Getting Back to Work after Lockdown | Employers & Employees Checklist

Back to Work after Lockdown

As lockdown lifts and the furlough scheme comes to an end, we are all preparing to get back to full time work, whether that be at home or back in the office.

Adapting to the changes is not necessarily going to be easily. For months now businesses have been shut or running on reduced staff. Whereas employees have moved their day job to renovating homes, getting more exercise and home schooling children. Getting back to work is going to another big change for us all.

Top ease your return, we have put together a FREE checklist. One for employers and one for employees. Please use these to help plan your smooth return to work.

For Employers

Your Employees Safety

Keeping Your Employees Safe

This will of course be of up most importance to you and will be very dependent on your type of business. We want to make sure you consider everything, have a read through our safety suggestions. These are all available in our downloadable employers checklist;

Your employee contact details are up to date
Your employees are supplied with adequate information surrounding your Covid-19 procedures
Consider your occupational groups, for example first aiders & fire marshals. Here are some great resources to look through if your not sure.
- Do they know the current Covid-19 guidance for carrying out these roles?
- Are they safe & happy to continue these roles?
- Do you have sufficient cover to accommodate new shifts, reduced staff levels?
Reduce exposure to each others where you can by staggering hours, lunches & breaks.
Prepare Facilities by ensuring they are organised which will make for easy cleaning.
Continue screening/monitoring the situation for your industry & team.
For employees to feel safe, it is best that they have a space of their own where possible. This could be their desk, an area in the staff room or production zone. We know it isn’t always possible, but certainly worth considering.
Your employee’s current health is something that can be easily overlooked. 1 to 1 conversations are a great way to assess the situation, how is there mental health & if their job requires it their physical health. By having a 1 to 1 conversation you will often gain your staff members true feelings as they don’t feel the need to follow other colleagues ideas.
Remember to thank your employees for their co-operation during this time whether they have been working from home or furloughed. In order to continue to make your staff feel safe encourage feedback on your Covid-19 procedure so you can remain on top of it.

Internal Training

Update Your Internal Training

Getting back to work feels like a fresh start to us. We are certainly taking the opportunity to ensure everyone is fully refreshed on our systems along with learning new software that will benefit us. You could also take this time to get your internal or external training up to date. Remember anyone on furlough is legally allowed to complete training. Why not consider small group or 1 to 1 sessions on the following areas;

Using your internal software; your database, CRM system, logistics calendars, etc.
Any new systems that could improve your business; personally I have recently started using Asana for organisation & productivity and am hoping to role this out for all of our team.
Improve your admin skills; you could get help from someone in the office who knows about word, excel, outlook etc. or look to attend a workshop if they just don’t have the time.
Your new Health & Safety policy and risk assessment. As Covid-19 has thrown up many new safety risks & work processes have changed, every company will need to check and amend their policies accordingly. You should take some time with employees to discuss the changes and supply them with any new information. You can also update staff Health & Safety training at this point for those added risks. Here are some HS courses to consider.

Team Productivity

Getting the most out of your team on their return

So many companies whose staff have worked from home or in slightly different roles during lock down, have found their productivity increase by 66.6%, taken from finder.com. Working from home isn’t necessarily the answer to gain this level of productivity, but you could consider the following points to give employees that relaxed feeling that seems to increase their efficiency;

Take this time to change your employee structure. Is there an opportunity to move roles around within your business? Maybe someone has been doing a job they don’t normally do and they are really good at it. It makes sense to accommodate that into their role so you can ensure your whole company is working from each individuals strengths.
In order to focus more on improving your business, do you need to set up new or increased meetings. It is worth looking at how regularly teams meet, too often can waste time as the same things are discussed, too infrequent and no one stays focused on the businesses current goals.
Your employee’s might not have seen each other for a long time over lockdown, it’s a great idea to get them together, this could be over video call, so you can all chat before the return. This will save that first day back chit chat that can decrease productivity while everyone catches up. – We are big talkers in our office.
On speaking with some of our clients, the main reason productivity has improved when working from home is due to reduced pressure. Employees have had more time to chat with their clients over the phone, forming greater relationships & gaining more business. Can you remove any workplace pressure, to see if this works for you?

