Many countries have already started lifting their lockdowns as they cannot bear more downfall of their economy. Many of the leaders believe that eventually we have to get back to the standard working practices, but the truth is that the workplace will never be the same post-lockdown period. Trends in workplace post-lockdown and the look of its operations will see significant changes. The goal will be to regulate the supply chains and offices in a safe manner, manage the health of the employees, providing flexibility to employees in the workplace so that they would want to return.
Organizations would be under constant pressure as to how they handle their workers ‘ health. But company leaders would need to consider their reintroduction plans carefully. It is not going to be easy as staff may feel out-of-touch returning back to a new set of rules, structures, purposes, goals and expectations. When businesses return to the workplace, they’ll need to re-onboard their furloughed employees. New Trends in workplace post-lockdown will be needed so that offices take preventive measures against COVID-19 to ensure that offices are safe:
Introduce infection prevention solutions
Health of the employees will be the most important priority of the companies. The most significant part of this will be the commitment the organization makes in health and safety initiatives. This will not be limited to taking temperature controls when entering the workplace but also investing in specialized cleaning systems, controlling people’s flows to stop congregations, revising seating arrangements, restricting time spent in meeting rooms and changing sickness policies. When properly implemented, physical measures such as sealed devices and cough masks can be crucial to protecting workers when they start navigating a changed healthcare climate.
Adopt touchless technology to eliminate risks
With common surfaces now seen as possible sources of contagion, companies developing and producing hands-free goods are seeing a major increase in their sales inquiries. We have already noticed surfaces being covered with plastic or glasses to prevent contamination. The social media is filled with DIYs on how to make surfaces we touch everyday safe. New practices that will shift control of the workplace environment to each person’s smartphone device. This includes Usage of Bluetooth to allow workers access to their offices, replace fewer guest sanitary manuals or kiosks and biometric check-ins for certain workers, Widespread adoption of workplace engagement devices. Using Google, Siri, Alexa and Cortana to virtually handle mundane tasks such as “unlock my office,” “order my usual lunch in 10 minutes,” or even “setup a meeting for me with John tomorrow at 3 p.m. in a conference room for two.”
Preparing strategies to handle emergencies
Organizations will plan for a possible shut-down situation if an employee tests positive at one of their places of work. Organizations need to provide a quick exit strategy for successfully checked sites that have been affected. Setting these goals companies would make their workers more assured that their employer takes their wellbeing seriously.
Make employees feel comfortable
Include the workers and consider what is most important to them in the workplace post-lockdown when it appears there are so many choices to make on what to enforce. This point is a direct communication on the company’s health and safety policies, and it is important why they are enforced. As part of this, companies should take time before returning to the workforce to meet their workers and consider their concerns. It would be a risk for companies to expect workers to return to work once limitations on the lockout are removed. It’ll be some time before the Covid-19 vaccines are available and you’ll have to ask your workers to work in tough situations at some point.
COVID-19 increases our understanding of how easily we can promote germ propagation through public tools. We don’t know exactly how the pandemic could reshape the workforce, but we know it’s driving digital change and speeding up workforce technology adoption. All of which will lead to major improvements in the way the workforce looks and will run in the future. For example, some businesses will test transfers to a smaller set of core hours (such as 10-2 between Tuesday and Thursday) so that they can handle meetings and interactions while also providing employee flexibility. Trends in workplace post-lockdown may include technology to improve the experience of working from home.
It is important that employers understand that all their workers have and continue to experience trauma – after all, it is our generation ‘s greatest health problem – and it will take time to convince workers before they return to work. The workforce we are returning to will be very different from the one we left and business leaders need to build a vision of what theirs will look like.
