Town managers, MMHR discuss supporting employees during COVID emergency

The Massachusetts Municipal Management Association and the Massachusetts Municipal Human Resources association held a joint webinar yesterday to discuss how the COVID-19 emergency is affecting the workplace.

Susan Retik and Cindy Joyce led a discussion about how to effectively manage and support employees during the ongoing crisis. The presenters covered proven strategies that can be used to make a difficult situation for employees less stressful.

Retik, an experienced leadership coach, public speaker and facilitator, is co-founder and CEO of Beyond the 11th, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping widows in Afghanistan. Joyce is the founder and CEO of Pillar Search & HR Consulting, an instructor at the Harvard Extension School, and an adjunct professor with the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University.

Following the discussion, MMA Senior Legislative Analyst Lisa Adams and attorney Michele Randazzo of KP Law provided an update about the legislative response and legal impacts of the COVID-19 emergency in the human resources arena.

More than 250 human resources professionals and town managers participated in the webinar.

Note: The second session begins at 1:06 in the video below.

• Grief and Loss in the Workplace During COVID-19 (2M PDF)
• Review of Municipal Relief Legislation, Ch. 53 of the Acts of 2020 and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (700K PDF)