Create Your Return-to-Work Transition Plan

4 MIN READ

Create Your Return-to-Work Transition Plan

As we continue to move through the remaining stages of the pandemic, businesses and organizations are starting to form their return-to-work transition plans. While it’s not quite the time to start taking your suits to the cleaners, shining your shoes, and preparing a week's worth of meals in advance, business leaders should start considering their options.

Before setting these plans in stone, it’s a good idea to spend some time getting input from your work teams to see how remote work has impacted their day-to-day work activities and lives. Organizations that evaluate and understand how working remotely has impacted their business stand to position themselves on solid ground for the next phase of the return-to-office transition.

Take a Look Back Before Moving Forward

Before finalizing your return-to-work plan, ask these questions to gain valuable input:

Has remote work resulted in better productivity and collaboration among your teams? If your business is experiencing improved productivity and collaboration because of working from home, it may be best to keep doing what you’re doing. As the old adage goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” On the other hand, if your productivity or collaboration has suffered, then obviously changes are necessary.
Has remote work allowed a better work/life balance for your employees? If your employees tell you their work/life balance has never been better, it may be a good idea to keep them working remotely, at least for part of the time. If some say they want or need to return to office, it’s a good idea to try to accommodate their requests as best you can.
Has remote work saved you money on traditional office costs? If your business has saved on overhead expenses such as rent, electricity, water, insurance, hardware, software, maintenance, and other costs, it may be in your best interest to keep things as they are. If your expenses have gone up, then obviously changes are necessary.

Depending on the answers, you might better position your return-to-work plan to ensure a successful transition.

Three Return-to-Office Transition Considerations

As you consider your return-to-work options, here are three possible considerations your business can choose from:

Remote First – Keep your employees working remotely as they have been with in-office time optional as needed. This strategy will also allow businesses to downsize their location footprints (if they haven’t already) as well as their carbon footprint and lessen their overall impact on the environment.
Balance of Both – Schedule your employees for remote work and in-office work to achieve a healthy balance that’s acceptable to all. A possible arrangement might be three days remote and two in-office days one week and flipped the next with two days remote and three in-office. If more remote work is desired, a four day work from home plan with one in-office day per week might fit the bill.
Office First – Bring your employees back to the office and offer remote work arrangements on an as-needed basis. This arrangement might not be as readily received, but at least allows your teams to work remotely when needed to cover such instances as family illness, childcare, doctor/dentist appointments, school events, etc.

Make Enhancements That Improve All Work Arrangements

No matter which route you take for your return-to-work plan, you can enact the following steps that will result in process improvements for your business:

Adopt Advanced Collaboration Platforms – By adding communication tools, your teams will have the capability to connect in a multitude of ways, including video conferencing, instant messaging, chat, file transfers, and project management applications.
Invest in the Cloud – Cloud computing offers cost-effective alternatives to building in-house infrastructure. Organizations can employ scalable, plug-and-play computing power, which saves them from having to invest and maintain costly in-house network systems.
Offer Training Platforms – Consider implementing a remote-work training platform that can help support geo-dispersed employees. These platforms enable you to keep scaling your business with properly trained employees who hit the ground running, even in an entirely remote-work environment.

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