The lockdown has affected every company in one way or another. Many people say, ‘the new normal’ will emerge after the restrictions are taken off. Besides, there are many other challenges that companies are going through  —  from working remote to lack of demand and frozen budgets.

According to PwC research, the vision of the recovery is quite optimistic: 61% of the companies think that they can return to business as usual in less than 3 months.

How will companies be working after COVID-19? What are the best practices to navigate through the return?

We’ve gathered some thoughts and tips for you to consider when developing your come-back strategy.

Focus on Health and Safety

Keeping the office environment clean to fight the virus will be the first priority of most companies.

72% of the companies surveyed by Box are introducing additional cleaning protocols, while keeping the emphasis on hand-washing and limited group meetings.

Government institutions can help with the necessary guidelines, for example, check out EU guidance for a safe return to the workplace that covers safety regulations for different types of businesses.

A lot of companies are introducing shifts to keep the number of employees in the room low enough and keeping them engaged into the office activities at the same time.

Re-strategize and Redefine your Goals

Every process of the company needs to be reconsidered again with regard to the current situation. Sometimes it can be hard to keep in mind every aspect of this global change.

Salesforce has released a comprehensive guide at work.com on returning to the workplace that follows 3 main steps  —  stabilize, reopen, grow  —  applied to the way your company makes decisions, works, engages customers, and serves society.

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Continue Digital Collaboration

Remote collaboration tools are not likely to go away completely after the lockdown ends. In fact, the global working processes may be redefined and the employees’ expectations may change significantly.

On the employees side, 2/3 of the surveyed respondents claimed to have a better impression of working remotely than they used to have and 88% said they have been given the needed flexibility they need to perform their tasks effectively.

Many experts believe the workplace/home flexibility will now become an expectation. It seems like the employers are willing to provide that  —  under half of respondents said that remote working would remain an option.

Salesforce collaboration tools offer a great environment for your sales and customer support teams to share data and insights between departments and communicate to the customers efficiency from any place in the world.

Encourage Productivity with Empathy

People react to stress differently and not everyone has founded themselves taking multiple courses in their quarantine time and doing yoga every day  —  for some people coping with stress can be very difficult and result in productivity loss.

Using different productivity tools could be an option  —  here is a good selection of productivity tools compatible with Salesforce.

You may inspire productivity in employees by offering different reskilling options for boosting their career. It is extremely relevant for every department  by 2030, 14% of the global workforce will need to upgrade their skills or switch occupation. So why not facilitate it yourself to keep the shift within your company and retain trust and gratitude of your employees?

Summarizing

Returning back to the workplace will be challenging for both employees and companies. At the same time, it will give us all a chance to rethink what we can do better and how we can create a new more integrated and effective environment.

We are here to help. Let us know if we can assist you with setting up or adjusting your digital infrastructure or reestablishing communication processes.

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