Last year only one in five surveyed CFOs said they believed their companies would be able to resume business as usual within a month if the pandemic ended that day. Fifteen months later, those same leaders are now navigating both a lingering virus and a push to have employees return to the workplace. As they bear the primary responsibility for seeing their organizations through the shift back to “normal” procedures, HR and Operations professionals see it as one of the biggest challenges they’ve faced since COVID-19 first appeared.
Designed to help businesses address their employees’ health and safety concerns, the Microsoft Return to Workplace App can assist you in ensuring your organization meets safety and compliance standards as workers return to the workplace.
Microsoft Return to Workplace: Addressing Employee Concerns
Employees everywhere are counting on their employers to help them get back to work safely. But it won’t be as simple as announcing a reopening date and then getting back to business as usual. Management will need to comply with local, state, and federal orders as restrictions are eased. And since these rules vary from one locale to the next, leaders will need to plan for a variety of scenarios based on their operations and other factors.
From who you should bring back onsite to contact tracing and providing employees with the tools they need to manage workplace changes, the details of your organization’s reopening plan will most certainly look different from those of other companies. But there are some steps every company needs to take to start preparing for employees to resume in-person work.
- All employers should monitor their state, local, tribal, and/or territorial (SLTT) governments to understand how their local community is progressing through reopening.
- Businesses should continually consider ways to use workplace flexibility, including remote work, and alternative business operations such as curbside pickup.
- As COVID-19 variants are still an unknown risk, employers should develop and implement policies and procedures that address monitoring, preventing, and responding to any emergence or resurgence of the virus or its mutations.
- Job tasks or categories should be examined to determine the likelihood and risk of workers being exposed to the virus in the course of their job duties.
- Companies and individual departments should develop social distancing guidelines that include tactics like limiting business occupancy, demarcating six-foot zones, and posting signage to remind employees and visitors to maintain their distance.
- Appropriate controls such as barriers, shields, staggered work shifts, and personal protective equipment should be implemented to prevent people from transmitting the virus and protect them from being exposed to it.
Lastly, it’s imperative to establish a clear communications plan that allows employees, customers, and other stakeholders to understand how your business plans to reopen or reestablish procedures. The Microsoft Return to Workplace app helps you reopen responsibly, protect continuously, and monitor the workplace more intelligently.
Return to the Workplace With Confidence
Reacclimating your workforce presents an enormous change management challenge for your company. Tools like the Return to Workplace app can help you identify and address the obstacles, concerns, and fears employees experience as they come back to work. Deployed as part of Dynamics 365, the app helps ease employee fears, mitigate risks, and ensure your business is compliant with rules and regulations, turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity to reinforce corporate culture, increase employee engagement and boost productivity over the long run. Book a demo with one of our 360 Visibility consultants to learn more about the Microsoft Return to Workplace app and see all the benefits it can provide for your business.
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