Reimagine Workplace post Covid-19

Now its time to focus on the future of work by reimagining or rethinking how the future of workplace would look like ? How will the policies and procedures be aligned to fit the future work model to ensure healthy workplace for employees.

It is Evident that majority of the companies are not yet prepared or ready to setup the future workplace . Also there is a myth that Work from Home is a Burnout than Working from Office. Do you Agree to this ? I personally feel it all depends on how we are prioritizing the tasks both personal and Professional. Now lets focus on few parameters that needs to be thought of before we define the future of work.

Define the value : Companies must define the values and the expected outcomes before they define the future workplace and benefits to bring back the employees to office. Envision the future model by creating some vision and mission statements that will fit for future work environment .

Gather Feedback : It has been more than an year employees are working remotely. As a organization it is very critical to understand the employee perceptions and views before getting into the phase of workplace definition. Conduct 1:1 Sessions which will be more effective and easy to pulse out the employee voice and views. It also creates a sense of belonging among the employees because they feel they are involved in decision making process. In addition to this conduct a Pulse survey with limited but critical questions (4-5 max) to gather the feedbacks that will help in driving key business decisions

Focus on Wellness Programs : With the pandemic kind of situations it is proved that every employee wellness or wellbeing is the top most priority for every organization. Revisiting the existing policies and procedures is equally important to match the remote work model and defining new policies like Enhancing medical insurance coverage entitlements, Mandatory Yoga/Mindfulness sessions to all employees as a regular practice , Setting up Wellness champions or mentors to guide the employees time to time to keep them resilient and positive in any kind of situations

Flexibility is the key : 9 to 5 Job schedule is becoming obsolete and irrelevant now, Its time to focus on defining the flexible work practices for employees. Empowering the managers to drive the future of work by enabling choice with responsibility for employees to take more ownership , Prioritizing the project timelines and tasks without overload or burn out. Agile way of working would be one example where the projects and tasks must be planned by eliminating unwanted or repetitive tasks .

More Learning Opportunities : Its time to leverage on technology and provide more opportunities for employees to #Unlearn #Relearn things at work. Companies must create inspired learning platforms may be they can integrate some gaming functionalities to ensure learning as fun instead of too boring or less interested . Gamifications and leaderboard score to reward the employees and encourage them time to time. Allocation of key projects based on learning agility will be the top priority to enable the employees implement their learning which is the critical part.

Effective Team Bonding : Creating a work environment that will boost up the team bonding will remain all time top priority irrespective of "Work from Office" or "Work from Home". With remote work setup it would be bit challenging and difficult to boost the team bonding due to virtual mode of connects. But now the companies must leverage on technologies like Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning to create a encouraging platform that will give opportunity to team for regular connects , formal and informal brainstorming sessions, Knowledge sharing sessions , Boosting up creativity & Innovation at workplace.

Create Trust & Transparency @ workplace : Building Trust and Transparency will remain all time high priority for any organization. Focus on building an workplace either remotely or in office that will foster these two key values which will help more as a retention strategy .

Effective Communication : Communication is the key. Every company is experiencing the challenging situation in driving the unforeseen change management due to Pandemic. Define a clear and crisp communication with more focus on what is expected from employees in terms of change management and policy oriented changes needed from them. Also give a chance to employees to raise their voice on these changes and make sure their doubts or concerns are addressed from time to time. Conduct workshops / webinars/ Townhalls to drive the effective communication and change management.

Market Pulse check : Pandemic has taught us something very important that we need to be updated and be prepared to face any kind of situations which we have never foreseen in the past. Post Pandemic the companies must have an eye on proactive approaches to enable the employees and company ready to encounter pandemic kind of situations in future. Define a dedicated team and build the capability champions who will drive the initiatives on a continuous journey in this scope.

Conclusion : Follow #bharathspeaks for more insights & updates on #HR and #Mindfulnes topics.

Avoid Panic stream during pandemic situations . As it is evidenced that shift of mindset aligned with workplace culture has really improved the work culture transformation more on positive side. Leveraging on technology disruption would be key in addition to involving employees in driving the business decisions and change management would be top most priority for every organization along with prioritizing the wellness programs and employee friendly process protecting the trust and transparency will be the key