Over the coming weeks and months, many businesses will find themselves transitioning out of full time remote-work and into some form of new normality. You may be wondering what kind of impact this will have on your employee's wellbeing, health and productivity during the transition, and what their biggest concerns and fears are so you can address them.
We've compiled a list of the top 4 concerns (and 4 possible solutions) based on feedback we've gathered from our team and customers through Everperform Pulses. We encourage business owners and leaders to be mindful of each of these points and discuss them openly with your team, to make the transition out of remote working as seamless as possible.
Getting into work and transportation
The biggest concern for employees going back to office-work is how they are going to get there, particularly around public transport. Employees are concerned about the potential health risks and lack of solution distancing that will come with people returning to work at similar times.
Solution: Staggered in-office hours
If businesses can, they should split the time that employees are required to be into the office. This will help minimise travel, and will also help employees ease into this change without extra stress. A lot of businesses are already doing this somewhat with office skeleton crews.
Office hours and flexibility
With most businesses having moved to remote work, its only natural that employees have become accustomed to working out of the office. In fact, in our latest Remote Work Insights report, we found that the transition to remote working had minimal impact on productivity. Transitioning back into office-work, employees are unsure if they will be forced to come back into the office, or if remote-working will be an option.
Solution: Offer flexible remote work if it's working
If remote-work is working for your business, why not offer it to your employees who enjoy it and are still productive? If we have learnt anything from this pandemic, it's that remote work is a viable alternative and being in an office is as much as a necessity as it once was. However, it needs to be flexible, so keep this in mind.
Securing staff safety
Many employees are unsure about what leaders and companies are doing to ensure they are safe and healthy during the transition out. This isn't saying the businesses are doing nothing to address these concerns, but there might be some room for better communication.
Solution: Be more aware of employee well-being
Businesses and leaders can take more active steps to stay on top of employee wellbeing, and show their people they are taking measures to ensure their safety. Regular pulse surveys are great ways to keep informed on how your employees are feeling.
Client meetings
With people transitioning to in-office work, what does this mean for client meetings? Are face-to-face client meetings are back on? And what impact will this have on office flexibility, transportation and employee safety (pretty much all of the above concerns)?
Solutions: Use online meeting tools
If online client meetings are working right now, why not continue when you're back in the office. Limiting your employee movements from office-to-office, for the time being, is probably the most sensible thing to do to ensure safety. Tools like Zoom, Slack and Microsoft Teams are great for online meetings and conferences, and most likely your business already has these setup.
