Return to work or ‘return to the workplace’ planning is a complex task against a backdrop of uncertainty with the list of things to consider a long one: from entry and passage routes, office environments, catering, technology, legal considerations, transport, atmosphere, comms and much more besides. 

Though daunting, there is great opportunity to create a positive experience that will impact someone’s overall employee experience and, as a consequence, their engagement with the business now, and advocacy into the future.

Client’s of HRO, like most employers, are determined to get it right and be compassionate and human centred in how they approach this phased return, but realistically, few have the luxury of time on their side to carefully design every part of the return to work experience. 

Whilst time may not permit creating a detailed plan in all areas, we do recommend you find ways to keep the holistic human experience front and centre of the conversation. I.e. that an employee’s emotional and psychological experience should be as much in focus as their physical experience of the work and the workplace.  A topic that, according to HBR, is being discussed far less frequently.

As the HBR piece notes, leaders and managers will shoulder much of the responsibility for ensuring a smooth return to the workplace. Many companies are rapidly investing in upskilling them in areas, such as dealing with ambiguity, personal resilience, developing emotional intelligence and leading hybrid and remote teams. No doubt this will pay dividend in the weeks and months ahead, but HRO advocates that addressing the psychological and emotional needs of your work team shouldn’t be deferred until these programmes are in place – they need to also be part of the conversation now.  This might be as simple as journey mapping your employee’s return journey to help identify moments that may need special consideration or care to help manage people’s anxiety, and to identify new opportunities to better support your people.  It could be as simple as tweaking timings, investing in new support check-ins and reviewing performance assessment measures during this transition time.

A journey map can be a very powerful tool to help flag key and emotionally sensitive moments that need special attention.  If you are running this remotely, there are lots of good virtual collaborative whiteboards (e.g. Miro or Mural) which can help you to plot the journeys different groups will have. Where are the biggest anxiety points and where can you help alleviate them? Where can you inject fun and gratitude? Get it right and you’ll be doing a great service for your people, your managers and the long-term health of the business.

In summary, emotionally charged moments in time (of which this is certainly one!) create a lasting mental imprint. So, whilst the operational considerations, of ‘return to work / the workplace’ are vital, equally critical is how organisations understand, work with and respond to employees’ emotional and psychological needs. journey mapping is a useful tool to identify opportunities to enhance a positive experience – if you would like help with your own journey mapping please don’t hesitate to contact hello@HROptimisation.co.uk.

 

 

 

Hannah Powell