2020 has been a horrible time for many of us in the globe, and there is no sugarcoating it. The virus outbreak has impacted us in many ways, and the loss of revenue across industries is indicative of how bad it’s been.
Now that vaccination programs are underway, communities and societies are starting to open up again, albeit with more safety precautions. Still, a return to conventional offices isn’t an immediate green light to our version of normal before the pandemic.
That said, business leaders and entrepreneurs must take critical steps in ensuring that their return-to-office orders are meticulously mapped out for everyone’s safety.
Here are a few things you should factor in when creating an effective return-to-office strategy:
Have your office professionally cleaned
No one can see the virus, but studies tell us that coronavirus comes in airborne particles and droplets. As such, you’ll want to make sure that your office’s tables, chairs, and common areas are disinfected.
What’s more, until newer studies tell us otherwise, you’ll want to retain social distancing initiatives at the workplace.
Additionally, you’ll want to make sure that areas in your office where people gather the most have enough space for them to do so more safely. Anyone who doesn’t feel safe working at the office will most likely not perform at their most optimal levels, so factoring in every nook, corner, and pathway should be done so diligently.
Hold open dialogues with your teams
It’s been more than a year since employees have comfortably worked at home in sweatpants. Lifestyles have been altered and schedules have adjusted to present times. That mentioned, asking your team members to show up at the office without consulting them first will only damage your business.
As much as possible, leaders must keep conversations open. Ask your people what their current work hurdles are and ascertain if going to the office will only worsen challenges for them today.
Talk to them about how they feel about returning to the office, and determine hybrid working models that may thrive for your business. How many of your personnel are excited to physically go back to work? How many are convinced that they no longer have to work in an office?
These things matter.
Put up education posters and signs
Returning to the office after a long time can be a challenge. In other words, our adjustment period will be evident. As a result, you’ll want your team members to get used to how and where they should move around at work.
Putting up signs to remind both guests and employees where the policies and protocols are can be helpful. From posters about how we should wash our hands to materials that remind your employees to religiously fill out contact tracing forms, the demand for us to keep up to the new normal in the workplace should be apparent too.
Additionally, you’ll also want to hold regular meetings about these updates. The more transparent you are about what your company’s health protocols are, the easier it will be for your employees to feel safe working at the office.
Monitor your team accordingly
First of all, we’re not saying that you police their every movement. What we’re pointing out here is the importance of establishing a system that tracks how people are effectively following your new procedures.
Is it easy for everyone at the office? Are there compromises that have to be made because there isn’t enough space? Which shifts make social distancing difficult to follow?
These are pieces of information that demand to be monitored.
Thankfully, no-code solutions exist to bridge that gap. While the age-old Microsoft Excel is a decent platform to take note of these things, you’re going to want a more modern approach to sourcing this data from your personnel.
Through no-code providers like Bubble, AirTable, and Jotform, surveys and feedback forms become much easier to produce. From return-to-office forms and self-deflation forms to vaccination and health-screening questionnaires, the no-code movement is an irreplaceable remedy to streamline how things are done in business settings.
Depending on the kind of data you need and the employees you need to send these forms out to, you can customize each template and automatically translate data to your liking.
Doing so helps you better understand what works, what needs to be improved, and which teams have it easier in terms of following updated workplace protocols.
What’s Next?
The pandemic isn’t over per se, but we’re adapting. As businesses continue to expand and offices start to reopen again, you’ll want to make sure that you keep up with the time to better future-proof your organization.
That said, consider it a crime to be turning a blind eye to the powers of no-code. The opportunities you can create with no-code tools are endless, and at a time like today, you’ll want to make the most of everything you can.
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