Future Strategies

As lockdown restrictions are slowly lifted every business has to be thinking in detail about every role, every employee, every workplace scenario and what it means in terms of implementing those safety and hygiene measures set out by the government.

There may be a limit to how detailed any government guidance could be, as all health and safety measures needed be tailored to the business or the office's needs. Businesses need to plan now for what is likely to be a staged return to work over what could be a prolonged period of time. The guiding principle should be how to take care of and protect employees and safeguard their health and wellbeing. It is important to use this time to prepare and plan next steps – including how employee get to their workplace if travel restrictions are still in place.

It is also likely there may be an increased level of requests to work from home, as many employees can evidence that it is possible. It is worth considering whether as a business you want to, or are able to, facilitate a more "agile" approach to work. 

Looking ahead, all aspects of business life are going to be changed by this surreal time. A couple of areas for thought are mental health issues and flexible working requests. Following the furlough period will still be a time of uncertainty that will be affecting staff. There may be increased mental health problems amongst staff as a result. Businesses need to think about what support they have in place or will need to get in place and how this is managed.

You should be mindful of the next phase of this challenging time making sure you manage the return of your employees and provide the appropriate level of HR support. How you treat your employees now will help to reduce the number of grievances and disputes in the workplace as employees get use to the next phase of how to work in this changing world.

We have been working with a number of businesses to help put employees on furlough and take them off together with looking at new ways of working and restructures to the business. If you feel you need some support with your employees and the next phase of getting your business ready to sprint out of the blocks then we would only be to happy help. Please contact us on 01628 361810 or email hello@justglobalhr.com.