How to Support Varying Comfort Levels in the Post-Pandemic Workplace
If you thought moving to remote work overnight was a challenge, take a minute to reflect on exactly what was so hard about that transition.
Was it the sudden prevalence of video calls?
Did you struggle to balance your family life and your work life in the same space?
Were you suddenly lonely without colleagues in the same room?
These are the same pain points you and others may experience during the transition back into regular work in shared office space.
Now, with this empathetic mindset activated, it’s time to start thinking about how to facilitate safe and comfortable workplace dynamics in a post-pandemic workplace. For example:
What would you say to a client who requests your presence at an in-person meeting with 25 of their associates?
What would you say to a client who arrives at your office and is reluctant to wear a mask?
What if, after you take off your mask in your own office, a colleague asks you to put it back on?
These are real examples we’ve encountered, and it’s a good idea to think through not only your office safety policies but what your own risk tolerance is around guests and colleagues before you’re faced with a tough question in real time.
1. Set Clear Expectations
In the past year, there’s been a lot of talk about how to ensure remote employees are getting their work done, much of which boils down to setting clear expectations. The same advice can be applied to in-office conduct.
When it’s time to meet in-person again, it’s critical that you provide clear standards of conduct with regards to personal protective equipment and behavior. You can do this by sharing digitally accessible training materials in advance and onsite. This applies for guests as well as colleagues who have yet to return for a face-to-face meeting since the start of the pandemic.
When we first conceived of Firmspace, we knew we wanted to build an office that put privacy and security first – not imagining that we were designing a socially distant office. But from months of operating throughout this pandemic, we know from experience that it’s crucial to clearly articulate and signal social norms in the workplace to ensure that everyone has a clear sense of what operating procedures are and why.
2. Take a People-First Approach
When you do encounter a miscommunication or confusion around what workplace standards are – or what someone else is comfortable with – first, work to understand everyone’s needs.
It can be difficult to get out of your own head, but try to think first of the wellbeing of everyone in the room, both emotionally and physically. If you find yourself thinking, “That person looks uncomfortable,” ask if there’s anything they need. The answer may just be, “I’d be more comfortable if we were both wearing masks.”
At Firmspace, we focus a lot on digital security and having sound-proofed spaces for confidential conversations, but it’s even more important to foster a work environment where guests and members feel safe in all senses of the word. So, as more professionals return to the office for the first time in months, for those with a higher risk tolerance, this may mean masking up or stepping outside when you’d otherwise stay put.
3. Lead with Empathy
If you want your office to send the right message, one of the words included should be empathy. You and your guests should come to the office and feel at ease, and this may take more time for some folks than others.
Not everyone wants to work from home forever, but many people would be more comfortable not setting foot in a commercial building until the pandemic is officially over, and that’s okay. It’s something we understand, as folks on the other side of that equation. And it’s something professionals must work to understand as we all continue to work and grow through this challenging time.
You’ve likely read about the importance of taking a top-down approach to company culture, and this is excellent advice. But when it comes to returning to the office post-COVID, you don’t have to wait for leadership to lead the way. Anyone can provide an empathetic response or advocate that everyone in a meeting room follow on-site PPE guidelines.
Take Your Remote Work Toolkit into the Hybrid Work Future
The Zoom-savvy and tech acumen you’ve gained in the past year isn’t all for nothing: these are tools you can continue to use in the future.
If you are looking for three simple phrases to live by:
Be flexible.
Be understanding.
Proceed with caution.
The pandemic isn’t over yet. As vaccination campaigns rollout around the country and the world, we all need to continue to wash our hands, wear masks, and practice social distancing.
At Firmspace, our offices are as well equipped as ever to handle the order of the day, and we hope you’ll come to our onsite support staff should you ever have any questions about our health and safety protocols. Afterall, we do our best to embody our own advice.
To see our safety protocols in action and to explore local membership options, book a tour.