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A Guide to Returning to the Office After Covid

After nearly 15 months of working virtually, our team at The Persimmon Group will soon begin the transition back to the office.  Like many of you, we had to adapt, and I’m proud of the innovation, tenacity, and dedication our team showed during this time.

But we won’t be going back in exactly the same way as before. I don’t think of this as “the new normal.” Instead, we are planning for “a better normal.”

WHAT DOES A BETTER NORMAL LOOK LIKE FOR YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION?

Moving into a remote environment so quickly last spring, transitioning entire business models, many organizations were forced to evolve in a matter of weeks. Before Covid, those adaptations and changes may have taken years to achieve. But the pandemic forced organizations into a state of hyper-focus: we had to adapt to survive.

Think back to the start of the pandemic. Ask yourself:

  • What worked well?
  • What would you not do again?

Consider “the cracks” that this experience exposed:

  • Are there gaps in your processes?
  • Are there gaps in how your team works?

And then as you create that pros and cons list, look at what this “better normal” might mean. How do you take what you learned and improve upon it? Leverage some of those ideas and approaches in the office.

For example, you may have new organizational or functional models in the way you work.

A lot of leaders I work with have asked me, “How do I know if I had an increase in productivity?”

You don’t know by looking at tools or apps. You know it by asking your managers. Ask them what they’re seeing. Look at the results of your team. Are you innovating? Adapting?

Contrary to initial fears, it turned out that productivity was the same or higher than it was before the pandemic, even with many employees working remotely. And research shows that many employees will continue working remotely, either full-time or in a hybrid situation.