How are employers preparing for employees' return to work?

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Need to know:

An effective communications line between the employer and employee is needed to ensure a smooth transition back into the workplace.
Employers can offer benefits to support employee health and wellbeing on their return.
Employee feedback can help the workforce adapt smoothly to the transitions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the country looks to how it will adapt to a ‘new normal’, many businesses are preparing a return-to-work strategy.

With the expectations of employees fluctuating due to being furloughed, having their hours reduced, or working from home over a long period of time, it requires significant effort from employers in preparing to reopen workplaces.

The Burson Cohn and Wolfe (BCW) Return to work survey, published in May 2020, found that 60% of employees feel uncomfortable about returning to work in the coming months. For the majority, this could impact their mental health and their productivity at work. Employers can use their benefits provision to help alleviate some of the stresses associated with returning to the workplace.

Clarissa Valiquette, managing director of PSB Insights EMEA, believes that while there may be fear and worry for many employees when they return to their office, it's important for employers to be clear and concise when communicating how they will return.

Employers could continue to offer benefits, such as virtual wellbeing sessions and online competitions that they introduced during Covid-19 lockdown to help them smoothly revert back to office life ensuring maximum engagement, Valiquette suggests.

Preparing for a return

During the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) lockdown, many employers introduced virtual benefits such as online counselling sessions and wellbeing support to help employees manage their mental health.

Natalie Rogers, HR director at Unum, says: “Organisations have provided staff with employee assistance programmes (EAP) to support employees with their mental health. It's important for employees to continue using this when it's most needed on their return to work."

Communicating and listening to employees may also aid a smooth return. "Many businesses have been listening to their staff to ensure they are fully safe and supported," says Rogers.

"This is a stressful period and can leave many feeling mentally vulnerable. Hearing people's thoughts and listening to individual feedback will help people feel positive about things getting back to normal."

Many employees may not be prepared to return to a physical workplace just yet; research published by Adzooma in June 2020, found that six in 10 (60%) of employees want to continue working from home rather than return to an office.

This is a key issue for employers; aside from ensuring that the workplace is a healthy and safe place to work physically by ensuring that the risk of catching and spreading the virus is low, they also have a role to play in supporting the mental health of their employees during this transitional period.

Nick Taylor, co-founder and chief executive at Unmind, says: “Employers should be looking at how they support the mental health of their employees as they return to work. It’s likely that while some employees will be excited to return and reconnect with their colleagues, others could be more reluctant.

“Many employers are preparing for a phased return to the office, where employees are put into ‘team bubbles’ which will work to keep social distancing intact and lower the risk when working in close proximity to others.”

Some employers are already going the extra mile in ensuring that their employees are kept well informed about the current situation, and what the next steps are. Kate Palmer, associate director of advisory at Peninsula, says: “We’ve been seeing many employers communicating the situation with their employees through e-learning opportunities, giving them a virtual walk-through tour of the new office, or having a video conference where employees can share thoughts, to reassure everyone that the move back will be safe."

Prioritise wellbeing

Every organisation is dealing with the return to work in a different manner, but there are benefits that employers can to offer to ensure safety, wellbeing and productivity are a top priority.

“Most employees are worried to take public transport, and while employers aren’t obliged to do this, purchasing face masks for employees can help them feel safer when they are travelling," says Palmer. "We’ve personally provided car spaces for all our returning employees to ensure that they’re not at risk trying to find a parking space. Offering extra space for bikes is also an initiative that employers are beginning to introduce, as the government has advised the UK public to avoid public transport as much as they can.”

Promoting current, or introducing new, benefits such as season ticket loans, parking spaces, cycle-to-work schemes, or working to more flexible hours, may also put employees’ minds at ease.

“It’s critical during this time that employers are able to offer new ways to boost employee morale, and maintain a cohesive, healthy work culture, whether it’s by providing more flexibility to staff during working days, helping to ease the commute by investing in cycle-to-work schemes, or introducing socially distanced initiatives such as physical activity challenges," says Taylor.

“This is a really positive step and something that should be embraced by more organisations. As we enter another period of adjustment, it’s now more important than ever for employers to provide support to their employees through benefits. This is a critical time where staff productivity, engagement, and morale will play crucial roles in rebuilding the economy.”

The return to a 'normal' office environment may be a long way off. If organisations refrain from offering perks such as free fruit, tea and coffee, or subsidised canteen food, this could open an opportunity for them to introduce benefits such as discounts on food and drink at local shops or restaurants.

However, some organisations may choose to continue offering free tea and coffee, with appropriate health measures introduced to ensure safety around this. Prysmian Group is resuming all food and drink activities within the office, and the canteen and kitchen will be sanitised every hour. The employer's top priority is the wellbeing of every employee and their families, and it intends to keep working hard to ensure everyone’s safety, said Valerio Battista, chief executive at Prysmian Group.

When it comes to offering certain benefits, employers may look to come to a compromise with employees to understand what best suits them, says Peninsula's Palmer. Accepting feedback on a return to work from employees will be effective, as the current situation seemingly remains ever changing.