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Caregiving is an activity that aims to save, help, and make other people pleased and satisfied.
We have learned to call the first responders heroes, because when disasters occur (such as fire, flood, storm, or earthquake), they are the first people to risk their own safety to support people who are physically or emotionally injured and save their lives.
Similarly, organizations which are affected by a rapid and unpleasant change need first responders, which we call shock absorber in the organization “human resources”.
Recently, for example, a business manager had to make a strategic decision. But when he wanted to put his decision in action, he faced a lot of resistance.
Those who were affected negatively by this decision experienced an unpleasant feeling, and this is where no reason or logic can reduce the psychological damage of the change. When inevitable changes have serious psychological effects on people, we need the caregivers’ support to understand us, and give us a sense of empathy and hope.
Human resource professionals take action like first responders and support employees who face professional and personal difficulties and problems.
They support employees by helping them physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually and psychologically.
Physically: including nutrition, exercise and enough rest. But in difficult situations, physical health can be simply ignored. Long working hours, financial losses, and stressful work tasks cause ignoring your body health.
HR professionals take care of employees’ health and encourage them to look after their bodies through healthy diet, exercise, enough sleep and regular medical check-ups.
Emotionally: If the number of these events and as a result the level of stress experienced exceeds a certain level, it can put people’s health at risk. Having said that, in the current economic situation, people have experienced much more than the acceptable level of stress. In this situation, HR professionals can take care of employees’ emotionally through the following ways:
Matching employees’ capabilities with their job tasks
Support employees by listening to their concerns and make the work place a positive and reassuring one for them.
Socially: it is comforting for people, as social beings, to communicate with each other.
Human resource professionals are social caretakers who generate a sense of belonging to employees and make them feel committed to the organization. This sense of belonging is essential for the organization’s success.
Intellectual: Researches show that learning speed is a key factor in leadership success. Learning quickly leads to the ability to create the future, predict chances, fast adaptation, and continuous learning. Human resource professionals are intellectual caregivers by investing on employees’ training.
Psychologically (purposefulness):
People need to have a meaningful life, and this is often gained through the following way:
• What is being done?
• How is it done?
• Why is it done?
HR professionals can help employees in the organization to find if their personal and organizational values and goals are in a harmony by creating a goal-oriented organization. Human resource professionals as creators of purpose can generate organizational and personal wealth.
Conclusion
Change is inevitable, and it creates opportunities to become a caregiver. Being a caregiver is not easy and requires serving and helping others in difficult situations. Regarding physical, emotional, social, intellectual and psychological aspects of care, employees can be helped to make strategic decisions.
David Ulrich
David Ulrich was born in 1953 in the United States. He is one of the most famous human resource managers. He is a professor at the University of Michigan and one of the founders of RBL Group Consulting. One of the top 50 management thinkers in recent years.
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