How do you get back to work after the ease of lock-down?

Claire Donnelly, Senior Consultant at Mike Hoff Consulting

It is a testament to the hard work of the UAE Government that restrictions are lifting enough to allow Employees to start returning to work, maintain new guidelines on physically distancing and wearing face masks.

Slowly lifting restrictions indicate the Government are maintaining their keen observation of the infection rate whilst starting to bring business back to life. The past months have been hugely challenging to Business owners, many of whom are now in survival mode.

Dealing with COVID has certainly impacted people, many of whom were complete resistant at first to being forced to isolate/ work from home, obtain a movement permits to go to the shops and nightly curfews all down to a bad case of the flu! But as the news started to report the depths of human tragedy in countries around the world, many UAE based expats were in total admiration of the UAE’s immediate reaction, regardless of the economic impact.

Some of us have had to deal with tragedy within our own families back home, never have we felt more removed from our home countries. Even our ability to fly back at a moment notice was put on hold. A lot of sacrifices have had to be made, but all for the greater good, as the UAEs infections and tragic loss of life numbers show just what happens when a country takes action early.

In order to survive and ride this crisis, many Companies have had reduced their workforce down to the bear minimum, asked their dedicated team members to work on reduced salaries or go immediately onto unpaid holiday without knowing when they will be able to get them back to work.

Companies are now able to ask their employees to go back to work, and here we are beginning to see a strange reaction, a reluctance of go back into work! Surely everyone will be keen to get back to normal? But the old normal is long past and COVID is still present, why would we want to put ourselves and families at risk by attending the office when we are managing fine working from home, so why do we need to change?

This is a good question. Many Employees are even more productive working remotely, so just why does a Company need to have people physically sitting in an office, feeling uncertain and nervous about an infection that is still present?

Of course, some roles require a physical presence in the workplace. Companies need to consider their Employees safety at all times and should ask their Employees what they would like to see in the workplace to make them feel safe and secure.

Companies may need to start thinking about phasing Employees in the workplace to allow travel at non busy times, perhaps arrange to pay for their transportation. What changes do they need to make to the workplace to ensure physical distancing and maintained sanitisation?

Companies also need to ask themselves if it is actually required for their Employees to physically come into the office daily. Taking a breath before requesting Employees presence in the workplace should be taken. A short period of reflection to see what worked well and what did not, now is a perfect time to revisit the Companies workplace policies and introduce flexibility. Those Employees that have been working from home are likely to have their own space set up and functioning well, if this has worked and as we are all pretty much experts at using Zoom for meetings, do we really all need to be sitting in the same space to function as a team?

As physical distancing is here for a long time ahead, just how much do we gain by having the team in one place? Is your office space large enough to ensure a distance between each team member?

Of course, there are many roles that do require the physical presence of Employees, so what can you do if these Employees are still reluctant to come into the workplace? Managers need to reflect very deeply on why it is essential to be present in the workplace, preparing a business case to put discuss with a reluctant Employee. Communication is key here, exactly what are the Employees concerns, many of which will be genuine, consider everything said and take action based on this.

There is a fine balance between acting on an Employees concerns/reluctance and maintaining business operations. If you reach a stalemate and you are convinced that the role needs to be physically in the workplace and the Employee refuses to attend, the only option open is to let the Employee go, which has to be the last option.

Employers need to have compassion and understanding at all times, this is an unprecedented situation, the world is changing daily, the news reports nothing else, before taking the final decision to let an Employee go, all their concerns need to be listened to and responded to.

Claire Donnelly

Claire is an MCIPD qualified Human Resource professional, with 25+ years’ experience working within various industries and 10 + years’ experience of HR practices throughout the Middle East. As a HR Generalist she has held a number of senior and Board level HR positions. She is experienced in working at both strategic and tactical levels.

Claire is also a Gazelles Certified International Coach and works as an SME business mentor, helping the founders and CEO build their Company to last and grow in a sustainable way.

Claire’s experience is in setting up a strong Growth Plans and implementing systems in the whole company for the flawless execution of the plan. She helps HR departments to develop and implement strong strategies to attract, develop and retain great people.