How has your organisation been coping recently? For most business owners, the answer will look very similar: the past few months have been incredibly tough.
Economically, though, we know that the wheels are beginning to turn again. The government has released its “phased” strategy for life post-lockdown. The restrictions are easing. Almost every sector is contemplating the return of employees in some form.
The question is: what should that look like on the ground? After so much disruption and uncertainty, it’s tempting to want to rush back in and resume the old normal.
But that could be a mistake.
If you’re a business owner, now more than ever is the time to take stock and get clarity on the business, and your workforce, as you come back together. To not just get through the return to work, but to do it in a way that makes you stronger and more resilient for what comes next.
How could you do that? Here are four ideas that will help.
Be obsessively current
“Preparedness is the key to success,” said the famous WW2 general Douglas MacArthur. Or, to put it in Scouts language: “Be prepared.” For business owners, this is the time to be rigorously up-to-date on every dot and comma of the back-to-work guidelines. The official guidance may have been unhelpfully vague in the early stage of the lockdown, but things are now – thankfully – becoming clearer by the day. Getting yourself across the Working Safely During Coronavirus section is an absolute essential. You could also check in regularly with this business-focused link from gov.uk (sorted by ‘newest’ updates). For the specific nitty-gritty of what this advice looks like for you, however, make sure you’re in regular contact with your own industry body. Right now, pretty much every trade association is releasing comprehensive plans for the return.
Be reassuring – and clear
Though we all want to get going again as soon as it’s safe to do so, we should beware the temptation to plunge back in without a clear strategy for the whole workforce. The lockdown unfurled over months. Unravelling all its effects and implications isn’t going to happen overnight. This isn’t just about having a robust health and safety strategy in place for Day 1 – the deep cleans, distancing rules, PPE etc. That’s a given. It’s about communicating reassurance to your employees. That you have their safety covered. That you’re ready to help them readjust. That you have a route map back to normality. To do this, you’ll want to be regular and open in your communications. You might also want to consider a re-induction programme as they return. Be clear in your support, and in your expectations.
Be flexible
In normal times, consistency is essential in employee relations. But – apologies for stating the obvious here – these aren’t normal times. The truth is that COVID has dealt each of us very different hands. Where one employee will be itching to come back, another’s situation will be completely different. The single parent, for example, with one child at home, one at school and another part-in-part-out of school depending on the phased return. This calls for sensitivity, and a readiness to treat each case individually; if a colleague is reluctant or struggling to return then to talk it through – to ask: “What issues are you facing? How can we help? What would work for you?”
Be change-ready
Whatever uncertainty swirls around the virus and the economy, one thing is clear: businesses now need to be super-adaptable. This means asking tough reflective questions about the past months and what we can learn from them. What has worked well across the business? What hasn’t? What do you need to change as a consequence, and how can you share these changes with your management team? These changes might be fairly simple – updating the database of employee contact details, for instance – but implementing them now can help to safeguard the company against future uncertainty. The ability to reflect, learn and adapt will be vital over the next few months. None of us knows exactly how the economy will develop. But we do know that, whatever happens, the directives will continue to evolve. And that means being ready to evolve with them.
Despite all the difficulties we’ve faced, we can draw positives too. Many businesses and employees have shown remarkable resilience during the lockdown. This bodes well for what comes next. With careful reflection and implementation, there are opportunities for businesses: to create a cogent plan for the return, to communicate it clearly to employees and to take everyone on the same journey. If we can do this, the result will be highly engaged, well-prepared workers who know where they’re heading and feel they’ve been heard and cared for. And in the long run, that’s no minor achievement.
If you don’t yet have a business-wide strategy for the return-to-work and beyond, drop us a line to see how we can help. We work with businesses across Hampshire and are currently drawing up return-to-work project plans for a number of our regular clients. Whatever shape your own business is in at the moment, we’re ready to help.
