You’ve stuck by your team through all the twists and turns of Covid-19. They, in turn, have stuck by you, working hard, keeping productivity up despite whatever challenges they’ve had to deal with while working from home. Now, it’s time to start bringing people back into the office.
How do you navigate this challenge effectively? You need to have a Return to Work Plan in place.
A Return to Work Plan will look different for every employer. Some businesses are doing just fine with the vast majority of workers working remotely; but some companies can’t stay fully remote, they need people in the office.
Your Return to Work Plan starts by addressing concerns employees may have about returning to work. It should outline all the safety measures that will be put into effect in the workplace, including all the state and local regulations and guidelines that you will be implementing.
Next, you need to determine who will come back to the office. We recommend looking at everyone’s roles on the organizational chart and deciding who is most needed in the office. You also need to determine how frequently people need to be in the office. With many states issuing guidance keeping offices at reduced capacity, you may need to create a staggered work schedule that brings different groups or departments into the office on different days.
Your Return to Work Plan needs to be transparent. Your employees need to understand the plan and why it is the right plan for your business.
Your Return to Work Plan needs to be clear in communicating your expectations to employees.
There may be some employees whose anxiety over returning to the office is extremely high. In the early stages of reopening you may be able to allow these employees to continue their remote work situations, but down the line you may need to be prepared to have serious conversations if their jobs require them to be in the office, and they do not fall into a high risk category.
There’s a lot to consider as you begin to get people back into the office. Do you have the right talent and expertise on your team to develop and implement your plan? Taylor HR Group can help.
Taylor HR Group offers a Return to Work Plan that is customized to fit your company’s needs. We will work with you to ensure you are fully prepared with the required return to work written policies, posters and other essential considerations you need to have in place in advance of employees returning to work.
We’ll help ensure you’re ready and informed of the key steps, laws and considerations to properly prepare for bringing your employees back to the office. We’ll make sure you have a written action plan in place to communicate clearly to your employees what they need to know about the new workplace.
Contact us to discuss developing your Return to Work Plan. Let Taylor HR Group help you bring your employees back on board.