Remote working has enabled many organizations to maintain appreciable workforce productivity levels amid COVID-19 related travel restrictions and social distancing rules. But the office model has left many workers full of fatigue. According to a Microsoft study, 54% of employees said they felt overworked, while 39% decried exhaustion. The many virtual meetings and hours spent working at computers must be hugely responsible for this. The time has come for employees to return to physical offices as the world moves past the pandemic. However, a compromise is necessary to ease the transition back to traditional offices in light of the digital workplace transformation that’s already underway.
Employees’ Return-to-Work Concerns Amid Transformation in the Workplace
Employees are eager to come back to their traditional offices. However, there are certain things they’re looking forward to that employers should provide to ease the transition. Some key return-to-work pain points are:
- Ability to socialize and collaborate more with colleagues
- The flexibility of work schedules
- Coping with being away from family
- Balancing between work and childcare responsibilities
- COVID-19 safety in the office
Helping Your Employees Adapt to the Workplace Transformation
It’s important to re-imagine your workspace and create a futuristic model to accommodate everyone’s work preferences. It’ll be easier for your employees to adapt to the inevitable workplace transformation if the new environment effectively addresses their physical, mental, and emotional health needs. Here are some steps you can take to create a smoother return-to-work experience for your various teams:
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Find Out What Your Employees Want
The digital office transformation that’s getting everyone excited is all about getting the most out of your workforce. Therefore, you should make it employee-centric. You can survey your employees to learn about their concerns over returning to their physical workspaces. For example, after adjusting to remote working, it’s been a long time since many workers commuted to work by public means.
Also, think about what can be done for workers with child care responsibilities. You could let them have a video call with their kids as they adjust to working away from home or set up a corporate creche. Engage your employees regularly about these issues and create an appropriate return-to-work solution.
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Create a Hybrid Workspace
Individual employees will always have unique priorities coming back to work. With a hybrid model, you can create workspaces that help everyone gradually adjust to the transformation. This means supporting both remote working and traditional office setups in your organization. You may let some employees select which days to work from home and from the office. This arrangement can work for staff with young children and those that haven’t fully re-adapted to the daily commute.
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Implement Wellness Programs
Work is partly to blame for the physical and mental exhaustion reported among many employees. As you welcome your workforce back to the office, you should invest in their overall health. Your organization can sponsor wellness training or mindfulness coaching programs.
- Optimizing office space utilization through booking
- Reducing redundancy and cost of physical workspaces
- Can be integrated with workforce collaboration tools, including for remote work
How Hot Desk Booking Software can Streamline Return to Work
Digital is part of the workplace transformation that can more effectively address flexibility, workforce collaboration, and other priorities for employees coming back to work. To implement this in your organization, you need a futuristic tool like hot-desking software. The system streamlines the sharing of physical offices, which is ideal for companies with a hybrid workspace. The benefits of this software include:
QuickFMS hot desking software is one such application that can assist you in implementing a successful workplace transformation following COVID-19. Our customized hot desk management software can assist you in better organizing and managing your workplaces. Contact us today to schedule a free software demo and determine what is best for you.
Amit Prasad is the founder and managing director of SatNav Technologies and has business interests in a wide range of IT products. SatNav Technologies is an IT products company focusing on cloud based map data products and a pioneer in GPS, FMS & LBS Technologies. The product suite includes SatTracx in-the-field location based solutions and A-mantra in-the-office facilities management solutions. QuickFMS from a-mantra is a cloud based facility management system which enhances organization’s efficiency.
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