Transitioning Your Team From Work From Home, To Back In The Office.
The government have recently announced their plans and roadmap to returning to normality after a year of lockdowns. This means there seems to be a brighter light at the end of the tunnel for reopening offices and other workplaces, to reintroduce employees back into the office after prolonged working from home. It is important to transition productively from the work from home vibe into the back to the office atmosphere, we have some great tips to help.
There is no rush..
Firstly, there is no immediate rush to get everyone back in the office the minute Boris has announced offices will reopen in a few weeks. Working from home has not only slowed the spread of Coronavirus, but has also provided a security blanket for those employees who are vulnerable or concerned about their safety in the workplace. It is important to respect everyone’s boundaries when it comes to reintroducing the office back into everyday working life, and taking a respectful approach will be appreciated by your employees.
A slow transition with a mix of work from home and a couple of office shifts a week, that can be spread evenly across employees to ensure you are not crowding the office too much, too soon, is a great way to get a better response from your employees, and will enable them to feel more comfortable in the office again.
Encourage New Routines…
Your employees will have adopted a new way of working if they have been working remotely for a while, and it is important to embrace those routines and working habits, especially if your team has been productive and performing well whilst working from home.
Embrace the new normality of your employees and encourage them to exercise their own routines into the office set up too, and be prepared to provide for that should you employees need to adapt their working environment in the office.
You will find that employees will be less resistant and more motivated to work back in the office, if they feel that their personal experiences from work from home, have been considered and they’re not being made to adjust to a completely different working routine immediately.
Inspire, Involve & Refresh Your Employees…
The last year has been a lot for all of us, so it would be a good opportunity worth taking to inspire, involve and refresh your employees when they return to the office over the next few weeks and months.
Inspire them with the plans for the business going forward into this new era of post pandemic work life.
Involve your employees by getting their feedback on what they felt worked well whilst working from home, and didn’t work, Have your employees noticed a change in customer behaviour or response to your business, brand or products? Your employees are an incredible source of knowledge when it comes to the insights of what your business needs to focus on in the coming months after the pandemic.
Refresh your employees by offering new training strategies that are fun, light hearted and engaging when they return to work. Remind them why they work for you and that you value all of their individual efforts during this tough time.
