Returning to the workplace: What’s your plan?

Spell out any new ground rules and why you put them in place. Do they need to keep physical distance, wear masks or have their temperature checked at the office door? And explain the purpose of the ground rules – you care about their health, the health of their families and co-workers. 

Life is slowly reopening. As you invite your employees back to their offices let them know what you’ve done to keep them safe and the steps you’ve taken to prepare for their return. Be transparent. Whether you’re communicating on Zoom or email, ask them for their questions and input about what they need. It could be as simple as saying, “Did we miss anything that you’re concerned about?”

Once the troops are back at work, managers should facilitate small group discussions to discuss questions or concerns. Keep the meetings to three or four colleagues so everyone can contribute.

Use your super shrink listening skills, empathy and compassion to understand their apprehensions.

Address their issues and circle back even if you’re stretched to the limit. “Hey, Casey, one thing you brought up is… And I’m getting back to you to let you know what we’re doing about that.” 

Ask everyone for their solutions. Take notes. Thank them for their ideas.  Encourage them to support their co-workers to increase empathy, boost morale and build community camaraderie. 

Expect people not to remember things, because that will happen. When we’re stressed our listening and short term memory skills fall by the wayside. We’re fatigued, not sleeping enough or sleeping too much, not exercising or eating the right foods and we’re more likely to have health issues or accidents. Some of your co-workers and customers will be more sensitive and emotionally reactive – distracted, depressed or short tempered. They could be grieving for the world as it was before the crisis. Remember that a crisis on this scale affects our physical and emotional safety. 

You have a plan for their physical security. That’s great! But what are you doing about their emotional life? Ignore their emotional well being and you’re setting yourself up for costly problems you can avoid. What resources do you have in place for their emotional safety? How do you know they’re effective? At the Institute of Respect we offer brief crisis coaching for leaders and employees to build their resilience, strengthen their resolve and come through this crisis more adept, stronger and better equipped to handle any critical event. 

Stay positive. We’ll adapt. We can’t live on the edge of our seats indefinitely. We will build new normal models for our professional, personal, social and spiritual lives. Your colleagues are extraordinarily flexible, creative, resilient and tenacious. Give them room to collaborate with you to lead your organization into a new future. Yes, some will struggle more than others, but we will get through this and discover we’re all doing far more than we imagined we could do to enrich our lives, handle the challenges we face, and become better women and men.