How will we return to work post COVID? Have you started preparing to come back? Are you ready to reopen your office or business? You need to start thinking about HOW you prepare NOW. BLANKSLATE Partners HR Experts can help you get back to business in a safe and compliant way.

Have you ever been on a flight and heard the announcement “Cabin Crew, Prepare the cabin for Landing.” 

It is the start of the landing sequence that lets the Cabin Crew to prepare to land. The Crew are trained for any eventuality that might happen on landing. In the aviation industry, it is known that approximately 80% of accidents happen on landing and on take off. Most of the time, when a plane lands it does so smoothly, in a well rehearsed series of events that bring the plane, it’s crew and passengers, rolling safely to the gate. 

Sometimes, after a bumpy flight, the passengers cheer or clap when the wheels touch the ground on landing. On occasion and rarely, s*&t goes sideways and the crew prepare the cabin for an emergency landing. Either way, the crew prep the cabin for landing. The passengers put their seatbelts on, chairs and tables go to the upright position and we wait….

 

Today:

Today is no different. In this scenario, the plane is your business, the crew is your leadership team and your employees are your passengers. Each business, big or small, is preparing for landing. Conserving cash flow, planning and replanning scenarios for when we will come back to the ‘new normal’. Will we have a bumpy landing or will the wheels touch the ground with a big applause? We are hoping we don’t come to a sliding/slamming stop.

 

Prepare your cabin.

Now is the perfect time to do all that HR administration work that you have been avoiding. 

• Are all your employees on employment contracts?
• Define your company values and are you living within them?
• Have you got the right policies in place? 
• Do you have a handbook?
• Do you store and file all your employee’s information in accordance to PEPIDA  and so much more.

Check out BLANKSLATE’s HR Audit resource – nows the time to do this work

Put your seat belts on:

The cabin is tidied, we’re starting our descent, now let’s get ready to land.

• What is your return to work plan? In the same way you had an extraction plan, today you should be thinking about reversing that and what that looks like.
• Is it scalable and flexible to pivot based on news and potential second waves?
• How will you communicate it?
• Who’s in charge of it?
• Define indicators that will trigger action points?
• What will you do if people don’t want to return to work? 
• Understand the employment law, your obligations and what can and cant you ask your employees to do?

 

Are the chairs and tables in the upright position:

• Is your working environment safe? 
• Who are those essential workers and what does their working environment look like?
• Is your office building secure and has it been cleaned? (Please confirm that someone emptied the fridge!)
• What are the governing bodies you need to ensure you are compliant with?
• Many of us have favoured open plan offices in the last few years, but there is very little social distancing in these layouts. Can you assure your returning employees that you can provide a safe distance between workstations? Is there enough space for social distancing between desks? Do you have enough office space to offer enough personal space to each returning person? Many SMB’s are crammed in tight to a small space due to the cost of rent. How can we ensure that we have enough space?
• What sanitary stations/plans do you have in place?
• Were you in a coworking space before? Is this business model still viable for you and your employees?
• How do your people commute to work?
• Where do they lunch/eat/gather?
• What do your boardrooms and meeting rooms look like? Whats your plan for meetings?

 

The big question is this: “Are your employees safe?” Can you adhere to the recommendations, (whatever they might be,) given by the BC CDC.

We want to get you back to work safely.

BLANKSLATE Partners are offering a COVID-19 return to work package, which includes auditing  your HR Admin,  your workplace safety and ensuring your team has a comprehensive return to work plan and communication plan. Reach out immediately to Izzie@blankslate.partners for more details and to be connected to your expert.

Stay Healthy!