With news that New Zealand and France are beginning to ease their lock-downs and the UK government easing guidelines on certain businesses (such as DIY stores) opening, it’s now time for business owners to begin planning for the moment that they call their team back to work. While many businesses may just think that they’ll send a ‘bat signal’ into the skies or shout “team assemble” across WhatsApp, after many weeks and months of furlough, it’s important to consider how you’ll get your team up and running as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Planning any return to work is important. Employers must bear in mind that under the Employee Retention Scheme, furloughed workers are not allowed to do any work for their employers. So, in the case of businesses that have had to change their processes and procedures (which undoubtedly will be the majority of companies in the UK) you cannot request your furloughed team to update themselves on changes in the business while they are receiving government support. There is also the question of how many members of staff you can safely accommodate within your work space and how they will commute to work. Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has already begun to suggest that work times could be staggered to avoid overwhelming public transport.
It’s not a reopening, it’s a relaunch
After months of lockdown, companies are going to have to consider that the way they operated before isn’t going to realistically continue in the future. Whether your business has been closed or has been running a reduced operation, it’s important to ensure that your team are ready to work when you relaunch.
For business owners and managers, this means that you are going to have to seriously consider the leadership strategies and behaviours that will need to be reinforced as you bring your teams back together. If you put yourselves in the shoes of teachers returning from the 6-week summer break, you have to take a team of people who have spent most of their days home schooling their children or binge-watching Netflix and get them back into work mode as quickly as possible. Look back over any leadership training courses that you may have taken in the past, or get some advice from some professionals.
How much training do your team need?
If your team need to be trained in any new procedures, consider how long it will take to get them up to speed. Can any training be done remotely? Will their role now mean that they have to learn to use new programmes or communication methods? It’s also worthwhile considering that team members will pick up processes and information at different speeds so, consider their abilities, whether there is anything that could hinder their learning, and how you can implement strategies to train them effectively and positively.
Are you going to need to recruit or restructure?
The lock-down has definitely made many businesses focus on staffing. For some, such as supermarkets and food delivery businesses, this has meant that they have had to recruit new team members. For others, this is now a time to consider whether redundancies are now necessary. While no business owner ever wants to make staff members redundant, changes in processes, for example increased working from home, can mean that some roles are no longer needed.
How do you employ safe social distancing?
In order to stop a second peak, it’s vital that all employers and managers incorporate social distancing within their workplaces. This means that you need to consider staggering work starts and ends and setting up staggered lunch/break times to ensure that the likelihood of spreading infection is reduced. While it would be difficult to change the physical structure of your workspace (for example installing more toilet facilities to reduce the chances of queuing), small changes can have a positive effect.
Remember that any changes you need to make that affect your employees in your business, you still need to ensure that you are following normal employment law rules. But restarting your business and reconnecting with your team doesn’t have to be difficult or worrying, especially if you’ve received practical HR advice from a team of experts. Dakota Blue Consulting are just at the end of the phone or an email to help you relaunch your business.