We’ve been living with COVID-19 for most of the year and after the huge interruption it created in workplaces, we now seem to have found a kind of equilibrium – for the moment.
As outsourced HR consultants, we’ve observed a significant divide between staff who have embraced working from home and staff who have struggled. Obviously, personality plays a part in whether working from home is comfortable. But there seems to be another reason and experts have identified it as dependent on the task.
Process vs Collaboration
In workplaces where teams rely on each other for problem-solving, quick advice or the power of the group to collaborate, they need to work from home has been a struggle. Instead of asking an open question to the entire team, multiple emails or phone calls are required to solve a problem when working from home.
Inducting and training new team members and mentoring staff is also difficult when working remotely.
However, when the work involves tasks like thinking, report writing, emailing, even one-to-one or small group meetings, working from home is often preferred.
So What Does This Mean For Workplaces – Large And Small?
According to Ian Worthy, Principal of Strategy at Unispace, employers may need to create a hybrid approach where staff are encouraged to work onsite for part of the week and remotely for the balance. Of course, the success of this approach relies on several things:
- The ability of staff to feel safe while at work and during the commute where community transmission of COVID-19 is a risk
- The ability to build a sense of community and purpose while at the workplace
- The need to eliminate a “ghost town” environment because fewer people are working on site
Giving staff reasons to come to work and identifying which tasks should be completed onsite will present a challenge to employers – large and small. On the up-side, it could mean a reduction of business overheads by moving to smaller premises or sub-leasing a portion of your existing space to better fit fewer onsite workers.
Building Culture, Collaboration And A Sense Of Community
Pre-COVID, creating the “right” culture was a challenge. With more and more people working from home, maintaining and building culture is a real issue. The experts are still working this out but there are some suggestions that are low cost and appropriate for small and medium-sized businesses. Examples include:
- Frequent and regular communication from the business owner or senior management on what’s going on in the business seems to build a sense of connection and maintain team purpose. This communication can take the form of internal blogs, emails or online meetings.
- Maintaining workplace celebrations (following COVIDSafe protocols) such as staff birthdays or achievements. These can be used to provide reasons to work onsite on a regular basis.
- Providing staff with a choice of working onsite or remotely. By letting each person choose where they work, you are creating a truly flexible workplace which in turn, will build staff loyalty and productivity.
“It’s Challenging Times For Employers!”
Running a business has never been easy but COVID has thrown up challenges no-one could have anticipated. But that’s why it’s great to have an extra pair of hands and eyes on hand to help you manage your people.
The team at End2End Business Solutions can provide a range of ad hoc or regular HR advisory services to make managing your people easy. For more information or to request a complimentary consultation call the End2End team on 02 8977 4002.