Making Work from Home to Office Seamless for Everyone
- October 11, 2024
- Posted by: Anuj
- Category: Blog
As the workplace culture has transitioned in the past two years, employees have started facing anxiety and inertia, and dread commitments taken up during the WFH (work from home) times. This may act as one of the barriers in shifting back to work from office as these factors may hinder their personal as well as their organisation’s growth. So how do you, as an employer ensure that this transition takes place smoothly? Here is a four-step approach which will ease this transition for you, your employees and your organisation. Firstly, start by making the transition gradual and work on case-to-case basis. Eventually, communicate and showcase care to your employees. With an approach like this, you can conduct the transition smoothly without affecting the overall outcome of your organisation.
In the past two years, the workplace scenario has transitioned vastly, with employees shifting to the work from home mode. Today, as companies around the world begin to open the doors to their employees to resume working from office, it is worthy to note that this difference will invite their anxiety and apprehensions, thus affecting their work styles and productivity.
Some of the anxiety that prevent the employees from wanting to return to work, include falling sick, using public transportation, and moving to alternative childcare solutions, etc. While all these anxieties are rational and valid, it also means that the transition back to the workplace may be way harder than we can imagine. As human beings, we are sensitive to change. Feeling lost in the familiar space of a work environment can be one of the major challenges that hinder the true growth of an employee as well as an organisation.
So as an employer, how can you ease this transition for your employees? To enable this process, here is a step-by-step method that will guide you to maximise the potential of your employees in the post-pandemic scenario:
1. Make it gradual
Start with the hybrid model, that promotes the 0-2-3-5 workday schedule in a week – make the transition gradual. Give your employees the chance to gradually shift from the work from home model so that they can shed off their commitments that they had taken up during this period.
2. Work on case-to-case basis
Each employee comes with a distinct set of challenges that affect their work ethic. To be able to constructively cater to all their needs, it is very important to empower managers to understand these individual constraints. Training and development workshops that enable them to understand the right approach in dealing with employees can prove to be beneficial.
3. Communicate non-negotiability
As much as it is important to cater to the distinct needs of your employees, it is also necessary to understand that this transition is non-negotiable. The quicker your employees understand this, the faster this transition will take place. While the overarching end goal to make your employees transition smoothly is non-negotiable, the transition process can be negotiable.
4. Communicate care
When it comes to a smoother transition, creating situations that enable small victories for your employees, will boost their morale. Alongside, recognising individual challenges and offering counselling and feedback will elevate the overall shift. The care and concern you show right now will prove to go a long way in the future.
Following the above steps in an organised manner as well as proper training on the same, will help you, as an employer, to make your employee’s move as smooth as possible and thus, improve their productivity and your organisation’s outcome.
To know more about how to ease the transition to work from office, write to us on connect@fourthquadrant.in