Are we nearly there yet?
Are we nearly back to work pre-COVID-style? With a little help, yes we are.
In this post we cover the Top 3 things all team leaders and managers can do to ease back into the destination we all want to arrive at post-pandemic.
The bottom line for returning to work? Healthier, happier and engaged workers will get us back to normal a lot easier and safer too, we’ve got some free courses and ideas to help teams and businesses make the journey.
It’s been one bumpy ride so far!
As we cautiously hold our breath and try to hold tight on the steering wheel of optimism, let's take a look at where we are now, and where businesses need to be for a smoother return to work.
So for many of us working from home has become as familiar as the comfy chair in the living-room. Yes for some it was a wrench to make the transition to WFH (Working From Home) back in the early days of the COVID pandemic, but we did our best to overcome the teams challenges one by one (virtual pat on back 👏).
In the future, maybe we’ll have the option to go back into our workplaces part or full-time, and in some workplaces it will become a requirement once more.
For some of us the return to the workplace will be a welcome change, but for some a little bit disappointing to say the least. 🤔
However, whether you return to a workplace or not, one of the things that will help to set you and your colleagues on the right path will be to focus on health and wellbeing, to get yourself to a place of good health, calm motivation and readiness for the return journey back to productivity.
It’s something that’s helped us here in London at IBIS Training as we spend much of our time focused on learning and personal development, creating our health & safety training to support businesses, we realised that following a year long pandemic we may have slipped into some bad WFH habits which won’t optimise our productivity in a reunified workplace!
We set aside some time for a “campfire-meeting” about what’s needed for this return to work road-trip (via Google Meet obviously, we’re not out of the woods just yet!) - taking some time as a team to think about and make some small changes to our health and wellbeing that will make all the difference. 🏕
Powering your road-trip back to productivity! 🛣
1. Would flexi-remote work for your team? Starting with some days in the office and others back at home. Consider the potentially new commutes post-lockdown as many have moved home either taking advantage of, or as a result of the pandemic.
2. Think about how we’re eating these days, regular exercise and providing our bodies with the energy and nutrition it needs to get back behind the wheel.
One of the quickest right-now options to consider is elearning, get everyone up to speed and feeling their best self with IBIS Training free courses.
The Health & Wellbeing course is just under 20 minutes long and includes Healthy Eating, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Supporting Innovation, Mental Health & Mental Wellbeing, Rest & Exercise, Occupational Health & Healthcare - all the details that can help teams feel cared for and understood during the potentially bumpy return to work.
And for those who want to focus a little more on healthy living and an active lifestyle with our Healthy Eating course is a free 25 minute course which discusses An Introduction to Nutrition & Healthy Eating, The Digestive System, Healthy Eating, The 5 Major Food Groups, Salt Intake, Water Consumption, Healthy Eating Choices, Food Labelling, Food Allergies and the all important Healthy Snacks.
Most of our online courses can be ordered by individuals and teams or businesses looking to prepare their workforce - if you’re not familiar with us learn more about our mission and our health and safety courses.
3. It’s the simple things that matter when planning for a potentially bumpy ride, such as if you’re all now used to Microsoft Teams, Slack and group chats where you may have not been before, continue them in the workplace too even if you’re all in the same building, it’ll certainly help keep those still WFH feeling involved.
Make sure there’s a good and private space in your company offices for people to have video calls still - not everyone will be returning to work or jumping on that rush hour train like others and video meeting will probably be here to stay and there’s nothing worse than noisy, people filled room with no quiet areas when trying to engage on video.
On top of these points, we always recommend preparing your people for a safe return to work, to provide them with information about how to work safely such as how to work in comfort at their workstation, and to be mindful of the breaks and changes of activity they include in their working day. You’ll find these and other useful tips in our DSE Workstation Safety course.
IBIS Training is London's premier health and safety online training or e-learning course provider for over 12 years. Specialising in distance learning for groups and businesses world-wide. We have a range of health and safety courses and industry specific training for compliance, career development CPD and regulatory needs. Our experienced team of UK-based health and safety specialists are freely available on the phone for a requirements review. Talk to us today or call 020 3870 2599 to learn how our years of experience designing bespoke safety courses can help you. Learn more about IBIS Training.