GOOD QUESTIONS
How To Create a Solid ‘Return To Work’ Plan
What to think about as you shift your team back into the office
The US, and especially New York (where I am based), is still in the midst of the impact from COVID-19.
But in the HR world conversations are starting to turn toward “What’s next?”
To state the obvious, when or how offices reopen depends largely on government guidelines and evolving public health information; the answers vary widely based on where you’re located and what type of business you’re in. But what’s clear is that all organizations can prepare now by re-examining their current practices in order to have a return-to-work action plan that they are ready to implement when the time comes.
As an HR consultant I work mostly with mid-sized, office-based, tech, media, and nonprofit organizations. These are all businesses that can operate with remote workers, though it’s often not ideal. I say this only to note that what’s below applies to all types of organizations, but anyone working in a retail, factory, healthcare, etc. business will likely have additional safety and essential worker protocol to consider.
That said, here’s what to think about and do as you prepare to reopen your office.
Align Around Some Truths
A COVID-19 work principle that’s been floating around is, “You are not working from home. You are at home, trying to work, during a crisis.” This has been a north star for many employees and executives as they figure out their new norms. In the same vein, in order to create a realistic Return To Work Plan (RTW Plan), HR and leadership should discuss and get on the same page about the situation all organizations are going to face for at least the rest of this year.
Truth 1: There will be no time where we flip a switch.
There is no clean end to a pandemic and consequently there will not be a clear date when everyone can return to work as normal. Employees may ask for specifics on when exactly the office will open and what exactly will happen after that, but make sure everyone knows that any RTW Plan will be phased and likely to evolve.
Truth 2: Some employees may not want to come back, even if they can.
There’s a very real chance that even if you reopen the office, a large swath of employees may feel unsafe taking public transportation to work or being in a shared space with others. There are also employees who may have left your city/state to stay with family or be in more remote areas and may not feel comfortable returning. Others may just like working from home and want to continue doing that if they can. There is no right answer on this, but you should have a response for each of these groups as to where you as an organization stand. If you want to eventually return to having most staff work from the office but don’t want to push employees who are uncomfortable, maintain a flexible work from home policy for a stated period of time so that it’s clear that eventually everyone will need to return to the office. Because of the number of unknowns, I’d suggest remaining flexible for the remainder of 2020 and then revisiting.
Truth 3: Some employees may want to come back even if you don’t think it’s necessary.
On the flip side, there are certainly many people who are self-isolating alone and are anxious to get back to a group office setting. There are also people who are living in close quarters or with less-than-ideal home setups who may want to return to the office in order to be productive or just stay sane. No matter your policy it’s unlikely you’ll be able to accommodate every situation, but be aware that you may have a group of employees who push to come back even if it’s not a priority for you.
Truth 4: Caretaker and personal needs will conflict with your business plans.
Most schools have announced they are closed until fall and summer camps are an open question — meaning that even if you reopen your office, anyone who is a parent of a younger child is unlikely to be able to return. There will also still be employees who are personally high-risk or are caring for other family members and can’t put themselves or others at risk by returning to an office. One of the bigger morale dangers of reopening your office is creating a divide between those who can get back to work in a fairly normal pattern and those who are still living in a “crisis” situation. Similar to considering both employees who will and won’t want to return to the office, you need to consider employees who may not be able to and how you’ll incorporate them into your new ways of working if their home situation remains largely the same.
Truth 5: The way your office is set up may not work anymore.
Most offices now have open layouts and common eating areas. It’s very likely that when offices reopen it will be advised to have employees maintain social distancing for an extended period of time. Even if you rotate your staff it’s unlikely they’ll be easily able to stay six feet apart without rethinking how your office is laid out. How far apart are your desks? How big are your conference rooms? Do employees need to use a shared elevator to get to your floor? What about the bathrooms? Is the kitchen filled with communal snacks that you now need to shift to individual servings? Make sure to think your set up through and leave time to make changes before employees return to work.
Truth 6: There is no “business as usual” this year.
Even when your staff starts to return to the office it doesn’t mean that everything goes back to “normal.” Make sure that you’re continuing to adjust your goals, communication plans, and how you evaluate performance for at least the rest of 2020.
Revisit Your Policies & Practices
It’s smart to revisit your policies with an eye for how they will function during a transitional return-to-work time. Even if some things will remain the same it’s good to proactively let employees know that. Look at the greatest hits of your policies and outline to staff how they will work or how they will change for the rest of 2020. You can let everyone know that you’ll reassess if the situation changes dramatically, but that this is how you will operate this year.
Plan to issue a refresh at the end of the year for 2021, either extending, changing, or reverting your policies. This gives leadership room to make some changes to policies while also making it clear it’s for a limited time. And it gives employees some stable understanding of how things are going to function as they return to work under these unusual circumstances.
Some policies to look at:
Time Off
Whether or not leisure travel becomes possible in 2020, employees will still want to use their vacation time. Start to think about what guidelines you may need to implement to ensure employees can take vacation while also making sure you have the staff you need. Can they use their vacation days as normal? Even if it means a large group of employees is taking vacation at the same time toward the end of the year? Are there any new guidelines for how time off can be used? If they’re unable to use their days because of continued caretaker needs, can they save those days for next year or get paid out for them? What if someone would just prefer that even if they could have a “staycation,” given they can’t travel? If you have limited roll over of accrued vacation days, are you relaxing that policy and allowing more days to roll over, or are you requiring they all be used this year?
Conferences & Other Business Travel
Will you be sponsoring conference travel after employees return to work? Will you be allowing non-essential business travel? Will you be mandating that employees return to their normal business travel schedules, even if they feel uncomfortable? How will you handle it if one employee feels comfortable but another doing the same job does not? What about local travel, like visiting other offices? Will employees be required to self-isolate if they travel outside of your HQ’s city?
