Reopening businesses and getting back to work after CoronaVirus

Following the latest lock-down across the world, companies start to slowly reopen their activities trying to get back to normal business operations.

This may prove to be difficult task for some industries as Retail and Hospitality who will need to implement new methods of work respecting the health safety regulation for their employees and customers.

HR Managers have a big pressure to go through this transition smoothly and easily putting employees in the top priority especially after working for so long remotely.

“It’s clear that the challenge of returning to the workplace isn’t just an operations challenge; it’s a human challenge,” says Caroline Walsh, VP, Team Manager, Gartner. “

Organization must adapt quickly to the new regulations governments are requiring and implement the necessary changes in order to accelerate return to normal productivity.

What are the main challenges HR professionals are facing?

1. Employees are reluctant to back to work

A new Citrix poll indicates 64 percent of workers aren’t comfortable going back to the office for another month or more.

Many people feel very threatened from the virus and don’t feel comfortable taking public transport or working in an environment where they have physical contact with colleagues and clients. Some also privilege working from home as they feel more productive and can mix personal life as well.

2. Health safety

Since your employees are the pillars of your company, health safety must be the first priority. Consult the government t regulation and implement them according to your sector and possibility.

Make sure there are enough hand sanitizers, masks and encourage distancing between colleagues or customers.

3. Company culture

How to implement back your company’s culture and values?

Employees have been working individually from home for almost 3 months, they are not as connected as before to their colleagues, work ethics and have lost some of the culture fundamentals.

Here are the top 4 steps HR Manager should implement:

1. Preparing ahead of time and planning

It would be a difficult scenario if workers were to all suddenly return to the office without knowing what to expect.

Preparations entail preparing and creating comprehensive guidelines that can be distributed to all employees before coming to work. Furthermore, some companies may decide to slowly make the transition between home and office.

2. Increase Communicate
   

HR departments and management need to structure clear messages and communicate daily with their workforce and updating them on any progress and new decisions.

Employers can have online team meetings to connect employees and keep them informed prior to changes. The importance of communication should not be overlooked as it’s key for making sure everybody is on the same page.

3. Flexibility and new working conditions

Furthermore, HR should be ready to offer flexibility. This includes paid/unpaid leaves and be extra understanding of potential requests.

Flexibility is crucial because It shows employees that you care and understand about their needs.

4. Think long term and don’t rush

Talk to your employees and assess the situation with each person individually to understand their needs, fears and psychological state.

The well being and psychological state of your employees might have been affected by this situation and therefore it is important to take extra care of your people.

According to that make a clear plan what employee is coming to the office immediately, who can/wants to work part time remotely.

In the retail market, some companies adopt the team A and team B strategy to minimize the risk of having the entire team in quarantine in case there is a contamination.

Conclusion

Organization must step up and be very creative making a clear plan of a action on how to come back to normal business taking in consideration all the factors mentioned above.

Every corporation should prepare and implement a different strategy that is unique to its employees needs and company structure. Taking precautions and being empathetic at the start can help stabilize the transition.