Welcome your staff to the new frontier with these 3 tips!

With many more establishments reopening this week, many employees are about to come back for work. Employers’ mantra should be “welcome forward” instead of “welcome back,” according to the top Queensland HR professionals in a virtual boardroom gathering by QBM and BDO.

There are now many health and safety regulations and social distancing restrictions in place that can affect the way people work. We have reached a watershed moment, things are never going back to the way they were. Prepare your employees for this new era with these 3 tips to welcome forward your staff.

1. Workplace flexibility

As the danger of the virus still looms, the safest option is still allowing your employees to work remotely, especially if their job doesn’t require them to come into the office. In fact, some of the biggest companies have allowed most of their staff to work at home indefinitely, including Twitter, Facebook, and Shopify.

Working remotely has its challenges, however, there have been little to no findings of this work arrangement affecting productivity and efficiency. A recent study has determined that working from home increases productivity as remote staff work 1.4 more days than their office counterparts. There are now plenty of ways for teams to collaborate and communicate seamlessly, such as Slack, Zoom, Asana, to name a few. However, this productivity boost also leads to more burnouts, so it is the responsibility of the employers to ensure work-life balance among staff. To make sure that your staff can work smoothly at home, provide them with everything they need for their work, such as branded office supplies, gadgets, software programs, and even the snacks that they could enjoy during breaks.

2. Keeping employees safe and healthy

The responsibility of keeping employees safe and healthy is on the employer. Preparing them for the new regulations include monitoring and educating them about proper hygiene and social distancing guidelines and a contingency plan should someone test positive for the virus.

As an employer, you should make sure that your place of business is well-sanitised by developing strict cleaning and sanitation protocols. You should also provide protective equipment for the staff. Lastly, establish a risk management process that includes travel policy reviews, contact tracing, and tracking of employee compliance with health regulations.

Recommended items:

Hand sanitisers, protective gear, and face masks

3. Caring for your employees’ mental health and wellbeing

The instability and chaos that the pandemic has created are for sure doing a number on people’s mental health. It is natural for them to feel depressed and anxious about everything that’s going on now. We all know that poor employee morale affects productivity.

Make considerations for those who feel anxiety about returning to work onsite. You could also extend support to those working remotely by:

• Establishing a virtual support group for those who are not doing emotionally well.
• You could also make it easier for those who have to work onsite by providing alternative transport methods for those who commute.

Welcome your staff forward with these 3 employee safety tips!

Preparing your staff for the reopening will help ensure that your reopening will run smoothly. If you are unsure about the essential items for reopening, book a call with our Account Managers to assist you through this link.