If you’re a business owner that is looking to bring your team back to working together in an office, then you’ll need to prepare the workspace and your employees for the switch.
Some businesses have made their decision on whether to have their employees stay fully remote or not already. However, there are more and more businesses looking to approach this situation differently by looking into more of a hybrid approach.
Now that life within the UK is coming back to a sense of normality, a lot of business owners would be remiss for thinking that work can resume as it used to. However, COVID-19 is still a very real threat and you will have to implement precautionary measures in order to make employee’s feel at ease.
How will employee’s come back to the office?
This may seem like a simple task that can be ‘figured out’ without too much prior planning, however, there are logistical challenges that can present themselves.
First of all, you will have to address all of the employee’s via your preferred method of communication to make sure that everyone is aware of the move back to the office.
This first step also presents a potential hurdle that needs to be overcome. What happens if certain employees prefer working from home and don’t want to go back into the office? Are you willing to offer an alternative to those who wish to work from home?, whether that’s a flexible schedule (two days in the office and three days working from home for example) or continuing their fully remote schedule?
Once you have spoken to each employee about the move back and negotiated a working pattern that works for both parties, then there is the task of ‘COVID proofing’ the office.
Now, this isn’t entirely possible, however, there are measures that can be put in place to reinforce the feeling of safety within the office, and protect against the spread of bacteria and germs.
Listening to how each employee feels about commuting to the office once more will give you a good barometer of what you will need to do to ensure that each employee has been catered for and that they feel safe returning back to work. Anonymous suggestions is also a great way of receiving feedback from employees who may have previously been hesitant to share their opinion.
Implement safety rules into the workplace
Adjusting the company’s policy to health and safety in order to build up trust between employee and employer in regards to how seriously the company is taking COVID-19 as a safety concern, and reducing the risk of cross-contamination to reduce the sickness amongst staff is essential when transitioning back to office-life.
These new policies and procedures should be inherited by every employee within the office, setting up these rules may seem easy, but having full compliance with them is a different task entirely.
Factors to consider when implementing these rules should cover areas of social gatherings, cafeterias/food halls, cubicles and desks, has everyone received vaccinations? Are employees comfortable with working next to someone who hasn’t had a vaccination? Will there be a rotation of staff coming in from remote working that haven’t been vaccinated that you have to account for?
If you’re looking for guidance on how to work with remote workers and those who want to come back into the office, consider contacting an IT Recruitment Company in Milton Keynes.
