Overcoming Challenges in Returning Back to Work

Category: Business, Organisation, Team Management, Technology, Work From Home, Work from Office

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity” – Sun Tzu

The Covid Pandemic brought major disruptions in the way businesses carried out their operations. Organizations handled this metamorphosis by adopting new ways of working which allowed employees to work from remote locations through a hybrid working model. Now that the business leaders want their employees to return back to their workplace, they are facing some amount of resistance from their workforce which could put businesses at risk on account of lower productivity and rise in turnover. Let’s look at some of the ways by which a leadership team can mitigate these challenges through enhanced employee engagement and collaboration.

It’s imperative to engage and connect deeply with employees by fostering positive workplace culture through employee newsletters. Understanding employee concerns and resolving any unfounded fears and anxieties about returning back to work would go a long way in instilling faith and confidence amongst the workforce. Use employee communication apps to establish and deepen connections with team members. Leverage on RSVP alerts to send notifications about important meetings and gatherings. Reward and recognize performers for their achievements and celebrate special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries with animations.

The leadership team needs to play a key role in managing change and handle this critical phase of transition tactfully. Conduct Online surveys to identify any challenges faced by employees. This would help in keeping a tab on employee sentiments and understand their mindsets and behaviors. Reinforce faith and restore employee confidence by driving key leadership messages through digital signage. Drive key messages about change through multi channel messaging and assess employee understanding of changes with quizzes and online questionnaires. Make use of remote collaboration tools like video conferencing and zoom to strengthen communication capabilities across the teams.

Another important concern which needs to be addressed is to ensure employee safety standards. Ensure that the employees who are required to return back to work are vaccinated to de-risk the workplace environment. Leaders can make use of technology driven contact tracing to check the spread of virus and ensure that the staff members are protected from any infection. Maintain social distancing norms and avoid people getting too close to one another in the office premises by prioritizing health and safety. Re-evaluate physical space and amend workflows by deploying sensors and wearable devices.

Conclusion

We at Newlineinfo Corp put our employees first and care for their wellbeing. We have a robust action plan and are committed to provide all the support and assistance required by our workforce while returning back to work.

Working From Home: Is it making us paranoid?

Category: Business, IT staffing and consulting, Leadership, Work From Home

“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses or the problems of modern society.”- Vince Lombardi

Easily a juggernaut in the current times, the Covid Pandemic has transformed the modus operandi of the corporate world and businesses are fast embracing new ways of working to adapt to this sea change. Remote working has made geographical boundaries and social demographics less significant thanks to far-fetched digital outreach. However, it has also given rise to social isolation resulting in negativity, a sense of disbelief leaving the digital workforce paranoid. Let’s look at some of the ways by which Work From Home Paranoia can be managed effectively. 

Due to lack of personal interaction and social cues, it is important that business leaders and managers stay connected with their team members in remote working. The C-level team needs to keep the communication channel open to foster a culture of openness and transparency. Employee grievances need to be heard with an open mind and adequate measures need to be taken for remediation and redressal. This world helps in maintaining a healthy relationship with team members and provides them developmental feedback for better performance and enhanced productivity. 

Setting the expectations clearly with the team members and managers would go a long way in building trust and creating a platform for a mutually rewarding relationship. People would start to acknowledge their shortcomings and learn to align themselves to the organizational goals through positive engagement and collaboration. Invoking active participation from all team members would help in breaking the silos and generate creative ideas for process improvements and building efficiency measures. 

Digital adoption has opened the floodgates for exhaustive meetings through new age tools like video conferencing, Skype meetings, podcasts, webinars etc. Scheduling the meetings based on their importance and delegating the not so important tasks to the other team members can help in freeing up quality time which can be used effectively. Managing meetings with the availability of all team members would help in delivering key messages and promote remote inclusion. Proactively managing scope creep is essential to avoid staff dissatisfaction and burn out. 

Conclusion

Overtly personalising other people’s actions can lead to frustration and emotional disruption. Respecting differences and developing a sense of empathetic understanding towards others opinions would help in emotional catharsis resulting in positive remote relationships. Maintaining a good work life balance and spending a quality time with friends and family would help in emotional rejuvenation and recharge. Leverage on innovative people engagement techniques like casual no agenda meetings through virtual coffee and lunch sessions for socialisation and better team bonding. This would be a stress buster and provide the much needed respite from bone-dry routine and mundane interactions. We at Newlineinfo Corp have good work ethics and we are committed to the well being of our employees. We demonstrate an attitude of care and concern for our staff through inclusivity, team bonding and empathetic understanding.