Hopes of a kick-start to the economy may have been temporarily dashed by a recent second national lockdown, but employers are still starting to plan for a return to the office. For managers, the thought of reboarding after an extended period of remote working and distributed teams can feel like a strange task.
As we approach the end of the current period of lockdown, an increasing number of employees will be wanting to get back to their workplace. Despite the government telling all workers to work from home until April 2021, if possible, offices are reopening, some employees are back from furlough, and remote and hybrid working will become a permanent part of the working mix for many.
Organisations are preparing for their workforce to stage a staggered return in the coming months. With a vaccine to treat COVID-19 seemingly on the horizon, organisations are beginning to seriously contemplate the post-pandemic landscape. As employees return to the office in a manner never previously experienced, how should employers manage the reboarding process to ensure it’s as straightforward and successful as possible?
Make employees feel safe
Teams often produce their best work when they come together, allowing them to creatively and collaboratively pursue a common goal. But when devising a return-to-work plan, managers need to actively focus on safety to make sure their team members are always feeling comfortable and reassured. You should start by regularly discussing safety issues with your team, inviting them to flag any worries they may have. This gives you the chance to respond to any concerns before they begin to negatively impact on morale and productivity.
Conventional policies implemented to safeguard work spaces include social distancing, redesigned floor plans and new rules on how teams should meet and work together. Employee engagement software and messaging apps can maintain team connectivity and encourage collaboration without jeopardising team members’ safety.
Harness the power of digital
Many organisations will find that fully reopening their offices sees them departing from their normal working routines. For some, this will mean staggered start times. Others will introduce rotas, regularly swapping which employees are in the office on a daily or weekly basis.
But remote workers know it’s possible to return to work by reopening the business digitally. Technology has allowed huge organisations to keep their atomised teams connected and productive. Many businesses have shifted their operation completely online, relying on digital tools such as videoconferencing to remain in touch and ensure teams are kept informed of company developments.
In most cases, offices are operating at mixed capacity, with only a small number of employees actually travelling into work and the rest working remotely. As a manager, fully embracing digital technology to bridge the gaps between employees and keep them connected is the organic step. By setting up regular video calls, encouraging the use of messaging software such as Microsoft Teams and promoting file-sharing apps like OneDrive, you can improve the way your teams collaborate and manage projects.
With the right technology in place, organisations can improve productivity and bring dispersed teams together. Employers need to investigate and maximise the benefits technology can offer to allow employees to return to the office in a comfortable way without affecting output.
Implications of hybrid working
Having realised that their employees can do their jobs just as effectively from home as they can in the office, many organisations are rethinking working patterns. Employers are prepared for a large proportion of their workforce to adopt a hybrid method of working when they do return to the office, spending a certain number of days a week working remotely and the remainder in their workplace.
Although this model certainly has advantages in terms of productivity and work-life balance, it brings its own challenges in terms of visibility and perceived commitment. Employees can find it hard to manage the split between the home and office, while there’s a risk of reinforcing divisions between the office-crowd and the home-crowd. As Jesper Frederiksen, UK vice-president of Okta, a software group, explains: “It’s easier to have a team of 20 all being remote rather than 15 people in a room and five remote. With everyone on an equal footing it’s relatively easy.”
Managers wishing to maintain high employee engagement during the transition back to the office should plan and research as early as possible how they will prepare the business for their workforce’s return. There’s no “correct” way to reboard your employees and reopen your office, apart from ensuring that they’ve received clear and explicit safety guidance and are reassured that they’re returning to a safe environment.
By Jon Maddison, Managing Director EMEA at Achievers.
