Back to Normal – Or a New Normal? How to Balance Local Health Guidelines and Your Team’s Needs

Back to Normal - Or a New Normal? How to Balance Local Health Guidelines and Your Team's Needs Clarity Consultants

Today, many companies are battling with a very important question. How do they balance local health guidelines with their team’s needs?

While many areas are reopening, restrictions aren’t fully lifted. Additionally, many professionals have spent the past year working from home, only beginning to return to offices in the last few weeks.

Ultimately, safety has to be the priority. In many cases, that means leaving behind certain practices of yesteryear to embrace something new. If you want to keep everything in balance, here’s what you need to know about navigating local health guidelines and meeting your team’s needs.

Is There A New Normal?

Don’t Haphazardly Jump Back to Your Old Way of Working

Once workplaces were allowed to reopen, many companies were chomping at the bit, ready to go back to the approaches they used pre-pandemic. However, bringing everyone back haphazardly isn’t ideal.

While most people had to adapt to working remotely without any notice, that isn’t the case we’re facing now. Time is on your side, giving you the ability to plan properly and reintroduce employees to the workplace in a strategic way.

Consider how you can organize your workforce to create a metered reintroduction to the workplace. This could include allowing your teams to remain remote part-time, with each person only having a few days in the physical office each week. By using that approach, everyone has a chance to adjust slowly, which is beneficial.

Plus, it makes it easier to adhere to social distancing guidelines and similar recommendations. When there are fewer people in the office each day, following cleaning protocols may be easier. Additionally, if someone falls ill, there is less total exposure.

Additionally, you can determine if telecommuting should remain part of your paradigm. Often, professionals are at least as productive – if not more so – when working remotely as they in the workplace. They can also maintain better work-life balance, something that boosts morale and job satisfaction. In time, you may discover that a hybrid approach is actually ideal.

Prioritize Safety and Digital Transformation

If COVID-19 thrust anything to the forefront in the world of business, it’s the need to prioritize both safety and digital transformation. Ultimately, it isn’t clear how long the pandemic will remain relevant. Even with vaccine rates rising, the numbers aren’t high enough to say definitively that COVID-19 is no longer an issue.

When developing new workplace policies, focus on safety. Review health guidelines to learn more about best practices, especially when it comes to social distancing, PPE, and sanitation. Then, create reliable routines and requirements that give employees direction, ensuring everyone is adhering to all safety-oriented mandates.

Additionally, spend time reviewing your digital landscape. Identify what worked well during the pandemic, along with shortcomings. Find new solutions for areas that didn’t perform as you’d hoped. That way, if the pandemic lingers on longer than expected or new, stricter local health mandates are issued, you can adapt quickly and efficiently.

Offer Robust Training on New Practices

Whether it’s a revamped safety procedure or a new work technology, don’t expect your employees to simply understand what’s needed. Instead, offer them thorough training, using a microlearning approach to make the information digestible and accessible.

With training, you prepare your workforce for the situation as it is now and what it may look like in the future. They’ll be well-informed, properly prepared, and fully supported. Thus, keeping every team agile at a time where we may need that most.

Do You Need to Create Training to Help Employees Adjust to the New Normal?

If you need support from learning and development (L&D) experts to create a new training program, the Clarity Consultants staff want to hear from you.

With more than 25 years of experience, Clarity has the expertise you need to create the training program you need quickly. Plus, if you augment your internal L&D team, Clarity is the ideal candidate search ally, making it easier to find top-tier talent at the proper moment.

If you’re ready to partner with leading L&D professionals, Clarity Consultants is here. Contact us today.

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For over 30 years, we’ve managed projects touching every element of learning and talent development.