One of our team was Zoom chatting with a friend last week and the topic of furlough came up. The friend bristled at the word, they work for an animal charity and recalled how half the team were furloughed and the other half had to carry on working with the animals. The words “deep suntans” and “extended holidays” entered the conversation. There was a huge amount of resentment towards the colleagues who had been told to stay at home. The conversation got us thinking about how businesses will reconnect their teams when staff members return to work. How can leaders get their teams working as a cohesive unit again, particularly if some of them will still be working remotely?
One thing that’s undeniable is that everyone has had a different experience of the pandemic, both professionally and personally. There are the obvious differences between those who carried on working and those who were furloughed or who worked from home, but the pandemic has also had a massive impact on our personal lives. Some people may have experienced losses, others may have been seriously ill themselves, there’s home schooling, potential breakdowns of relationships, and for at least 46% of people in a recent survey, feelings of isolation. For others, the lack of commutes, opportunities to roll out of bed and work in your pyjamas, and the chance to spend more time with the kids will have been amazing.
With this in mind, team building activities should be a priority for any leaders bringing their staff back to work. If your business is now embracing a hybrid model of working, with some staff continuing to work from home you can either make them accessible online or invite remote team members into the office for a Covid safe team building session. At the same time, it’s important to make an effort to understand your team member’s experiences. For example, furloughed members may feel that their position within the company is less secure, while the non-furloughed may have the same opinions as above about ‘extended holidays’.
Understanding how each member feels also gives leaders the opportunity to rethink the ‘employee experience’. In many ways businesses are having to push a giant reset button, which provides a brilliant excuse to listen to the team, reconnect with them, take on feedback and alter processes to suit them. As an example, a survey by Totaljobs found that 32% of UK workers (rising to 60% of those working in London), were concerned about the safety of their commute. Having this knowledge allows leaders to consider improving the flexibility of their working processes.
Another vital consideration for any business with returning workers is that staff will need time to adjust back into their work. While some may be champing at the bit to dive back into work, others may need a slower pace and more support. Having a reboarding strategy with clear processes in place will make this easier. Additionally, leaders should ensure that the correct support is in place and that all their staff are aware of how to access it. Again, this information could be passed on through an onboarding event that could be held both physically and virtually.
Finally, it’s worth considering creating welcome back or well-being packages for staff members. They don’t have to be expensive and could be as simple as some hand sanitiser and a personalised mug to reflect new Covid safe working practices.
What is clear is that the last 12 months have left many businesses working on the back foot, but the next 6 months now provide an opportunity for pre-emptive planning to ensure that whatever the ‘new normal’ is, everyone feels happy and safe working within it.
As ever the team at Dakota Blue are here to advise you and assist you with anything to do with returning staff and furlough. Whether it’s help in creating Covid safe workplace policies or assistance in planning your welcome back team building, we’re here.