONTENT TO EMPLOEES
Use a campaign of short, actionable
messages to help employees (and
candidates) navigate COVID-19 information
• Employees can get overwhelmed with too
much information, especially when
outside of comfort zone.
• Information is not the same as knowing
what to do – don’t make employees
search.
• Clear actions give employees the sense of
being in control.
Inspired by D&I Tip: prepare a pre-
interview message to convey important
information to all candidates

10. 10MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 5: DESIGNATE A POINT OF CONTACT FOR
COVID-19 QUESTIONS
Inspired by D&I Tip: Designate a single
point of contact for your candidates
Ensure all employees know where to go to get fast answers to their questions
• Trying to find answers increases anxiety,
especially when being passed from person to
person or if answers are unequally distributed.
• Employees need a safe place to go for all their
questions – some of which may get personal
and/or emotional.

11. 11MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 6: TRAIN MANAGEMENT ON HOW TO HANDLE
COVID-19 QUESTIONS / DISCUSSIONS
Inspired by D&I Tip: Train the interviewers
Equip managers with what they
need to manage COVID
conversations
• Employees generally go to managers first
with questions, concerns and reassurance.
• Even if managers have answers, they may
not know how to deliver them.
• Training managers keep responses
consistent and inline.

12. 12MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 7: AVOID REFERENCES WITHOUT CONTEXT
Inspired by D&I Tip: Beware of analogies
in interview questions
If referring to past events – 9-11, 2008
crash, SAARs, etc., add context to
the reference.
• Not everyone shares the reference – some
may have little knowledge and not
understand the point or context.
• Depending on experience, people may
interpret meanings differently.
• Be sensitive to the variation of experiences
(someone who lost family is different than
someone watching the news).

13. 13MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 8: BE FLEXIBLE
Inspired by D&I Tip: Ask all applicants if there is
anything they need or any accommodations to
ensure they have a great experience
For those that are working from home,
life and work is colliding – be as
flexible as possible to accommodate
• Give notice if meetings must be ‘private’ so
people can make accommodations for
children or coordinate a quiet corner.
• Allow for flexible productivity time whenever
possible as some may have to take turns on
computers or work after kids go to bed.
• Forgive interruptions, they will happen.

14. 14MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 9: PREPARE FOR VARIOUS REMOTE TECH
Inspired by D&I Tip: Plan for accommodations so
you are not scrambling when they are needed
Prepare for various levels of access
to technology in remote work and
hiring plans
• Not everyone has the same access to
hardware, software or internet quality.
• Consider accommodations for those with
disabilities that prohibit participation with
standard technologies.
• Communicate plans for various scenarios
so employees and/or candidates know
what to do if they cannot follow standards.

15. 15MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
TIP 10: CELEBRATE THE EMPLOYEES
Inspired by D&I Tip: Recognize and
celebrate value of all employees
Show appreciation and celebrate the
importance of what the employees
are doing during challenging times.
• Being valued as ‘heroes’ of a good cause is
a great motivator especially in times of fear
and uncertainty.
• Build value (why job is important) into
internal & external communications, job
descriptions, and appreciation.
• Jobs need to be more compelling and
satisfying then unemployment benefits.

16. 16MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
BRING IT TOGETHER
We are all in
this together,
and together
we will all get
through it.
1
2
3
BE INCLUSIVE by creating multiple outlets of
virtual engagement, being flexible, and
accounting for different needs and backgrounds
RAISE AWARENESS through small, continuous,
consistent communications, a single point of
contact, and trained management
EMPOWER EMPLOYEES with clear guidelines,
actionable content and reinforcement that
they are an important part of the solution
WISDOMS OF D&I

17. 17MDG2 Technologies Corp. Proprietary – CONFIDENTIAL
THANK YOU
Melissa Dobbins
mdobbins@career.place
www.career.place
Supporting employees
through COVID-19
With Wisdoms of D&I
April 2020