Reimagining the workspace post COVID-19

Workers around the world have been adapting to the new way of working remotely during the subsequent lockdowns globally. While this has taken some time for workers to adjust to, businesses may be making some of the recent changes made to processes more permanent, even post COVID-19.

Business leaders around the globe have seen ways in which some of the changes over the past few months have actually been beneficial for business.

Flexible working

With everyone except for essential workers being forced to work from home, organisations have been able to see that not everyone has to be at the office in order for work to be done efficiently. Therefore, workers could see more flexible working hours and conditions post-COVID-19, as businesses may allow more people to work from home more often. This will be a huge step for businesses as working from home used to be considered the second-best option to working from the office. It was viewed like this as employers thought workers were likely to ‘slack off’ when working from home. However, the forced lockdown has seen many employers proved wrong when it comes to working remotely. This will also benefit workers as less money will need to be spent every month on transport. During this lockdown, employees around the globe have figured out whether they are more or less efficient when working for home, this could, therefore, lead to a change in the office dynamics, after the end of the current pandemic.

Online meetings/conferences

The current lockdown has highlighted to many businesses the amazing technology that is available. It has also highlighted that not every meeting needs to be conducted face-to-face. By using online video and voice calls, teams are able to have a comprehensive meeting without having to travel to and from a meeting location. This, therefore, helps employees save time, giving them more time to do important work. This also saves many people from having to attend unnecessary meetings (because we all know what it’s like to sit in a meeting that could have been covered in an email). Businesses could also decrease the number of people they send abroad for meetings as the lockdown has demonstrated that these meeting can be carried out online, therefore saving the organisation time and money. These online considerations need to be kept in mind by all business leaders when the lockdown has ended, and businesses resume as ‘normal’.

Personal hygiene will become a priority

The outbreak of the virus highlighted that hygiene in the workplace was severely lacking from bathrooms not being stocked daily with soap to desks not being properly cleaned. The Coronavirus pandemic made us all realise just how little we and our businesses overlook the importance of personal and office hygiene. This epiphany must not be forgotten when business resumes to normal. Business leaders need to ensure that the level of personal and office hygiene that we have been practising for the last few months continues long after the pandemic ends. This will also help to prevent the outbreak of common illnesses such as colds and flu in the office. This could, therefore, lead to a decline in the number of employees who take sick leave.

The outbreak of the Coronavirus has forced businesses to rethink their business operations and completely reinvent who they and their employees maintain operations. This has, therefore led to businesses realising that previously disregarded processes can actually be beneficial to the organisation and its employees. This lockdown has given business leaders an opportunity to make certain business practices that came around during the lockdown, the new norm. This could dramatically increase the efficiency of businesses as well as improve the working environment.

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