Work From Home
If you previously had a strict policy around working from home, are you now going to relax it even after offices fully reopen?
Raises, Bonuses, and Incentive Pay
How has your plan for how you handle raises been impacted? If you normally give bonuses, will you do so this year? What about other incentives? Even if you previously told employees that raises were frozen, if they return to work they may believe that everything is defaulting to the way it used to be, so it’s smart to provide clarity if that’s not the case.
Reviews & Performance Management
Some major companies are canceling or deferring scheduled employee reviews this year. Are you conducting reviews as normal? What will employees be evaluated on? Will their work while at home be reviewed? And if so, how? What about people whose jobs you may shift because they are uncomfortable with travel that used to be a big part of their roles? What about those that aren’t able to return to work with others — how will they be considered?
Interviews & Other Visitors
Are you going to interview candidates in person or have your interviews remain virtual during this transition period? What about other types of guests, like visitors from companies you partner with?
Food
If you provided a stocked kitchen in the past, will you do that now? If you provided catered lunch will that resume? If you normally have a stocked kitchen but are closing it down for now, will employees get a lunch delivery stipend instead?
Do An Employee Audit
When offices reopen, it’s most likely that it’ll be advised that companies take a phased approach to asking employees to return. As part of your RTW Plan, do an audit of all employees and categorize them as:
✅ Completely able to work from home
⚠️ Able to work from home, but it’s not ideal
🚫 Struggling to work at home either because of lack of tools or home environment
If you don’t already have the insight, do a separate survey of employees to find out what their willingness and ability to return to the office is, as you need to take into account high-risk team members, caretaker requirements, and personal concerns. Depending on your size and how you operate you may want to have a member of your exec team in the office at all times, but make sure to hold the same general standards for leadership as you do your staff.
When you think about a phased return-to-work plan, prioritize employees who fit in the intersection of “Struggling to work at home” & “Willing & able to come to the office.” Simply knowing the numbers in each group will help you plan your approach.
As a note, do whatever you can to avoid forcing an employee to come back if they are uncomfortable or say they are unable. At a certain point all employees will need to return (if that’s your policy), but think hard before you create any mandates for anyone who does not truly need to be in the office to get their work done. Medical advice and guidelines are evolving, and every company will need to figure out its own protocol, but default to safety over rushing to have everyone return.
Think Through Logistics
Now is not the time to gloss over the details; with an RTW Plan it’s extremely important to think through the actual logistics of returning to work. Common protocols many offices are considering include:
Having employees work in shifts, either alternating times of day or days of the week
As noted above, prioritize employees who actually need to come in to do their job well. While it may not be ideal, it’s likely best to lean toward having the fewest number of employees come in as possible while you work out the kinks and assess risk.
Staggering or shifting work hours to minimize rush hour commutes
This means possibly having shorter work hours overall, but will likely keep your employees safer and help you transition back to the office sooner.
Requiring employees to wear masks and other PPE while at work
It’s smart to make sure you have extra masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer available at the office. If you are mandating PPE don’t assume everyone has these readily available, even if they’ve been required during quarantine. Do a survey of employees to see if anyone needs masks or gloves sent to them so that they’re prepared to return to work.
Doing health checks when people arrive
Some offices are exploring doing a temperature check when employees come in. Just remember that health information should be kept private and whoever is doing that must be properly trained and protected. You also must make sure the person doing this is fully comfortable with the responsibility. You cannot just assign your receptionist to this job.
Maintaining social distance protocols while in the office together
This includes meetings, common spaces, lunch, and any social events.
Limiting visitors
Every company needs to assess its own standards, but most are planning to minimize deliveries and keep guests to only those who truly need to come in.
Reporting back to staff on how things are going
It’s likely more questions than ever will arise once you start to reopen your office. If you don’t have one already, create a RTW task force that keeps watch on the state of things and reports back to leadership and staff on a regular basis.
Prepare Your Office
You likely will need to rearrange your office setup to support new social distancing protocols and safety guidelines. This includes changing where people sit so that you’re not deciding who comes in based on their desk location. In your RTW timeline, give yourself at least a week to do this work. Aside from rearranging seating, other things to do include:
😷 Hang signage to remind people about any new hygiene protocols or ways the common areas should be used
🖐🏽 Post signage denoting how many people can be in conference rooms or offices, based on their size
📣 Put out instructions for any visitors
❌ Put down taped markers to signify safe distances in meeting rooms, in common areas, and at desks. People are not great at estimating proper distances — help them!
🚰 Set up hygiene stations around the office that include masks, gloves, anti-bacterial wipes, and hand sanitizer
🍫 Shift your kitchen set up to grab-and-go, if you’re planning to keep it stocked
You also will likely need to increase your cleaning schedule. Set up a daily full office cleaning that involves disinfecting all surfaces in addition to taking out the garbage, etc. If you can, consider hiring a porter or equivalent person to sanitize surfaces throughout the day.
On a more fun note: It can be nice to have a “welcome back” package for those returning to work. If you have a budget, consider putting together something small to leave on people’s desks.
Get Ready to Roll With What Happens
Unfortunately, what happens once employees start to return to work is a bit of a black box. Someone could get sick and you’d need to alert everyone and close the office again. The government could change its guidelines. The long-term business impact could lead you to make different decisions in the future about things like salaries, benefits, policies, and staff size.
The best you can do is make a plan, communicate it clearly to staff, and let them know the timeframe for which the way you’re operating is in effect.
