Self-Care and Staff Care: Support for Supervisors During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Part of Strategies

By Jan Gartner

Teapot with peppermint

First published April 13, 2020 

From exercising regularly, sticking with spiritual disciplines, and enjoying hobbies, to reading for pleasure, getting enough sleep, and spending time with those we love, caring for ourselves is hardest precisely when we most need to do it. Throw in the ongoing disruption of natural work and family rhythms and COVID-19 fatigue, and self-care becomes even more of a challenge. But it's critical in these continuing pandemic days to attend to your own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. When you are a supervisor, it's important to be attentive to the needs of those who report to you, as well.

Supervisors, this page is for you. It is offered without any expectation that You Shall Now Do All The Things, but with the hope that you will find suggestions and resources to help you manage your well-being - and that of your staff - in this challenging time.

Modeling Good Boundaries

As working largely from home potentially becomes more of a long-term norm, we're continuing to grapple with the pros and cons of flexibility. Being able to adjust one's work time is important. For some staff, it is nothing short of liberating. However, with the ability to work anytime comes the risk of working, well, all the time. Let staff and congregants know when you are available and when you are not. Counsel your staff to do the same. (Yes, of course there are emergencies.) Other ideas:

  • Many of our typically 24/7 supermarkets began closing night to clean and replenish. Do you have your own daily "replenishing" rituals – not for your shelves but for your spirit?
  • Use an Out of Office message on your email to tell people when you respond to email, your typical turnaround time, and your days off. You can also include these in your signature line.
  • If you do check email late at night or on a posted day off, you could write a reply in the moment – but consider delaying delivery or waiting until regular hours to push send. When someone gets an email from you at midnight, they are likely to assume that you've been toiling away all day and into the night, whether that's the case or not. (And when it is the case – as it may be on occasion, do your best not to publicize it to the congregation.) Avoid giving the impression that you are available at all hours.
  • Is it hard for you not to pick up your phone? It really is alright to let it go to voicemail. Consider an outgoing message that names blocks of time when you typically reply to non-urgent calls - and/or encourage people to email you, if that is your preference.
  • Leverage your time and that of your staff. If you find yourself spending a lot of time on a program or project that doesn't feel fulfilling, might there be a lower-prep alternative?
  • Ask each of your staff about the general schedule that works best for them. Allow for flexibility while being clear about expected deliverables and availability. Continue to check in with your staff about their workloads and work/life balance.

Lifting Up Your Team

If your building is fully or largely closed, that means nobody's working, right? You know better, but your congregants might not truly appreciate everything happening behind the scenes.

  • Look for opportunities to share what you and your staff are doing – in your e-communications, from your home pulpit, and at board meetings. Go beyond the observable output. "We're so grateful to Casey, who has put a lot of time and care into protecting our online gatherings from Zoom bombing."
  • Just as important: be clear about what staff are not doing. "We've suspended the XYZ program for now as our team seeks improved ways of connecting with newcomers."
  • Communicate to members your care for the staff team. "We're all taking good care of ourselves to ensure that we can be at our best for you."

Being Countercultural

Independent of COVID-19, our dominant cultural norms include consumerism, time famine, over-functioning, individualism, perfectionism, and a sense of urgency. This pandemic has been a time out of time, providing an opportunity to push back against some of these norms.

  • It's been ingrained in us that we don't have enough, that we are not enough. It's true that what you do will not be perfect, will not meet everyone's needs, and will not fix every problem…and yet it is enough. You are enough. Tape it on your mirror. And let your staff know that they and their work are enough.
  • Tema Okun's White Supremacy Culture website offers practical antidotes for perfectionism, sense of urgency, and more. (See bottom of page on

    The guidance below is from May 2021. We are now seeking input from public health officials regarding how the delta variant impacts safe practices for singing. In the meantime, consistent with CDC guidelines, we recommend that, at a minimum, choirs and singers wear high-quality masks indoors – regardless of vaccination status.”

    Characteristics tab.) If you haven't read Okun's work in a while (or ever), this is a great time to refamiliarize yourself with it. Consider introducing it to your staff. What about choosing one characteristic to discuss at each of your upcoming staff team meetings?

Responding Faithfully to Anxiety

Even in ordinary times, there's some level of anxiety present in our congregations. That's only natural when you are in the business of creating a community grounded in relationship, meaning-making, and welcoming people's full selves. When we are anxious, we tend toward busyness, complexity, exhaustion, and feelings of inadequacy. (See "Being Countercultural," above.)

Here are some messages that remind people what your faith community is about and help offset anxiety by promoting deepening, engagement, gratitude, and trust:

  • We're here to take care of each other.
  • We have what we need.
  • We weather difficulties together.
  • We are living our values.
  • We are grateful.

