During the onset of the pandemic, most businesses were looking for ways to incorporate work-from-home strategies into their daily operations. This was done through the aid of a Google Workspace partner or by other means. There’s no denying that this has been a challenge for most businesses. At the same time, one cannot simply deny that the circumstance has raised some business opportunities. These opportunities improved our way of understanding and handling a business.

Nowadays, as vaccines are being administered to the public, many countries have started lifting lockdown restrictions. As a result, most businesses are calling for their teams to put on something business-appropriate and head back to their respective offices, like how it used to be.

However, after having worked at home for so long, many people have realized the beauty and benefits of the practice which is why it’s not much of a surprise that not every Australian is eager to revert to the old ways of working full time at the office. This doesn’t mean that they’re not willing to meet halfway, more than half of the Australians are looking forward to continuing working from home for a minimum of two days per week.

As a business leader, what do you think is the best approach here? What factors should you consider before you ask your team to return to the office? How can you take advantage of the benefits of having your employees work at the office and from their respective homes? For a flexible workspace, Onsite Helper recommends:

1. Communicate with your team

One can argue that there is nothing more important than communication, this is also true in business. Your team is a critical force that keeps your business running, to effectively manage them, you need to be able to adapt to their needs while benefiting the business. We can learn from the pandemic that we have far less control than we initially thought we did. As nothing is set in stone, we too can adapt and try to be more flexible than commanding.

Ask your employees about their work-from-home experience. What did they find most helpful from working at home? What can we replicate from a remote setting to an office setting? Talking to your team has never been easier with the help of a Google Workspace partner. Take their answers into account when planning for the company’s next steps in moving forward.

2. Work on the trust that you developed with your team and partners

Managing employees who have been working remotely has drastically increased the trust between employees and managers. Learning how to trust your team with their methods to provide valuable results is helpful for you and your team. If you’ve learned to rely on your team’s output rather than micro-managing their inputs, there’s no doubt that you have developed and emphasized trust in your working relationship with them. With that in mind, know that your team will have the betterment of the business at heart while trying to make their work environment as sustainable, effective, and efficient as possible.

3. Use the flexible workspace to your advantage

While a lot of people are used to the idea of working the typical nine-to-five jobs, a lot of people are noticing the beauty of working remotely. To catch the interest of both sides of the spectrum, why not implement workplace flexibility to applicants?

By having only one strict workplace, you’re ignoring the interest of a huge group of skilful people, therefore, limiting the number of talented people that could be a part of your team. Nowadays, people value flexibility. Market your business as one that offers workplace flexibility, managed services, healthy workplace culture, and strong IT security. It’s up to business leaders to stay on top of the market and adapt.

4. Realise the mental and emotional effects of the pandemic

If you think that you can simply tell people to go to work and act as if the entire pandemic didn’t happen, think again. It’s vital to realize that ignoring the mental and emotional effects of the pandemic on your team is detrimental to their success.

Provide opportunities for your team to take care of their mental and emotional health. As a leader, you should also check on your team not only because we’ve all had to deal with the pandemic through various means but also because conversing and being able to open up helps with overall morale, creativity, and productivity.

How can you, as a leader, show that you care for your team’s wellbeing? Set aside some time, giving everyone a pause from work, to discuss happenings from their lives. Allow them to catch up with each other, to support one another. Schedule virtual meetings weekly, monthly, or as often as necessary. Encourage your team to share and support them – this is necessary for a flexible workspace.

5. Change your workspace mindset

How was your business with the practice of work-from-home solutions? Make the best out of the cards we’re dealt. Be transparent with your team, employ technical talents and managed services, put emphasis and heighten IT security, invest in a trusted Google Workspace partner, take advantage of the benefits from working at home, and for ease, integrate the system of your business to this new normal.

Recognise change, adapt, grow, and evolve – this is how we can keep our business up and running with a flexible workspace. When you’re ready to make that change, Onsite Helper is more than happy to help.