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More employees have been given the green light to return to their workplaces, but there are still many challenges facing companies and staff preparing to return to the office.
These range from the need to reconfigure work areas to maintain safe distancing to the mental readjustment that workers have to go through to get back on site.
Introducing staggered schedules or shifts can also create problems, executives and human resources experts said.
Leong Chee Tung, CEO and co-founder of human resources technology firm EngageRocket, said it could be counterproductive to have staff work half the day at home and the other half in the office.
“Changing tasks has a significant effect on attention and productivity, so being stuck in such a divided schedule is likely to cause much more time wasted mentally than focused on work,” he said.
“It is much better to have a full day working in the office or working from home.”
Mayank Parekh, executive director of the Institute for Human Resource Professionals, said some companies may hire staff to work alternate days or weeks in the office.
“There is a slight preference for alternate weeks as if there were any Covid-19 cases in that week, next week all staff can work off-site and it will not produce cross contamination,” he added.
Associate Professor Trevor Yu from Nanyang Technological University Business School said, “The challenge with amazing hours and shifts is finding a fair and equitable system that takes into account business requirements and employee needs.”
He said it is essential to involve staff in scheduling work hours to reach an agreement that satisfies employees and employers.
Associate Professor Song Zhaoli from the National University of Singapore Business School said irregular work hours at the office can become a major source of stress.
“Before Covid-19, most workers had a regular work schedule in a week. People knew when to go to work and when to return home. This certainty also makes it easier to coordinate family time,” he said.
“Now, the new work schedule will create uncertainties as to what days and what time to go to the office and when to leave the office. This is likely to create stress.”
FastJobs General Manager Lim Huishan said it may also be necessary to implement staggered lunch hours if the volume of people returning to the office is high, especially since restaurants also have reduced capacities due to safe distance requirements.
In addition to the complexities brought about by staff alignment, offices may also have to move to different spatial configurations to ensure safe distancing, experts said.
Professor Song said: “In the future, coworking spaces are likely to be preferred, given their flexibility to adapt and change.
“Social distancing measures, as well as reducing the workforce working from the office, will likely lead to the underutilization of workspaces, which can come at significant cost.
“How to make future workspaces more agile and flexible will be an important consideration in future office design.”
Unispace Asia Managing Director Toby Rakison said office spaces must also shift towards fostering collaboration rather than individual work, which can be done at home.
“Fundamentally, when it comes to office design, the focus should be less on the individual desk and more on creating conducive spaces.”
For example, insurer Great Eastern recognized even before the pandemic that flexible work arrangements and moving away from standard rows of desks were the way to go.
One of its office floors was redesigned to include video conferencing facilities, workspaces that can be easily converted for different purposes, and open-concept collaboration areas.
“We must continue to keep our minds open to new ways of working. The pandemic has accelerated this for many industries,” said James Lee, the company’s managing director of group human capital.
Experts estimate that companies and staff are unlikely to return to the office quickly, arguing that the challenges of returning to workplaces can be alleviated if it is eased to people gradually, rather than all at once.
A Straits Times poll on the newspaper and Telegram’s social media pages found that about 62 percent of the more than 7,100 respondents did not welcome the decision to return to the workplace this week.
Mr. Leong said: “Some employers are very eager to have their employees back in the office so that they can ‘manage face time’ and thus speed up the transition back to work.
“This would be a mistake and incur productivity costs. Making it easier for staff to return to the office gradually will allow workflows to adapt and maintain high levels of productivity rather than a radical approach that is more likely to cause confusion.”
Betul Genc, Country Manager of Adecco Singapore, said: “Despite the announcement of the multi-ministerial working group, with telecommuting being the main mode of work and with strict regulations, we do not anticipate that many companies will bring their employees back to work. “
Professor Yu said, “Managers should be especially attentive to the psychological and socio-emotional well-being of their subordinates during this time.
“Regular checks and constant feedback on how the adjustment is going will be helpful.”
The 20 employees of the nonprofit Industrial and Services Cooperative Society (Iscos) will adhere to their split work arrangement, and only counter service and operations workers need to be on site to serve customers.
The rest will continue to work from home unless they have to go to the office to access the client management system or shared drives.
“While more can go back to the office, we don’t have to maximize it just for the sake of it. We anticipate that we will stick to split team arrangements for a long time, until phase three, or when a vaccine is found,” said the director. Iscos executive Doris Ng.
But health-tech startup Plano, which specializes in managing myopia, is looking to get more staff back to the office to reestablish cross-team discussions and revitalize the company’s culture of camaraderie.
“The new working conditions were a relief to many of my staff, who have jovial personalities and feed off the ideas of others.
“Sometimes rebuilding culture is more important than keeping your company alive,” said founding managing director Mohamed Dirani.
Following the announcement that more employees can return to the workplace, Plano’s executive team established guidelines to allow about 10 employees from various sections to come to the office starting this week at staggered schedules. The schedules will take into account the inputs and preferences of each worker.
Dr. Dirani also recognized that a sudden change in work schedule after working from home for months can be stressful.
“Employees may have developed habits in the past six months, and we must be considerate and accommodating to those who need time to transition.”
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