Covid-19 has proved to be the deadliest viral outbreak the world has seen for more than a century. Fortunately, the pandemic started to fade, and offices are re-opening. Although lives and businesses won’t go back to normal anytime soon, leaders of the organizations have to plan to ensure their employees’ safety when they’re returning to workplaces.
While most companies adapted work-from-home during the lockdowns and still continue to work remotely, the time has come to evolve office spaces for the post COVID era.
So, how do you make your employees ready to safely work in the office space and thrive in the new normal? This article discusses the workplace strategies that help you prepare your workforce and workplace for the post-COVID era.
5 Workforce Strategies for Post-Pandemic Recovery
The pandemic has forced us to drastically change the way we work, interact, and travel. It has certainly triggered a significant transformation in everybody’s lives. The same goes for businesses. Although most businesses were already digitally transformed, COVID has accelerated the digital transformation rapidly.
Let’s see the drastic shifts in the workplace and company policies in the post-pandemic world.
Learn to Adapt
The way employees work, think, and react to a situation has changed. Organizations that best managed change and adapted to the digital shift survived the COVID crisis. The key to success is often the ability to adapt.
Studies show that 5% of companies are planning to get all their employees back to the office. Whereas 94% plan to have a mix of in-office employees, remote employees, and hybrid employees, and 1% of medium enterprises plan to become fully remote.
Understand your employees’ challenges and needs. While most employees find remote working is better and preferable, some feel a hybrid work model would make them more productive. Conduct a survey within your organization and create a policy that benefits both your organization and employees.
Develop Retention Strategies
‘Great resignation’ has become one of the popular trends during the pandemic. With millions of workers realizing multiple options and quitting their jobs for better opportunities, companies had to introduce effective retention strategies.
Employee retention has become more important than ever. Hence employers need to rethink employee retention practices to prevent talented employees from leaving the company.
Make People First
As employee experience and retention are top priorities today, companies need to put people first rather than the company’s policies or rules. As the pandemic has drastically changed people’s tastes and interests, companies need to develop robust strategies to ensure their employees stay with the company for long.
Make your people feel important, introduce employee loyalty plans through bonuses, pay raises, and other perks. It is also important to ensure proper work-life balance for your staff. Developing a flexible schedule that allows them to spend time with their family will make both of you win.
Re-arrange Office Space
The other most important priority is ensuring your employees return and settle safely and quickly in the office. For this, businesses have to rearrange the existing furniture to comply with six-feet economy protocols (simply, social distancing).
Employees’ desks should be arranged six feet apart from each other and any additional furniture should be removed to make more room to breathe.
Plexiglass barriers will help prevent the spread of the virus. The temporary plexiglass shields can be installed on employee desks, conference rooms, or hallways to maintain social distance.
Safety Precautions
Although the spread of COVID-19 has stopped, safety and hygiene are still our top priorities. Employers and recruiting teams should prepare strict safety measures to ensure the employees and workplace are safe.
It is recommended to implement temperature checks, provide more hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes in the office space. It is also suggested to create shifts to reduce traffic in the workplace.
Wrapping Up
It is quite tough to get back to normal. The success of companies in the post COVID era purely depends on how well they plan to adapt to the ever-evolving changes. The name of the game for companies in this post COVID era is fast adaptability to change. Implement proactive measures that ensure safety and employee engagement to embrace the future of work fully.
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