Managing a Return-to-Work in the post-Covid-19 era

Thanks to the pandemic, we are slowly emerging out of the disruption of the past two years. While there will continue to be the occasional flare-up in cases in different parts of the world, we are not going back to the times of lockdowns. Working from home, which was compulsory during the pandemic phase, will no longer be necessary, and employees could now return to working out of physical offices. However, it might help to apply some of the learnings of the two years as we move back to normalcy. 

Keep remote working as an option. 

Until the pandemic hit, most employers were not comfortable with the idea of allowing employees the privilege of working from home. However, after March 2020, it had become an absolute necessity for mere business survival. Once the necessary systems were implemented, employers found it possible to have people working from home and yet getting the essential work done. To a considerable extent, employees found the change refreshing as well, although, after a few months, it began to feel suffocating. However, employers could embrace a hybrid working model with the pandemic slowly easing off. This could involve either: 

• Allowing the privilege of working for a certain number of days per week from home 
  
  
  Or

 

• Allowing employees to have the option of coming to the office only when it is essential and working from home otherwise 
  
  
  Or

 

• Determining people in which job roles need to necessarily work from the office while the others work from home and offering mutually agreed upon job contracts accordingly 

This allows employers to benefit in multiple ways: 

• Employee morale would be high because they would not view having to attend office as a drudgery. Therefore, productivity would be higher. 
• Since employees can be allowed to work from home, you are not restricted by limited geography when recruiting the best talent suited to your needs. 
• You can afford smaller office spaces and save on rental costs as well as other overhead costs 

Focusing on Health and Safety

The pandemic experience has driven home the importance of cleanliness and sanitation. Therefore, as employers, you might want to revamp your existing employee health and safety protocol to ensure a healthy environment for people to work together in the office. This could involve: 

• Designing work schedules that allow employees to focus on activities for maintaining good health, such as workouts
• Ensuring that there are enough healthy distractions at the office (such as a reading room, a pool table, or a workplace cafeteria) so that employees may relieve themselves of the work pressure during small breaks 
• Offering healthy meals in the office pantry to ensure that employees have easy access to nutritious food 

Team Building 

The intra-team relationships formed during the two years of the pandemic were primarily transactional, aimed at getting work done. However, as employees begin working together in offices again, it is essential to conduct ice-breaker sessions and team-bonding activities to help forge a reasonable degree of chemistry within the organization.  

To maximize the benefits that can accrue out of a flexible operating model, business organizations may be well-advised to consider exploring the concept of virtual offices. A virtual office service provider would be able to offer the necessary technology and amenities to facilitate a hybrid functional approach. Moreover, you can achieve considerable cost savings because you only book facilities such as meeting and conference rooms and work desks for the required time. Furthermore, you would be able to expand your physical footprint in a viable manner and allow even your remote employees to drop into physical office space when required.