So you’re looking to reopen the office after months of working from home. Although doing that might seem easy, the truth cannot be further from the fact. Reopening the office means getting everyone back and resuming operations. Thus, you must follow these next steps on how to successfully do it.
Set Your Goals and Priorities
The first thing business owners should do is set their goals and priorities. No doubt you’ve done a fine job of digitalizing your business to create a remote workplace. But since it’s time to get everyone back in the office, you have to revert back on that decision. While not entirely, every business has to ensure the safety of its employees.
Remote work was a necessary transition for thousands of businesses these past two years. In that time, the number of remote employees who worked more than 5 days a week from home jumped from 17% to 44%. Reverting back on a decision that puts 44% of the workforce working from home is a difficult task.
But there is a way to do it. The best way to do that is by taking small steps and working on eliminating them. Start by prioritizing certain aspects such as how many employees will get back to the office in the first week. Next up, ensure that your office meets the necessary reopening requirements before the next batch of employees return.
Create A Plan
In addition to setting goals and priorities, a detailed plan for safe reopening is necessary. Most employees are strangers to working from home. No doubt it hasn’t been easy on them, especially if their work revolves around being there in person and working directly with clients. These employees have had to substitute human contact with smartphones.
Part of your plan for reopening the office involves getting the most important workers in. These are the people that benefit the most from working in the office and whose work relies on being there in person. While each company will face unique issues, the best way to tackle them is by creating a reopening plan.
Unfortunately, this is the part that only you will know how to best approach.
Seek Feedback
With all that said, not every employee will be eager to come back to work. There are tons of reasons why certain employees would much rather continue working from home. It might be due to safety concerns, or it might be due to being more accommodated to work from home.
Regardless, the best way to approach this one isn’t to force your employees back to the office but to seek their feedback. Feedback is necessary for understanding the wishes and desires of your employees. And since everyone can get touchy in these troubled times, it will work against your reopening plans if you force a large part of your workforce to return to the office instead of continuing to work remotely
One way to clearly understand where each employee stands on this issue is to ask them to fill up a questionnaire.
Reduce Risks and Hazardous Exposures
The goal of every business owner is to ensure the safety of the workers when reopening the office. And that must be your goal as well. So what’s the best place to start? It’s by reducing risks and hazardous exposures. But how do you do that?
Not being careful with your hygiene is the easiest way to catch diseases. We’ve learned that in the past two years. So you should focus on the areas of the office that employees frequently use, such as the bathroom, the cafeteria, the restroom, elevators, and more. Not only that, but you also have to focus on the things employees touch the most, such as doorknobs, elevator buttons, and more.
The best way to ensure safety is to keep these areas clean at all times. You might need to hire a cleaning team to do that, or you can explain to each employee that everyone should clean up after themselves. Going on your bathroom break? Emphasize to employees to thoroughly clean their hands.
Common sense is the best way to reduce risks and exposure to hazards. And it is the best way to safely reopen the office.
Do It At A Steady Pace
While we did mention this in a previous point, you shouldn’t rush to reopen the office. Some employees in your company, such as sales teams and digital marketers, might not need to return just yet. So regardless of how you’re planning on reopening the office, do it at a steady pace.