Getting Back to Work @ Work

As many peo­ple spec­u­late about when we can get back to a new ver­sion of nor­mal, a num­ber of our pro­gres­sive com­pa­nies are active­ly work­ing on lay­ing the foun­da­tion­al pieces to get peo­ple back to work @ work, as soon as pos­si­ble. Although dif­fer­ent indus­tries and dif­fer­ent parts of the world will have dif­fer­ent phase-ins, the prin­ci­ples are essen­tial­ly the same and have three main com­po­nents: Men­tal, Phys­i­cal and Social.

Men­tal

One CEO we work with in the US said to me that going back to work is going to be men­tal­ly chal­leng­ing for some peo­ple. He likened it to an abused dog set free after being locked in a cage. The dog will be scared to come out and that’s how humans are going to feel when there’s still a virus out there.

We have to find a way to make it feel safe for peo­ple to come out of their homes, step by step. That starts by talk­ing about it, now, to get a sense of what they need and to get them men­tal­ly pre­pared by offer­ing a pic­ture of what a hap­py and healthy return to the office looks like.

In a recent back-to-work @ work plan­ning ses­sion, we start­ed by hav­ing a con­ver­sa­tion with the exec­u­tive lead­er­ship team about what they need­ed to be com­fort­able and safe in the office. We dis­cussed every­thing from their per­son­al space to shared and pub­lic spaces, entries and exits of the build­ing, and trans­porta­tion to and from the office.

We need to be open to some peo­ple not being com­fort­able about going back into pub­lic spaces until there is a known treat­ment or vac­cine. Also, for fam­i­ly or social rea­sons. And that’s under­stand­able — until every sin­gle box of con­cerns can be checked off. Peo­ple need to know that all the pre­cau­tions have been tak­en, con­sis­tent with expert med­ical advice.

Phys­i­cal

The pri­ma­ry con­cerns are how to man­age hand san­i­ti­za­tion and social distancing:

• How we man­age meet­ings in a board­room that holds 12 peo­ple and now four or five peo­ple, six feet apart
• How we design or recon­fig­ure work­sta­tions, espe­cial­ly in open concepts
• The max­i­mum num­ber of peo­ple we can safe­ly accom­mo­date in each area
• Poli­cies about wear­ing masks in the office or at face-to-face meetings
• Pro­to­cols for per­son­al and envi­ron­men­tal disinfection.

And we’ll assess the effec­tive­ness of peo­ple con­tin­u­ing to work and maybe rethink our needs for cen­tral­ized offices.

Social

This is about cre­at­ing new social norms. It’s re-shap­ing cul­ture with val­ues that rein­force safe behav­iours and enable peo­ple to be pro­duc­tive and con­nect­ed. These cul­ture shifts should go beyond sim­ply not shak­ing hands or fist bumping.

• Poli­cies and social con­tracts to ensure peo­ple stay home if they are sick. This leads to peo­ple feel­ing good about not infect­ing the rest of the team, rather than let­ting them down.
• Mech­a­nisms to ensure peo­ple are safe when they become more relaxed and appro­pri­ate respons­es to wide spec­trums of risk tolerance.

It will be fas­ci­nat­ing to see solu­tions unfold, over the next year.

The Chal­lenge

• What can you start doing now to get your­self, your team and your com­pa­ny men­tal­ly, phys­i­cal­ly and social­ly ready to get back to work­ing at work?
• What parts of your com­pa­ny will remain vir­tu­al and what is your plan to make them pro­duc­tive, long term?

Your sug­ges­tions are welcome.