How do I encourage staff to return to work after Covid?
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Running a business is challenging at the best of times. Trying to do it in the middle of the worst global pandemic in a century makes it harder still. So, with lockdown being eased to stimulate growth, just how do you persuade people they should return to work in a post-Covid world?
The simple truth is that whether you’re dealing with staff who have been furloughed as part of the Government-backed scheme, or you’re looking to reacclimatise teams who have been working from home for the last five months, how to encourage those people to come back to their desk or work station is the wrong question.
Instead, you really need to be asking – and then answering – the questions that are probably uppermost in the minds of employees who maybe haven’t ventured further than their local supermarket since we went into lockdown:
Is it safe to travel?
What is my employer doing/what has my employer done to safeguard my welfare?
How sympathetic is my employer to my concerns?
How flexible is my employer likely to be with regard to my personal circumstances?
There are many sayings about businesses and the people they employ, but the one that always rings true for me is the one that says a business is only as good as its people.
So, understanding that people who are looked after are more likely to perform better, more likely to show goodwill when needed and more likely to be invested in your business and its service or product isn’t exactly a quantum leap.
If you have good people working for you then you’ll already know – and can probably quantify – the value they bring to your business and it will pay you to look after that investment as you prepare to step-change back to whatever the new normal will be.
Good HR practice is about being prepared to do some things that, strictly speaking, you aren’t obliged to do as much as it is about observing your statutory responsibilities.
In order to do that, you need to know as much as you can about each individual so you can make decisions that are fair and reasonable within the context of your business. For example, an employee living with someone who is shielding may need greater flexibility in how they return to work.
The key to making good decisions about a post-Covid return to business as usual is great communication and great planning.
Smart business owners will engage with their employees to gauge feeling and get a handle on the key barriers, and then use that information to create a return-to-work strategy that has the health and wellbeing of staff at its heart.
Depending on the size of the business, that may mean deploying different working patterns for different departments, depending on the operational requirements of your company.
Understanding that a safe return to work is the absolute key to winning the hearts and minds of people who currently have to wear a mask in order to buy lunch from the shop next door to the office will be crucial to ensuring you come up with a strategy that works rather than one that triggers discontent.
Some businesses remain closed, so by definition the world is not a completely safe place to be in the context of the coronavirus and Covid-19. The Government has a ‘live’ policy on safe working during coronavirus but it changes frequently and business need to have an agile approach to staff engagement to be able to transition smoothly through a changing landscape.
There are some key areas to which you should give careful consideration as you plan for the return of your teams.
1. What measures and policies do you have in place to support the mental and physical wellbeing of your people;
2. Can you demonstrate that a return to work is essential? Is it business-critical?
3. Do you have adequate safety measures in place (sanitisation, cleaning protocols, PPE requirements, social distancing measures etc.)?
4. What assurances or guarantees will you need to put in place to secure a return that is agreed mutually between the business and any individual employee?
5. What will be your position should one or more employees be unwilling to return, and do you have the HR resources in place to manage whatever processes may need to be implemented to deal with those situations?
If you have a small or inexperienced HR team, it may be that you would benefit from some specialist support in the short- or medium-term to help you to develop the policies and procedures that may be required to successfully transition your business back to being fully operational.
For a no obligation chat about the post-Covid return to work challenges facing you and your business or HR teams, why not get in touch and see how Constantia Consulting can help get your business back up to full speed.
