As the sound of your alarm jolts you awake, you realise it’s the start of a new week.

But this week is unlike any other. For the first time in three months, you’re going back to work. You’re excited but you worry. Will it be awkward? Safe? Have things changed permanently?

These are the fears your employees may face as they return to work after the pandemic and prolonged period of working at home. Making the transition easier for them will alleviate their concerns, so they can work happily and effectively.

Discover how you can maintain effective engagement when bringing your employees back to work to improve team morale, drive productivity and boost profitability.

Reassure through strong communication

Like you, your team has been forced to stay at home for an unprecedented time, unable to see their colleagues (and continue working in some cases), plagued by worry for themselves, their families and society as a whole.

This will make returning to work a tricky adjustment, especially if they’ve been hit hard by the coronavirus, or have lost confidence after being furloughed or shielding. However big or small, everyone will have at least some fears.

Keeping solid lines of communication open will help you maintain a strong sense of community. This is integral to helping employees feel safe and comfortable during this tense time.

Let’s look at five ways you can ensure effective communication post lockdown to maintain an engaged team:

1. Survey team members

It’s a fact - people don’t appreciate being told what to do, they like being asked for their opinion. And, as your employees prepare to return to work, this is the ideal opportunity to understand what they need to make this transition easier.

What concerns do you need to address? How can their managers support them effectively? How do they prefer to communicate?

When you get this information and start making changes, make sure you communicate how you’re taking action. And talk openly about how you plan to keep those returning to the work safe. Keeping your employees informed reassures them that you’re listening and that their wellbeing is front of mind.

On a recent visit to Amazon Manchester, we saw how they invited colleagues concerned about their own underlying health issues to visit the fulfilment centre for a tour first, to see all the safety measures they’ve implemented so they could feel reassured about returning to work. This is a great tip for anyone who has team members shielding, who will be returning to work from 1st August.

2. Create online ‘Town Halls’

Even if your employees are coming back to an office environment, you won’t be able to hold normal meetings thanks to social distancing.

Instead, you can create online ‘Town Halls’ where everyone dials into a webinar-style event. They allow employees to ask direct questions of their leaders, helping build trust and ensuring their voices are heard. Hiring an engagement expert to professionally manage your online ‘Town Halls’ helps the process run smoother.

3. Launch a communication app

Keeping your team connected digitally through their smartphone effectively drives engagement and strengthens unity among colleagues when face-to-face events aren’t possible.

Plus, an app is a great alternative to intranets when people only have access to their smartphone, such as employees in manufacturing, retail and logistics roles.

4. Ensure one-to-one attention from managers

Giving employees quality time with their line managers is critical for engagement. When they have their manager’s full attention, it ensures they feel valued and helps build a relationship based on trust. It’s also an opportunity for managers to give positive feedback to their teams, boosting morale through recognition of their achievements.

5. Experiment!

Now is the time to experiment – people will understand if some things don’t work as long as you do it in the context of ‘needs must, so we’re trialling this to see what you think’ and then ask for feedback: try it, improve it, do it.

Show your appreciation

Maybe the business wouldn’t have survived lockdown if it wasn’t for your people. Perhaps they turned on a pinhead to change their ways of working, develop new processes or put safety measures in place to protect colleagues and customers.

Whatever they did to help, this is an opportunity to show your appreciation and make sure your people feel valued. Studies show (1) that employees who feel appreciated and are shown signs of gratitude can be up to 50 percent more productive!

You might be on a tight budget due to lockdown and unable to reward staff financially. But that’s okay. The most important thing to do is solicit their ideas.

Find out what they would appreciate most - it could be an extra day off work, a free meal out with the team, an investment in their career development or simple verbal recognition. Getting their opinion will help you give an appropriate reward, rather than one that could sour relations.

Make change seamless

For many businesses, the recent pandemic is a catalyst for necessary change. To illustrate, consider how retail businesses face a dramatic shift to eCommerce, or how manufacturing companies need to streamline regulatory compliance processes.

Such change may be essential for survival. To execute a successful and smooth transition, your team needs to be completely on board with your new processes or projects. Achieve this by:

1. Creating awareness - set the scene and let employees know something’s going to change so they can mentally prepare and think of any questions.

2. Building understanding - explain what’s in it for them and the consequences of not changing to warm employees to your goals.

3. Generating enthusiasm - involve employees in developing the final outcome to make change more powerful.

4. Listening - listen to and address your employees’ concerns to help keep you on track.

5. Nudging - continue to remind colleagues of the new ways of working, eradicating old habits that can undermine progress. 

6. Celebrating success - share stories with employees about the great results their colleagues have achieved to embed change.

Getting professional support can make communicating change more impactful. Consider if this is a necessary investment to ensure your survival in a post lockdown recession.

Returning to work the right way

So, there you have it - returning to work with a bang requires:

●      strong communication to support employees

●      thanking employees for their input in your business’ survival

●      ensuring everyone is fully onboard with change

Maintain these positive actions and you won’t need to worry about poor performance or low team morale once employees come back to work.

For support in driving compelling communications and sustaining robust employee engagement after lockdown, call Andrea at Enthuse on 07812 343310 or email us at hello@enthuse-comms.co.uk

References:

(1) “In Praise of Gratitude”, Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, June 2019.