It will require close collaboration between business leaders and HR to ensure that employees know how to adapt appropriately to office reopening.
People Management surveyed 556 HR professionals and senior management to find out what apprehensions are being felt by both employees and employers - and what preparations businesses are already making to ensure success.
Last month it was confirmed by the Prime Minister that - provided the infection rates remained under control - the government’s advice that people in England should work from home, if possible, would be withdrawn in mid-June.
The survey found that 83 per cent of respondents said that their workforce was optimistic about returning - but there were some concerns. HR professionals will be required to keep in touch with employees through frequent communication about upcoming plans, to help reduce anxiety about returning to the office. In extreme cases, if some workers do not want to return - and businesses force the issue - employees could decide to leave their jobs.
Of the respondents to the survey, 53 per cent said their staff were worried about contracting coronavirus in the workplace and 43 per cent said their employees were worried about contracting it on public transport. Another main concern for 21 per cent of respondents was childcare - with 46 per cent worrying about care for people other than children.
Rachel Suff - Senior Policy Adviser for employment relations at the CIPD - said that coronavirus was still an issue and work arrangements would still be disrupted - particularly for those with caring responsibilities for children, or others.
She stated:
“People's circumstances in some cases have changed over the past 15 months, so their needs will have changed. Organisations needed to be proactive in having those conversations and giving guidance to everybody about what procedures to keep them safe will be in play and what role they as individuals have got to play in that as well.”
Extra mental health support for those returning from working from home was promised by 62 per cent of HR professionals; 34 per cent said they would provide it for workers returning to the office from furlough; 57 per cent said that their organisation would provide homeworkers with training on Covid guidelines and 35 per cent offered to provide Covid guidelines training to furloughed workers.
Most of respondents to the poll run by People Management - 94 per cent - said that staff would be able to work in the office, with 40 per cent saying that staff would be able to go in on days specifically chosen by them and 35 per cent saying that workers would be able to go in on days allocated to them by the business. Only 15 per cent of respondents said that they planned to make attendance at the office mandatory - and 4 per cent said that staff were only required to go into the office to attend meetings.
When asked how organisations would manage employees who did not want to return to the office at all, 43 per cent said they would require staff to attend the office for a minimum number of days, whilst 40 per cent said they would support home working - provided staff were able to commit to frequent office visits for meetings.
According to the respondents to the survey, 57 per cent reported that their workforce was worried about the extra time taken up by commuting, whilst 44 per cent were concerned about reverting to more structured hours.
Gemma Dale - a Senior HR professional and co-founder of The Work Consultancy - said that giving workers autonomy in when and how they worked allowed for a productive workforce.
She said:
“When people have got lots of control, and lots of autonomy, that's a good predictor for wellbeing and good mental health. Think about flexibility in its broadest sense.”
She urged employers to consider offering flexible hours and not just the option of working from home.
