It appears the end is tentatively in sight – businesses everywhere are trying to determine how best to open their doors to customers and welcome their employees back. But is such a thing even possible? We’ve spent the past decade trying to cram as many employees as possible into open-office plans, but increasing the amount of space between employees is the best thing we can do for our community health and safety right now. 

Some employees are gunning to get back into the office as soon as they can, but others aren’t able to. Schools and daycare are still closed, and employees may be caring for loved ones impacted by COVID-19. Still more have no desire to go back into cubicles, and would prefer to continue working from home. 

How do we reconcile the pre-Coronavirus workplace with the post-pandemic one? There’s no one answer that works across the board, but we do have a few thoughts to share regarding how to safely and effectively reintegrate employees back into the workplace when it's acceptable to do so.   

• Prep The Physical Space 

As much as we might want to rush back into our cubicles and make ourselves at home, it’s going to take a little more prep work than just unlocking the front door. Management should thoroughly audit the physical building from a health and safety standpoint.  

• Are employees able to work 6 feet (or more) from each other? 

• What is the occupant limit for conference and meeting rooms of varying sizes? What about breakrooms and bathrooms? 

• Are there ample supplies of disinfectants like hand sanitizer, soap, and bleach? 

• How often are door handles, faucets, and keyboards being disinfected? 

• Is there a limit to how many people are allowed to be in the office at one time? 

• Are masks required to be worn, will you supply them if so? 

All of these questions should be taken into consideration when developing a plan to reintegrate employees back into the office. The organization’s management team should take all necessary precautions to ensure the ongoing health of their employees, even if that means delaying a full return to work. 

• Create Guidelines For Who Should Return And When 

Not everyone is able to return to the office immediately. Parents still have children out of school, daycares are still closed in some places, and family members may very well still be sick and require care. Just because society is moving toward reopening doesn’t mean that COVID-19 is over and done with. The virus is still alive and well, and symptoms must still be tracked and managed.  

The CDC has set up guidelines for who can return to the office, and we recommend following them, as well as determining your own guidelines. There’s a lot to it, but to generalize: do not end isolation until any symptoms and fever have been absent for at least 3 days without medication.  

Some employers, who are able to have their teams work remotely, have created general rules that lay out who should and should not return to the office. It’s important to remember that empathy, ethics, and common sense should win out in the end, but having a general set of expectations can help clarify the situation for employees who may be on the fence. Consider the following: 

• If you have to provide family care (child care, elder care, etc.), please work from home 

• If you or someone you live with are high risk, please work from home 

• If you have had a fever, sore throat, cough, etc., please work from home until you have been symptom free for at least 3 days 

• If you are grieving the loss of a loved one, please take time for yourself and only return to work when you are ready and able 

• If you are just as comfortable and productive working from home as you are in the office, feel free to continue working from home 

• Encourage employees to work in shifts, alternating days or weeks in the office with working from home 

Each organization should tailor their expectations to what is realistic, ethical, and safe, but these are some good options to get you started in the right direction. 

• Maintain Employee Privacy 

The EEO Commission has allowed employers to ask if employees are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 in order to protect the rest of the organization. However, this is still considered medical information and must remain confidential. If an employee tests positive for Coronavirus, the identity of the employee should remain anonymous to all but the most necessary staff - on a strict need-to-know basis. Other employees should be informed that someone they work with or have had contact with has tested positive, but not told specifically who. 

• Prepare For Competition 

As the economy reopens, expect competition to be fierce. From Jim Keane, President and CEO of Steelcase: “The crisis has created new challenges and new opportunities in almost every industry. Every competitor will try to respond. The winners will be those who most clearly understand their customer’s needs, collaborate to identify multiple solutions, prototype and iterate quickly, bring new ideas to market and make the risky decision to invest at scale.”  

This is the time to lean into your organization’s unique value proposition, provide intensely helpful customer service, and give away helpful, free information or services. You’ve proven that your team is agile and collaborative by making it this far – put those characteristics into practice to win over customers!  

• Rebuild Workplace Morale 

Employees could come back to the office having experienced trauma, or may be coming back to find fewer of their coworkers have returned. The unknown is unsettling and can lead to low morale among team members. It’s important to take steps to counteract this: promote achievements, encourage honest and open communication, and maintain a positive outlook. 

GovExec.com recommends doing a post-mortem on your time apart: “Engage all of your staff members in a formal process of capturing how the organization responded: What worked well? What could have worked better? How effectively were you able to continue your mission and essential functions? Ask staff to reflect upon their personal and organizational takeaways after being away from the office for so long.” 

Take what you learn from the review and integrate it into your continuing business processes to make sure the organization learns from the process. 

Returning to the office is a process that will happen slowly, with its own challenges. It's important that we, as a community and a country, take care to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of our employees. Our businesses cannot survive without them! 

Should you need a strategy or guidance when it comes to reintegration plans, we are happy to help. Contact us to speak with a human resources professional today!

By Jessica Palmer

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