Three Questions to Consider As Your Organization Returns to the Workplace
Many organizations are moving back into the workplace. There is a lot of information about re-entering the workplace. After reading several articles, I came up with three questions to consider as you move back.
How can you provide a safe workplace?
The physical and mental safety of your staff is the first thing you should consider. Check with your state or county guidelines to keep up with the COVID protocols for your area. Returning to the workplace is a transition for your staff, and it is also essential to think about your team’s mental health. Consider providing resources to address trauma, stress, anxiety, and depression. Also, for revisions and updates to your personnel policies for re-entry, it is important to consult with an expert in human resources. The Michigan Nonprofit Association has an excellent toolkit of resources on this topic.
How can you provide a person-centered workplace?
People are saying that they want to return to “normal.” But the reality is that things have changed, and people’s situations have changed. Your employees are in different situations than they were before the pandemic. You have to understand their concerns. Consider sending out a survey to your employees asking them their thoughts on returning to the workplace. What do they need to return to the workplace? What things need to change? What services need to be added? Also, it is important to create flexible policies, if you are able, so that you can accommodate your staff’s different needs.
This blog post from IBM suggests thinking about the three “P”s; people, processes, and productivity. This post stresses the importance of thinking about people first. It also emphasizes the importance of communication, which leads me to my third question.
How can you provide continued communication?
What we learned from the pandemic is that things change every day. Change might not happen at the speed that it did during the first months of the pandemic, but change will be present even during this re-entry stage. Therefore, it is vital to provide consistent communication to your employees as changes are made to policies, guidelines, and procedures. It is also important to communicate to your community changes that are made to programs and services.
The board has an important part to play in communicating changes and in the re-entry process as a whole. PWC has a blog post and a list of resources for boards to help them in this process.
When you consider these questions, you can determine what is best for your staff and your organization during this re-entry stage.
For help transitioning back to YOUR workplace, contact Spark Group for a free 30-minute chat!
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