All aboard but all change!

As the lockdown restrictions ease, you may be asking your teams to return to the workplace after a period of working from home or being on furlough.

However, as we all know the return is going to be different to what you and they were used to.  Teams may only be working with half the original team or they may be facing a wall!  They may be working alone in offices or have big screens up between colleagues. 

Individuals may not be able to make their colleagues their cup of tea anymore (crikey I’m going to be thirsty if I have to wait for me to make a tea  – as many previous colleagues will tell you!).

It may be back to work, but it is more than likely to be ‘all change’. So how will you ensure you still get the best out of your team?  Read on for our tips to keep your team working effectively whilst building their confidence in the new norm.

Health & safety

There are many things you have to consider surrounding H&S. The UK Government has published 8 working safely during coronavirus pandemic guides to help employers, employees and the self-employed – make sure you read these thoroughly.

Share your risk assessments and the changes you’ve implemented with your team. By being transparent and clear you will build confidence in your team that they know you care and

are doing all that you can to protect them whilst ensuring your business can run effectively.

Communication

Now more than ever communication needs to be part of your HR strategy. Tell people what’s happened in the business over the past few months. What are the immediate priorities and challenges?  What are the expectations on staff?

Set clear expectations around communication, work priorities, and success measures. Will everyone be expected to work the same hours? Will all the same projects and plans be moving forward? Don’t let people make assumptions about anything that’s unclear – answer those questions from the beginning.

Consider your team and how they work best. Adapt your style to fit the team member. If you know someone is anxious have more regular check ins with them than someone who is happy to be back.

If everyone is working different hours or locations, staggered shifts etc., be clear on how and when they can reach you.

Keep aligned with your culture and values

There’s no doubt the business will have been impacted over the past few months – this could be negatively or positively but either way changes will have happened but do whatever you can to keep things aligned with your company culture.

If you used to have ‘food Friday’ what does that look like on staggered shifts?  If you used to have ‘meet up Monday’ how can you ensure the team keep relationships strong?

Things will be different but it’s important to ensure the factors that have made your business successful to date continue long into the future. Take some time to think about these things, make changes as appropriate and embed them into the business keeping them at the forefront of people’s minds.

Have purposeful meetings

I’m sure we’re all guilty – attending meetings that we don’t need to be at and/or not getting anything from the meeting.

So stop! Change your meetings to make them purposeful and effective.

Firstly, set them for maximum 45 minutes. Most are an hour so people will ‘use’ that time – what a waste.  Imagine the time you can save and get back if you took at least 15 minutes off of each meeting!

Secondly, set a purposeful agenda, i.e. ‘meeting today to discuss xyz’ or ‘at the meeting we will Identify the best way to deliver our new initiative’. People know exactly what the purpose is and it is clear whether or not they can add value.

It will depend on your business as to the amount and types of meetings you need and will have but make sure for each meeting – whether that be a one to one, a team meeting or a companywide meeting the agenda is clear, the attendees are appropriate and they don’t drag on for longer than they need to.

Recognise and reward

Accept some people are still juggling more than they’d ever had to juggle – with partners out of work, grandparents unavailable and kids at home.

Work with your team and understand their challenges to achieve a positive outcome for both of you and at the same time recognise those achievements.

On a one to one basis and/or company wide – shout about the great things people are achieving. Little acts like this encourage better performance from everyone else too which in turn will increase the business’ whole productivity

I hope you found this useful and it has given you some areas to think about. If you’re a business owner, finding yourself having to deal with some of these areas and you’d like some support, give us a call.  We can work with you to enable you to do business, not HR; refocusing your time on the things you love and letting us take one thing off your to do list.