{"id":5462,"date":"2021-07-15T13:58:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T17:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/?p=5462"},"modified":"2021-12-16T16:51:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T21:51:37","slug":"make-reconnecting-with-employees-meaningful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/make-reconnecting-with-employees-meaningful\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Reconnecting With Employees Meaningful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At long last, the pandemic is coming to an end.  Things are beginning to return to something closer to normal, which means that your employees, many, if not most of whom have been cooped up at home for months, and in some cases, for more than a year, are starting to come back to the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a time of tremendous transition, however, and if it\u2019s not handled correctly, it can cause problems for you and your business in the weeks and months ahead.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few tips you can begin employing, starting today, to navigate the complexities of the situation we now find ourselves in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give Everybody Time (And Space) To Take A Breath<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past year has strained our society, our economy and our relationships.  You can\u2019t just wake up one morning and get back to normal, pretending that the past year didn\u2019t happen.  People are going to need a little time to readjust.  Don\u2019t expect that when your employees start showing up at the office again that things will just magically return to normal.  They won\u2019t, and if that\u2019s your expectation, then you\u2019re guaranteed to be disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of pent up emotions and pent up frustrations that have built up over the last year and change.\u00a0 People are going to need to talk about that.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re going to need some time to rebuild the connections and relationships they had prior to the pandemic.\u00a0 Those aren\u2019t things that can be done on the fly, while you\u2019re returning to business as usual.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re going to have to make time for those kinds of things.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t, your employees are going to take the time they need anyway, and you\u2019re going to respond in anger and probably with reprimands, which will undoubtedly crush morale.  That\u2019s just not a road you want to go down, so give everybody some time, and while you\u2019re at it, give some to yourself too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good way to start the healing and restoration process is to schedule a get together, away from work, just so your employees can get used to being around each other again.  This provides the perfect space for old connections to be restored, and for new ones to be made.  Make sure that this occasion isn\u2019t about the business of your business.  It should be about the business of your people.  That\u2019s an important distinction and one you need to get right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have A Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t just send out a mass email that everybody is to report to work next Monday and expect that to turn out well.\u00a0 It won\u2019t.\u00a0 Although the pandemic is coming to an end and things are beginning to return to normal, taking a global view, the picture is very different.\u00a0 The Delta variant is rampaging across much of the world, and even in many states here in the US.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, although the US has done very well where vaccination rates are concerned, that\u2019s not true in all parts of the country, and in those areas where vaccinations rates are low, the virus is spreading like wildfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that to say that there\u2019s still a lot of fear out there, so you need a \u201cgetting back to normal plan\u201d which will almost certainly include a period of time where returning to the office is entirely optional, and your employees can continue working remotely if they wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may want to introduce social distancing protocols at the office at least for a time, and slowly transition away from them, and some businesses are requiring proof of vaccination before employees can come back into the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no right answers here.  Ultimately, you\u2019ve got to do what\u2019s best for your business and your people, but when you\u2019re formulating your plan, nothing should be off the table and every option should at least be given due consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll also probably want to invest in plenty of hand sanitizer and build sanitization stations around your office.  Small touches like that will go a long way toward making your employees feel safer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understand that the Equation has Changed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many companies, including many huge companies like Google are embracing work at home culture.\u00a0 Expect it to be much more commonplace post-pandemic than it was prior to.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re also seeing evidence that a great many companies are interested in more of a hybrid model where employees alternate between working from home and working from the home offices they\u2019ve built over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, there are no right answers here, but if you\u2019ve got a subset of employees who prefer to work from home, and given that they\u2019ve been doing that for months already, you have to ask yourself whether there\u2019s a compelling reason to force those workers back into the office if they don\u2019t want to return.  After all, if the work is getting done, isn\u2019t that what matters most?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom line here is that managers have their work cut out for them in the months ahead.  One powerful thing they can do to make the transition to post-pandemic life easier is to make reconnecting with employees meaningful.  While the tips and ideas above aren\u2019t a magic bullet that will guarantee that they will be, they do represent a solid framework that will put you firmly on that path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At long last, the pandemic is coming to an end.  Things are beginning to return to something closer to normal, which means that your employees, many, if not most of whom have been cooped up at home for months, and in some cases, for more than a year, are starting to come back to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1036],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-office-life","category-tips-and-tricks"],"yoast_head":"\nMake Reconnecting With Employees Meaningful | Successories Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read the expert article Make Reconnecting With Employees Meaningful and learn more about employee management and engagement from the Successories Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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