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Post-COVID-19

Covid restrictions may have gone but the pandemic has not

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Covid restrictions may have gone but the pandemic itself has not

The pressure on businesses is considerable as a result of the pandemic, supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine.

It has all meant rising costs and on top of that a shortage of employees to recruit.

So it is more than ever important to try to keep existing skilled staff.

One issue that may be affecting your business is the ongoing pandemic, where people are being advised to isolate for five days if they test positive.

But now that the rules on state-funded sick pay have returned to normal, this means that many will now only get two days’ sick pay as it only kicks in after three days.

While most businesses will undoubtedly still be doing everything they can to keep staff safe, they will still be faced with some off sick while the virus is still circulating.

Perhaps it is worth considering introducing some short-term financial help if your company does not have its own sick pay scheme?

Of course, all businesses are struggling with cost pressures but introducing something like this could signal to your employees that they are valued and that you understand their difficulties and may help you retain them.

Office-perks

The evolution of office perks

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During the pandemic, many businesses had to get used to their employees working from home.

As restrictions have loosened, however, the hybrid and work from home models look set to remain.

This means that the “traditional” perks from free meals to break-out spaces to yoga classes offered within the office may no longer make sense.

While the more mainstream benefits such as generous pension packages or healthcare may remain, there is likely to be a radical evolution in the non-office-based perks.

Some businesses have started to offer contributions towards home offices, mobile phones or broadband while others have started to introduce mental and physical wellbeing perks remotely.

Some, including Google and Revolut, have introduced extra days off as “reset days”.

They are recognising that it is a lot harder for people in the business to switch off when they’re working from home because they can’t disconnect.

Remote-Working

In an era of remote working is it time to revise our working practices?

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It has been clear for some time that many people forced to work remotely because of the pandemic have found that they prefer this and are reluctant to return to the office.

Employers, too, have realised that it not only reduces overheads but that it does not lead to a reduction in productivity.

But many people even working remotely have stuck to the traditional 9-5 pattern and now researchers at the leading business research and advisory company, Gartner, have looked at this way of working and are concluding that it is causing significant damage to employees, particularly causing an increase in fatigue.

They argue that “In today’s context, office-centric work is a square peg and the remote environment is a round hole.”

The formalised working day based on office hours, they argue, was established in the 1920s and is “unsuitable for the remote environment where we do not have concrete signals to start or end our workday”.

It also questions the need for meetings as the best way to collaborate, much of it no longer necessary, it argues, in an age of email, instant messaging and shared drives.

The researchers’ findings are to some extent supported by another piece of research reported by Wired which described various experiments based on the Scandinavian model.

While productivity improved among those businesses that tried a shorter, five-hour day, there were some downsides, generally in the area of losing something on the relationship level, in team culture and loyalty.