Is Your Business Ready to Return to Normal?

The Government is currently advising people to work from home wherever possible. This advice is expected to last for another month or two. But as lockdown restrictions are steadily relaxed, employers will need to plan for a gradual return to the workplace for all staff. This needs to be done in a way that safeguards the health and wellbeing of their employees.

This begs an important question: is your business ready to deal with the return of employees whose expectations about how they fulfil their roles, and balance domestic and work responsibilities, may have changed significantly as a result of Covid-19.

Particularly as the psychological impact of the health crisis – caused by illness, fear of infection, challenging domestic situations or bereavement – may have led some to develop anxiety, depression, PTSD or other symptoms of distress. Some may also have concerns about the continuing risk of travelling on public transport.

Why Covid-19 may amplify conflict in the workplace

These issues have the potential to generate significant conflict in the workplace as staff deal with any psychological problems they may be experiencing and express different opinions about the pandemic, its impact and the easing of lockdown restrictions.

In addition, many employees will have become accustomed to their home environment and, though eager to return to the office to escape from home distractions, may have forgotten some of the communication skills which make workplaces run smoothly.

We have all seen people reacting to the coronavirus in different ways. And if conflicts existed in your workplace before the pandemic, these may well return stronger than before.

Not being able to compensate for the lack of social contact and mental stimulation caused by the lockdowns will mean that many people won't have much to talk about. Adding to possibly difficult workplace relationships.

But you can’t order people to leave their home lives at home. This is simply impossible. And any manager or a business owner trying to do this will fail. We are not machines. We are emotional human beings living through unprecedented times.

Rebuilding effective workplace habits

Working from home is not easy. Many of us have been faced with multiple distractions. Ranging from dealing with household chores to looking after pets to managing the complications of looking after children and home-schooling them.

This is a very different proposition from working in a distraction-free professional environment, where everything combines to promote effective working.

Experts tell us that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit, as your brain attunes itself to a new way of doing things. This suggests that it may take a similar period to unlearn any habits your employees may have developed since they started working from home.

Not all of these habits will necessarily be bad habits. And we know that working from home has led to a rise in productivity over the last year. But this does suggest that management need to adopt an understanding and supportive approach to staff as they return to work.

My question is: do your managers and team leaders have the people and communication skills required to deal with these problems? Because, apart from re-building workplace habits, you're faced with another issue.

Different approaches to lockdown rules

There has been a wide variety of approaches to compliance with the lockdown rules. This is an issue that may take time to unwind but isn’t going to suddenly disappear.

Because of the fear and anxiety generated by the pandemic, many people have strong feelings about the various social restrictions that have been required at different times. These range from full compliance with the rules. Through those who felt that they could make their own assessment of risk and amend the rules to suit their lifestyles. To those who might have completely ignored the rules. Given the centrality of the pandemic to our lives, it will be hard to avoid disclosing individual approaches to the restrictions. And because of the high emotional charge attached to this issue, it may cause serious problems within the office if left unresolved. With a potentially damaging impact on your business.

Similarly, negative attitudes to Covid-19 vaccination – caused by uncertainty about side effects, mistrust about vaccinations generally or misinformation on social media – may cause tension. Vaccine hesitancy is higher in some social groups than others, eg amongst people from ethnic minority backgrounds, with lower levels of education or lower income. And may have rational or irrational origins, which can complicate the discussion. 

Prevention is better than cure (and cheaper too)

So, what can you do to prevent or at least minimise these almost inevitable conflicts?

First, you need to acknowledge the risk of these problems developing as things return to normal. If you speak to your employees on regular basis, you may already know how they feel about all this and where potential conflict might arise. Good, non-judgmental listening skills are the key to any difficult situation. And, depending on the size of the team, you might have to appoint someone who can be the go-to person for pandemic-related issues.

What will also help is to pre-empt any potential conflict through discussion at a meeting or training session. Making others aware that different opinions exist while remaining non-judgmental about their validity. And avoiding making assumptions about why people take the positions they do, especially as their rationale for acting in a particular way may not always be obvious to others.

It’s important to understand the impact that gossip or false assumptions can have on an individual. One question I like to ask in situations like this is, ‘How would you feel if you found out that you are the main subject of someone's counselling session?’ I personally would be horrified!

We can help

Finally, if you can't or don't want to have this open conversation with staff, you can always hire a third party to assess potential conflict, offer training and provide support.

Drop me a line if you would like to arrange a meeting to discuss how we can help you navigate the problems caused by Covid-19 and minimise post-lockdown conflict.