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For Employees

Prepare at Home

Preparation Starts at Home

Many people are now looking forward to returning to work and a routine. But after all this time it is going to take us employees a while to adjust again. So now is the best time to work out your back to work routine. None of us want to burn out in the first few weeks.

Prepping your lunch, snacks & water for the day is a great start. If you’re still uncertain about using local cafes or shops then his is a must! It also means that any new healthy habits you have formed over lockdown can continue. It has been said that a new habit can form in just 2 months, so you should find it easier to keep this up. Preparing your food for the day could also save you money, many of us spend £5 a day on lunch, that could be £1400 a year based on just 280 working days. Try some new recipes instead BBC Good Food have some yummy ideas.
How good is your body clock? I haven’t done too bad over lockdown but i’m still not getting up as early as I normally would for my commute to work. I know I need to sort this out before I return to the office full time. So I plan to start setting my alarm around 2 weeks before I return and altering it by 5/10 minutes every few days until I reach my normal wake time. This way my body clock has time to change and the first couple of weeks won’t leave me feeling tired and less productive.
Finally it’s time to consider your back to work routine. Now is the perfect opportunity to change how your days are structured. The best thing to do is start by writing down all your daily tasks, when doing this remember to consider;
- Meal times & their preparation, would a meal plan work for you?
- If you have increased your exercise during lockdown, don’t let it slide. Exercise is great for our bodies & minds it can set you up for the day or allow you release any stress from your working day.
- What will your childcare plans look like? Do you have a child starting a new school, nursery or with a childminder? Consider the time you will need to leave each day and schedule in time to ensure your children are prepared for the day.
- Are you a morning lark or a night owl? If you have chores to do during the week schedule these in when you are most productive.
- Don’t forget to relax on a night so you get the best night’s sleep. One way to let the day go is to journal. It doesn’t have to be complicated & artistic. I have a very basic structure, write a short paragraph about the day, write 1 positive from my day & set a goal for tomorrow. It’s so simple but effective and keeps me looking for positives even on those tough days.

Your Job Role

Think About Your Job Role

Have you thought about your job during lockdown? There is of course no need to if you’re on furlough, however it’s a great time to make sure your job is working for you. Could you make it simpler but still get the job done? Can you reduce pressures by making things more efficent? We have been considering our job roles at Livius and have made changes to ensure we continue to love our roles. If you want to have a go with this, we suggest answering the following;

Can you improve your productivity? Yes, a lot of the time this would come from your management but why not be the innovate employee. I have made huge changes to my work days, so I can ensure I get everything done, without the pressure of it needing to be done now! Consider;
- Keep your to do list up to date and put action dates in for every task. There are loads of free tools out there, personally I am loving Asana at the moment, but also keep track of my emails using Outlooks flags. If you want us to provide a video on using productivity software comment below or get in touch.
- Yes I am an organiser!! But there is something to be said from creating a flexible schedule. So I have taken the time to write down everything I do in my job, followed by how frequently each job needs doing & putting a duration on each job. Using google calendars I have then scheduled all my tasks. They are easily movable if something comes up that day, but overall it helps me stay on track.
Take the time to discuss your return to work with your management team or boss, if you have any concerns this is a great way to voice these. Don’t be scared to speak to your employer it could be about your job role, getting back to work, asking for a reminder on their company systems. Anything goes really your employer will just be happy you are returning & business can begin again.
Finally, understand what your employer wants from you going forward. If they have made changes be clear how you fit in with these and what changes they are expecting to see from you. Clear & concise communication is going to be the way forward for the recovery of any company.

Download Your Free Employees Checklist

We hope this has been helpful for you, don’t forget to download our checklists.

We would love to hear how you get on with your return to work or any questions you may have. Use the comments below to keep us up to date.

Stay Safe.

Back to Work after Lockdown

Back to Work after Lockdown

For Employers

For Employees

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