How Staff Members At One Health Tech Company Are Shaping Their Return To The Office

Employee safety and wellbeing should be at the forefront

Let’s face it, the past 15+ months have put businesses across the country in uncharted territory and forced more than half of America’s employees to work remotely and physically disconnect from co-workers and employers. Now, as U.S. vaccination rates rise and Covid-19 cases plummet, employees and employers alike are looking to the future of the post-pandemic workplace. As company executives and HR leaders push for staff to come back to offices they are finding a wide range of data and opinions, but more importantly that not all employees are eager to quickly jump back into their office chairs.
 

The past year’s immense workforce policy shift gave employees time to reevaluate what they want in an employer, with flexibility near the top of the list. Many are looking to work for companies that offer a hybrid approach versus fully remote or going back to the office full time. A recent survey by Harris Poll & Fast Company found that 68% of current employees prefer remote work and work-from-home options compared to the 70% of employers who said they plan to bring employees back to the office by Fall 2021.

So how do employers close this gap? When strategizing ways to welcome employees back to work, companies must ensure every team member’s voice is heard and employees are part of driving the change. At TigerConnect, we have actively included employees in the conversation as soon as we closed our offices in March 2020. We have kept channels of communication open, creating multiple pulse surveys throughout the past year, and an active conversation surrounding the plan of action for returning to the office. As a high-growth health tech company headquartered in Southern California, our employees have been on the frontlines of helping large health systems react to Covid-19 over the past year and they are naturally well-informed on everything from CDC safety guidelines to vaccine rollouts. We see this knowledge as a strength and developed an early return-to-work pilot program with employees’ voices ingrained in the plan’s implementation.

The purpose of the pilot program is to test out new processes and safety protocols real-time with employees to fine-tune the return-to-work approach. Feedback on everything from booking a hot desk to office sanitation and utilization will prove invaluable as subsequent phases of the program begin to welcome back more employees. At this point, employers may be asking themselves, “Why will employees be inclined to participate in a pilot program if they don’t have to?”

Coupling a voluntary approach with executive facetime, 20% of our employees quickly opted-in to be part of the first group in the pilot program to provide feedback and get back in the office. The program includes fully vaccinated employees who want to be back in the office and travel to meet clients. This kind of voluntary participation showcases the power of the physical office. It provides a safe space that is critical to fostering positive company culture, but those who are not yet comfortable returning to the office should not feel pressured to do so.

That said, as other businesses begin to lay out plans for reopening their doors to employees, it is essential to take each team member’s voice and level of comfortability into account. For many, that may mean the future of the workplace includes the implementation of a hybrid approach. As seen in our company’s methodology, even some vaccinated employees prefer working remotely for part, if not all, of the week. Employers should be flexible when reintroducing policies to maintain productivity and morale.

HR leaders across industries must take specific concerns, such as the ones mentioned above, into account when creating a comprehensive return-to-work strategy. Below are key actions TigerConnect has built into our pilot program that other organizations should consider when developing their plans:
 

• Conduct an employee survey (or many!) to determine what percentage of the workforce is interested in coming back to the office, staying remote, or combining the two. Ask them what is driving their preferences - work/life balance, childcare, fear of getting sick? The answers will vary from person to person and company to company. When possible, give your employees a choice so they know their voice matters while approaching them with elevated levels of respect and patience during this transitional time. One of the critical components of TigerConnect’s program is that employees are not mandated to return to the office. To date, almost 50% of our employee population has opted in to in-person events and office time in the near future. 

 

• Reopen in phases by establishing a staggered schedule for staff members to come to the office at different frequencies to ensure those who choose to keep their distance can do so in a safe setting. After more than a year of staying six feet away from others, employees should be eased back into socializing. 

 

• Invest in emerging technologies and updates to the physical workspace to ensure all employees have the capabilities needed to perform their duties, whether on-site or working remotely. 

 

• Make it fun! Schedule a “reorientation” to make people feel welcome. Host a happy hour on the first day back. Encourage managers to get their teams together for staff meetings or training. Employees want genuine reasons to come back and a big one is socialization and purposeful interactions with their colleagues. 

 

• Incorporate the following logistics to keep employees safe, healthy, and comfortable in the workplace:

  To sum up, it is mission-critical to include employees in the strategy and decision to return to the office. Nobody knows what the remainder of 2021 holds, so it is best to be as prepared as possible now and take it all in stride. We are still living in a time of great uncertainty and confusion, so as you look to your company's post-pandemic future, you should be ensuring that employee safety and well-being are at the forefront.

Allie Hanegan is the SVP of People at TigerConnect. With over 15 years of leading HR teams at businesses across the country, such as Amazon and Expedia Group, Hanegan utilizes data and psychology to drive business value and ensure a more rewarding workplace for employees. Visit https://tigerconnect.com/  Connect Allie Hanegan