Returning to the office after COVID-19

Return to work planning has started for many businesses.  Here are some risk management and general management considerations to integrate into that planning.

1.       What to keep: This change has hopefully allowed you to do an emergency SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of your operations.  With your new perspective on what can be done in your business don’t miss the opportunity to get rid of practices and procedures which were weighing you down and to adapt some of the new ideas or practices that literally kept you afloat.

2.       Retraining: As people come back into the office this is a great opportunity to retrain and refine. Just like kids coming back off of summer break, there may be some finer points of your operations, especially safety practices, that may have been forgotten. This is especially the case if all or certain parts of your operations were discontinued during this time.

3.       Check the equipment and workflow: Again, if your operations were not running during this last 60 days, take some time before everyone comes in to turn on equipment and ensure it is still functioning properly.  This is true even if your operations are mostly on computers.  You starting computers will allow for any updates to be completed before your employees arrive. This will make the first day back as smooth as possible for your employees.

4.       Grace: prepare your mind to bring peace, positivity, and joy to whatever situation arises in the first couple of weeks back.