MTA ahead of scheduled on E train track
work at Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Ave. station
BY DOUG CLAFFEY
ENERGAGE
As the COVID-19 pandemic
continues, employers are
scrambling to protect their
workforce, minimize disruptions,
and adapt to a new, virtual
way of working. Undoubtedly,
the crisis will have many
phases. And now more than
ever, companies need to keep
the lines of employee communication
open with what is the
most disparate workforce this
economy has ever seen.
So, as company leaders
navigate the uncertainty of the
COVID-19 crisis, here are some
imperatives and key questions
to consider:
Align: Is your senior leadership
team aligned on your
response to COVID-19?
Connect: Do your employees
feel well-informed? Are
your senior leaders clued-in to
what it’s like on the front line?
Coach: Are managers and
leaders demonstrating they
care about employee concerns?
Perform: Are you performing
effectively and efficiently
given all of the changes, stresses,
and contingencies that are
being presented by this crisis?
During a crisis, there’s one
workplace culture driver in
particular that can get overlooked.
“Clued-In Leaders” is
about upward feedback and
employees feeling heard. What
happens when organizations
struggle with this? When employees
believe senior leaders
are out of the loop, it’s harder
for them to connect with the organization.
And when leaders
really aren’t clued in to what’s
happening, they’re missing
valuable insight from those
closest to the customer: their
employees.
To keep a strong connection
and stay “clued in” with employees
– especially now – pay
special attention to keeping the
lines of communication open.
Here are three ideas:
Communicate through
levels of hierarchy. Ask employees
to talk to their managers
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.42 COM | OCT. 9-OCT. 15, 2020
and managers to talk to
their managers. Then, talk to
the senior leadership team up
through the layers of the organization.
Utilize town hall meetings.
While it’s best to hold
these in person, virtual town
meetings can also be an effective
way to communicate key
messages and give your employees
a voice.
Ask your employees for
feedback. Pulse surveys are
the most effective and efficient
way to ensure you give employees
a voice, capture real-time
data, and deliver it to the senior
team quickly and directly.
Demonstrating this connection
really makes the difference
between an average or
awful workplace and a great
workplace.
Doug Claffey is founder of
Energage, a Philadelphia-based
research and consulting firm
that surveyed more than 2 million
employees at more than 7,000
organizations in 2019. Nominate your company as a Top Work- place at amny.com/nominate.
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Nothing brings New Yorkers a sense of jubilant unity
like knowing that the MTA is running ahead of schedule.
That’s the case, at least, for track replacement work
at the end of the E train line in Jamaica, the agency announced
on Friday, Oct. 2.
Standing atop the out-of-service construction site at
the Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Ave E train station, MTA Chief
Development Officer Janno Lieber detailed the project’s
expedience, calling it a “man bites dog” scenario caused
in part by pandemic related ridership decreased.
“Because we are able to replace the track now when ridership
is low means that we have fewer safety issues in the
future and future unplanned disruptions for our customers,”
he said.
While the estimated date of completion for the replacement
remains as originally planned for this December,
Lieber says the two-track outage will conclude by Monday,
Nov. 2 and will resume “pretty regular service” on a single
track.
He also noted that now more work is being accomplished
in conjunction with that December timeline as the
MTA has more construction workers on the job now as opposed
to before COVID-19 struck.
“This is what we want to be doing with this downtime,
now is the time to get more work done when there is low
ridership,” Lieber said. Photo by Alex Mitchell
IN CRISIS, HERE’S WHAT
EMPLOYEES WANT MOST
/nominate
