Return to Work: Are New Policies Necessary?

As COVID-19 restrictions are eased, businesses must begin to think about resuming operations and getting back to work. However, what will a return to work look like? It’s likely that there will be some lasting changes as a result of the upheaval of the past few months. Think about whether your existing policies and procedures are still applicable, or if they should be updated to reflect the new state of work.

Some policies that may be affected are:

PTO

Does your company currently have restrictions on how many people can take PTO at once? Make sure that requests for time off can be accommodated, while still ensuring that the business has enough coverage to maintain operations.

Does your company have a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ policy, with restrictions on the number of hours that can be carried over from year to year? Considering everything that has happened already in 2020, perhaps those restrictions can be eased temporarily.

Work from Home

As many businesses have required employees to work from home, we’ve all learned a few things: about the tools, practices, and accommodations that support successful remote work. Employers may also have a new perspective about which jobs (and which employees) are suited to remote work.

In light of what you’ve learned, review work from home policies and see if they can be revised to support flexibility and agility in operations, while accommodating employee needs.

Performance

Keeping employees informed and providing feedback is important during a disruption, as communication is critical to building trust. However, expectations may need to be adjusted. Perhaps in the current environment, it’s not realistic to expect a salesperson to meet unchanged targets or a customer service representative to get high customer satisfaction ratings.

Rethink your expectations in the light of what can realistically be achieved today, and be flexible about targets, goals and objectives. Work with HR, managers and employees to realign and implement new performance expectations.

For more in-depth information and tips to build a RTW policy, read “How to Create a Solid Return to Work Plan” over at Medium. Or contact Gray Scalable today, and leverage our expertise in HR consulting and embedded recruiting to improve results at your company.