Reviving the Dead: What your organization can do to reconnect the workplace.

As the numbers of COVID-19 cases are going down with the rise in accessibility of vaccines, many organizations are looking to bring back their employees from remote/home working. Having a global impact from COVID-19, 4 out of 5 workers have been impacted by lockdown/stay home environments and data has yet to be fully collected on completely understanding the impact this has caused to both people and organizations.

However, through this period of being away from the workplace and being physically separated from social gatherings, many people will have mixed emotions in reconnecting to both the workplace and venturing back out into the world. It is essential that organizations take extra steps to reintroduce their employees back into the workplace.

The best procedure to allow this transition to flow smoothly is the understanding of the phase of a crisis: responding, recovering, and thriving. From these phases, an organization can systematically apply strategies to reconnect their workers to the environment and even create stronger bonds.

First, the organization needs to understand the shift in the mindset of their people, with trust and working back in the workplace.

Second, the organization needs to be aware of the challenges that will be faced from multiple venues, accounting for the what-ifs and uncertainties.

Third, the organization needs to rebrand its trust in the employees and re-establish its culture. To benefit most from this process, an organization would look to improve the lessons learned and implementing changes to current structures allowing the foundation and vision of the organization to conform naturally and smoothly.

Fourth, have an actual plan prepared for reconnecting with the goals and the vision of the organization, and it's ok to deviate from the plan, if, the end goal remains the same and the people are the priority.

Lastly, be humble and seek help, learn from what has worked and what has not in reconnecting the people of the organization. Most importantly, this is not the time to have a system of ‘winging it.’ Even if these steps may seem simple, there are many variables to consider when reconnecting the work environment.

I hope this was helpful and shed some light on the process of reconnecting the people in the workplace.

Of course, as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.