4 key steps for HR leaders navigating the return-to-office phase
HR leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to reshape individual wellness and productivity goals.
When the world began to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic over 15 months ago, HR leaders were in “war rooms” with CEOS, scrambling to accommodate their teams’ needs in a remote-work environment. While some companies had offered occasional work-from-home options prior to the shutdown, very few operated with a completely remote workforce one hundred percent of the time. Add to that uncertainty about how long the situation would last, what financial impact the pandemic would have on business and the fears and personal anxiety we all faced, and it quickly amounted to a career-defining and life-altering challenge for many leaders.
Related: Taking the lead: The evolving role of HR professionals Now that we’re approaching the post-pandemic period, companies are finding that the return to office is not just a matter of returning to working life as it was. In fact, the traditional office will never look the same again. According to a study published in Human Resources Executive, 65% work remotely full-time and 58% said that they would “absolutely” look for a new job if their current one didn’t allow them to continue working remotely. While 33% of employees said they’d be interested in a hybrid work-from-home/in-office arrangement, only two percent said they’d like to return to the in-office model on a full-time basis.
Given these findings, HR leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to help their companies navigate the return-to-work phase in a way that supports individual wellness and productivity goals of the entire team, and here’s a framework for how to do it.
Survey the team
The above statistics speak to national trends, but of course every workplace is different. By implementing your own return-to-work survey, you can gain valuable insights into how your team is feeling and how best to accommodate them within your company’s structure.
Focus on flexibility
If there’s one thing professional teams have collectively learned to value in the past year-and-a-half, it’s flexibility. Giving employees a voice in the kind of office environment that works best for them can help remove any barriers to productivity they are experiencing. Having more autonomy and the agency to choose has also been shown to reduce burnout. While there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution for every workplace, some of the benefits of a flexible plan include:
- More dedicated energy: For some, not having to commute to work provides mental health relief because employees feel more comfortable in their own space, with fewer distractions and external stimuli. In other cases, employees may welcome the separation between work and home life—they may thrive off the energy of an in-office environment or view their commute as a built-in way to mentally transition between their personal and professional modes. Empowering employees to find the right path for them is beneficial to both the individual and the team.
- Personal accommodations: Whether they’re working parents or caregivers, or simply require time to take care of their personal needs and wellness, employees have life responsibilities that can take them out of the office on a somewhat regular basis. A flexible work plan can help them stay responsive, while reducing the stress and guilt many workers feel about trying to balance work and personal requirements.
Preparing for re-entry
From a planning perspective alone, the return-to-work phase has a huge advantage over the shutdown phase, in that we actually have time to prepare and ensure we have the best systems in place for both employee productivity and workplace wellness. One of the key things to keep in mind is making sure that the team still feels connected, regardless of whether they’re in the office, working from home or following a hybrid model. Many teams have gotten used to this over the past year, but as things transition, it’s a good time to review whether the current practices are still working and what might need to change. It’s also crucial that your benefits package is ready for what comes next. Some important questions to ask are:
- Are mental health benefits easy for employees to access? Does your plan offer an intuitive user experience that gives employees the ability to reach providers without a hassle?
- Do employees have sufficient support for navigating their benefits? (This isn’t always easy—particularly when an employee might be struggling with their mental health.)
- Are you considering the outsized impact the last year has had on people of color? Are you choosing solutions that will be able to speak to the unique needs of the diversity of your employee population?
- Are you promoting your company’s mental health benefits with an anti-stigma approach? Perhaps there’s an opportunity to launch a promotional campaign with your mental health benefits vendor that is personalized to your team’s needs and focused on encouraging more team members to explore their options. Are there senior leaders who are willing to speak up about their own challenges in order to model vulnerability?
Follow up and check in
Just as the pandemic shutdown was an ongoing learning process, the return-to-work phase will be as well. It’s important to regularly check in with your team to see how they’re feeling about the transition, and perhaps do a follow-up survey within a few months to determine if there’s anything that needs to be revisited or revised. You could also hold group listening sessions to provide a place for people to share their experience as they are returning to the office.
While there is still a lot of uncertainty about how businesses will move forward in our post-pandemic world, the ability of HR leaders to collect and use data from employees themselves about what makes them more efficient and feel more supported is a valuable tool as we reimagine new ways of working while returning back to the office.
Brad Lande-Shannon is chief people & marketing officer at Spring Health.
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