AOI Experts: What Can Leadership Do For Their Workforce In Order To Provide A Smooth Transition Back To The Office

The move back to the office is approaching for many businesses and organizations and will be here sooner rather than later. Rather than put off the transition and put a plan together at the last minute, businesses of every industry need to start planning now and considering what their return to the office will look like.

Have an Executable Action Plan

Having a plan in place is one thing, but having a plan that is quick and easy to enact while also being practical is another. For most businesses, not much will change in terms of the already outlined guidelines that most of been following for quite some time, like having safety protocols in place and having space planned out in a well-thought-out manner that adheres to your culture, amongst others, for example.

“Leadership can encourage employees to return to the office. Leadership can assure a smoother transition by having published protocols for safe workplace practices. Offices should have proper PPE equipment available in the office.” – Gary McIntosh, Senior Account Manager

Inspire Your People

The biggest aspect leadership needs to consider when transitioning back to the office is ensuring their people that everything will be alright once the move back to the workplace is made. If leadership isn’t confident that the move will be successful, then employees will surely not want to come back and will want to continue working from home. On the flipside though, if leadership can show strong leadership qualities and confidence that inspires the office, then that will make the transition that much smoother.

“Prepare the work environment in advance of the return of the office workforce so staff are comfortable knowing all that was done is for their safety and protection.” – Shirley Block, Senior Account Manager

Document The Process

Change communication is a big part of moving back to the office, and laying out the exact plan in clear details that are easy to follow will be a vital step in ensuring the return is smooth and successful. Documenting key areas and highlighting aspects that employees need to be made wary of will not only help clear up miscommunication but will also clean up all communication channels.

“Communication is Key! Let employees know what steps as being taken in the workplace to make it safe for them to return. Show them what their new workspace will look like through visuals. Provide them options for how they would like to return to work. Offer solutions for if they would like to continue working from home. Also let them know what steps they can take on an individual level in order to complete their jobs while working from any location such as providing digital ways to communicate in “face to face” meetings.” – Nicole Wynkoop, Director of Design,