If your business is in an area that has been under lockdown, lately, then you’re likely looking at the prospect of getting back to the workplace, welcoming the team back, and going back to business as usual. However, not only is the transition back going to need some careful management, but it’s also going to change since the way we do business has changed.

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Follow every precaution

Even if some businesses are looking at the prospect of opening, that doesn’t mean that the threat of the coronavirus is gone, at all. As such, you need to be vigilant and make sure you’re keeping the workplace safe. The social distancing measures in place may mean that you have to space desks further apart. Making sure that your employees wash their hands, wipe surfaces, and perhaps even making masks available can all help, too.

Scale back the return

You can’t expect your workers to come back to the business and to immediately get back to the levels of productivity that you might have enjoyed before the outbreak. That’s simply not going to happen. It’s going to take time for things to get back to normal, so it might be worth scaling what responsibilities you give them over the first week.

Get the workplace ready for the team

It might have been a long time since you were last in the workplace. As such, it might be disorganised and a little messy. You don’t want your team to come in and have to deal with the need to get their workspace tidied up. It may be worth getting in contact with teams like SMC Premier who can come in and help prepare the office for your team instead. A nice, clean office will help them get off to a more productive start.

Consider the possibility of staying remote

You shouldn’t entirely be looking to get the business back to normal. Rather, you should be looking at the new normal that the pandemic has created. A lot of businesses have gotten used to relying on remote work to some degree and many employees will not be happy to find it completely taken from them. Instead, look at improving the remote work collaboration in your business, having some team members on-premises and some stationed at home as their duties suit.

Attract Interest Again

One of the main issues with COVID and lockdown is that it has caused a lot of businesses to lose customers and finances. And once things are up and running again, you have to work on attracting interest all over again. This can be tough due to the fact that many people have been forced to rethink their lives and spending habits since COVID-19. So, you need to be able to entice them; they’ve got to really want to spend their money with your company, more so than ever now. 
This means you need to think hard and get creative with how you’re going to attract more interest in the business again. There are a lot of ideas that you can use, and revamping your brading or having a marketing shake up can have really positive results for this. Those in the hospitality industry will be looking at ways to fill empty hotel rooms, as this industry is among the hardest hit. It’s unclear how many more lockdown measures may come into play over the next few months, but it’s certainly the case that companies need to be ready to act when they do. Being prepared is half the battle, and devising a plan to get back to business as usual is a small but important step in the right direction.

Adapting the workplace to risk

Just because some are talking about getting back to normal doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods just yet. There’s a potential that another wave of the coronavirus may come back in future. As such, you should be aware of the risk that your workplace might close again. Looking at Cloud software tools like Zoho can make you more prepared, making it easier to migrate your productivity out of the workplace and into the employees’ homes in future.

Don’t rush to get back to a status quo that might not work for the office yet, or might never work for your business again. Take your time, get prepared, and start thinking about whether you should be making long-term changes after lockdown.