As you would expect, people love working from home and if some of your employees have been working remotely since the start of the pandemic, they are unlikely to be thrilled with the idea of getting back to normal and coming to the office. Of course, there are a few exceptions, but you should expect a lukewarm reception to the news that working in the office is returning.
Here are a few things that you can do to prepare your employees for the return to normal working conditions.
- Give Advanced Notice – People like to have notice when there are changes to their employment routines, so the earlier you can introduce the subject, the better. It is less of a shock when you have time to process, and most people remember the fun they had at the office before remote working became a thing. From the manager’s perspective, you must understand the freedom and independence the employee has enjoyed while working from home; would you like to find out by email that you are due back at the office on Monday? At least two months advance notice should be given, which gives you time to Zoom calls with all involved.
- COVID Guidelines – Some employees might be concerned about catching COVID when they return to the office. The government has removed most of the pandemic restrictions such as social distancing and hand sanitation. You should reassure all workers that PPE is available should they require it and be prepared to answer any questions they might have. Then there are outsourced HR services for small business by leading agencies who have all the solutions, which frees your staff and enables them to focus on other aspects of the business.
- Offer A Choice – Unless you happen to want all employees back to the office, why not offer specific employees the choice of working remotely and coming to the office? As long as it doesn’t impact their performance in any way, why not allow remote working? Only you would know the value of the employee in question, but a happy employee is a productive one.
- Implement A Gradual Transition Period – By reducing the remote time in increments, the transition will have less of an impact on the employee. You could start by asking remote employees to come to the office one day per week, which could be for 1 month, after which you move to 2 days a week. Indeed, a gradual transition is better for all parties, as it gives management time to re-organize. This is probably the safest way to start a return to the office initiative, which would meet with the least resistance.
- Have A Plan B – In the event an employee asks you for valid reasons to return to the office working and you are unable to provide any other reason that it is nice for everyone to work together, what will you do? Some remote workers are very much anti-returning to working onsite, and compromise might be the best approach – have there been any issues with remote working? If not, then compromise and request a weekly visit to touch base and take it from there.
One way of finding out how your workforce feels about returning to the office is to set up a poll, which also introduces the topic, which is a primary objective.
As you can see, there are numerous ways that you can prepare your staff for an office return and with the help of a leading HR agency, all your HR needs will be met by a team of professionals.