What does responding faithfully to anxiety look like for a staff team? Key themes are nurturing relationships, constructive conflict, and work-life balance. In addition to encouraging self-care, providing flexibility, and setting reasonable expectations (covered above), supervising in a time of anxiety involves:

  • Showing appreciation and giving positive feedback
  • Being transparent with your team about uncertainties
  • Involving staff in conversations about things that impact them, including potential changes to their work or pay
  • Cheering on risk-taking and experimentation, and helping staff navigate missteps
    • It's easy to get behind a new effort once it has proven successful. Be intentional about honoring work and creativity that don't pan out, including coaching staff through disappointments.
    • Encourage staff to speak candidly about their mistakes and resulting learnings. (One staff team has a tradition of making time for each staff member to share their "mistake of the month" at staff meetings!)
  • Using team meetings and individual supervision sessions to address changes and challenges. In team meetings, ask, "What are you finding harder right now? What's easier?" In supervision, you might say, "You really seem to be enjoying this new part of your work." Or, "I've noticed that you are having trouble meeting this deadline since we've started working from home."

Understanding Staff Concerns

Like you, your staff team likely exhibits a strong work ethic and a deep desire to help meet the needs of the congregation's members. Even if you are not explicitly asking them to do more, your staff may nevertheless feel pressure from their supervisors or other leaders. Here are two reasons this could be happening. You may think of more.

Load-Sharing

One of the great things about being part of a team is that you have partners in the work; everyone doing their part makes wonderful things happen and, when times are tough, teammates help each other out. As the pandemic drags on, many of you in supervisory roles have especially heavy loads to bear – workloads and/or emotional loads. Is it possible that you are projecting onto your staff some of the burdens you are carrying – or that the fantastic colleagues on your staff are just inherently inclined to do all they can to help you and the team?

Leading regular conversations with your staff about workloads and expectations can help. If you sense a staff member is feeling overwhelmed, make a point of checking in. Make sure nonexempt staff (PDF) are accurately reporting their hours. Exempt staff (this includes ministers and many, but not all, supervisors) may want to track their time to monitor workloads, but hours do not need to be submitted. Reinforce to all the importance of self-care and taking time off – and model these yourself.

Job Security

Let's acknowledge those who might be worried about job security in this era of uncertain finances. While we are encouraging congregations to make staff reductions a last resort, we recognize that some congregations may need to consider reductions in staff hours or positions. Perhaps unconsciously, a staff member is filling (or over-filling) their time to avoid the possibility of appearing expendable. Of course, there's always more to do! Some staff are reluctant to take their earned time off. Again, regular self-care reminders are key, as well as keeping staff informed about budgeting and staffing possibilities – including them directly in these conversations as much as possible.

Performance Problems

Just because there's a pandemic doesn't mean that ongoing personnel issues will go away. Truth be told, they are likely to be exacerbated. A staff member who was already struggling with their responsibilities might be struggling more. An employee who routinely missed key deadlines could be having an even harder time meeting them. If you weren't sure that a member of your staff was putting in all of their hours or using their time to full advantage, your doubts about them may have increased. Maybe a personality conflict among your staff has intensified.

Supervising staff might feel like one more "thing to do." But especially if things aren’t going smoothly with a staff member, it is worth putting some energy into good supervisory practices such as:

  • Team meetings that keep staff in the loop about each other's work
  • Regular conversations with individual staff about their goals, priorities, and needs
  • Timely documentation of performance or behavioral problems
  • Clear performance improvement plans and/or disciplinary actions as warranted

Conversations about performance issues can and should be caring and supportive. Describe the problem as objectively as you can. Do you already have a narrative in your mind about this staff member? Particularly in these complicated days, it's important to check your biases and assumptions.

You may be wondering if terminating a staff member for performance reasons is appropriate during the pandemic, considering the difficulties of finding new employment. Depending on the circumstances, you could choose to relieve someone of their responsibilities and provide them with paid leave or a separation package that goes beyond your stated personnel policies. Check in with your regional staff for guidance on personnel issues.

Joy and Gratitude

These are extraordinary times. Despite the challenges, wonderful silver linings have emerged. Members who moved away are joining their former congregations for online worship. Midweek bedtime stories enabled religious educators to better know the kids in their programs. Some staff have become energized by opportunities to experiment with new technologies. Many religious professionals have been talking about how their pandemic-era learnings are leading to long-term improvements. Take note of these moments! In your team meetings, might staff take turns sharing discoveries, instances of unexpected joy, and occasions for gratitude?

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About the Author

Jan Gartner
Jan Gartner

Jan is passionate about helping congregations live out their values within their walls!...

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