Workplace Challenges & Solutions in the Post-Pandemic World

• Published On: August 18, 2021
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• Updated On: June 10, 2022
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• Hybrid Workplace

The Covid-19 pandemic has turned out to be a time machine catapulting the world of work into the future. In a short span of time, it forced organizations to use advanced tools for collaboration and communication. That’s why HR managers are facing workplace challenges & solutions both anew.

No organization anticipated the speed and scale at which the pandemic would revolutionize the way workplaces function. Today, nearly 42% of remote workers acknowledge that if their company doesn’t offer work-from-home alternatives in the long term, they are willing to switch jobs for a company that does.

Even though the pandemic has ushered in lasting workplace changes, employees' return to office is inevitable. So, as offices gear up to reopen doors for employees' return, they naturally have embraced technology rapidly and wholeheartedly. Now, employers must navigate workplace challenges & solutions while ensuring employee safety and getting accustomed to working remotely.

Here are some common workplace scenarios in the post-Covid-19 world, such as face mask compliance during meetings, efficiently managing visitors, etc., along with their technology-backed solutions.

Workplace Challenges & Solutions #1: How To Fine-Tune Hybrid Remote Work Collaboration?

Today, 20%-25% of workers in advanced economies are opting for hybrid remote work on a long-term basis. This means these employees would divide their time working from home and the office. While it can offer superior flexibility to employees, an unplanned return to offices can also lead to confusion. Here's how.

• Who will decide which employee stays on-site and which has to be remote?
• What if, on a given day, most employees choose to return to office? How should social distancing protocols be followed then?
• How would the employees ensure what's most productive for them and effective for their team?

And, you get the gist. In the first of the many workplace challenges & solutions, technology can come to your aid. Workinsync allows employees to select their preferred time, day, and work location while aligning it with their colleagues’ and their team’s schedules.

It allows your team to stay informed about employee location and availability so it can manage on-site visits and work schedules. This way, you can chart and execute several employee rotation strategies to maximize workday productivity.

Workplace Challenges & Solutions #2: How Do You Manage Visitors?

If employees return to offices, so will visitors, including clients, potential customers, interview candidates, interns, freelancers, stakeholders, suppliers, and more.

To tackle Covid-19-related concerns and ensure employee safety, your front desk receptionist managing the visitor’s log the good old-fashioned way may not be enough. Here’s why.

• How do you ensure that all the visitors adhere to the face mask compliance regulations of your workplace?
• How do you conduct contactless temperature checks for visitors?
• Are all the visitors pre-registered?
• Can you ascertain the whereabouts, including the name, contact information, and location of every visitor in case of any security issue like contact tracing?
• Is your current infrastructure equipped to ensure visitors strictly adhere to your building's occupancy/capacity limits when employees return to offices?

Here, by using visitor management software, you can virtually maintain a visitor log of all the people on your company premises, along with the employees. It will also help you pre-register visitors, track their location inside the building, and capture relevant information about them.

Workplace Challenges & Solutions #3:How To Maintain Face Mask Compliance?

Next in the list of workplace challenges & solutions- reducing unnecessary human interaction across the office, maintaining safe occupancy levels in office premises, preventing congestion near the water cooler, lobby areas, conference room, etc.

Here, a visitor management system can help you schedule or reschedule visitors per the occupancy level on a floor, your building, or a specific room. However, when it comes to employees, enterprises often lack touchless technologies on their premises.

Did you know that approximately 96% of on-site workers who return to offices are still required to touch multi-use surfaces like sign-in kiosks, elevator buttons, employee attendance machines, and more to navigate workplaces?

To prevent the spread of germs and viruses, your organization must have contactless entry/exit software that also conducts routine temperature checks and tracks employee movement throughout the office premises. With a digital pass, you can achieve that. The pass can allow employees and visitors to enter and move freely across the building without touching the common touchpoints.

Bonus Read: How to be Face Mask Compliant?

Similarly, it is crucial to ensure that employees adhere to basic safety guidelines like wearing face masks. WorkInSync's Face Mask Compliance Detector can help your team trace employees with and without masks when they return to office.

Workplace Challenges & Solutions #4: How Do You Prevent Employee Turnover?

Now that the remote working population is thinking about their return to offices, employee retention is a crucial challenge. The Covid-19 health crisis has underscored the devastating health effects and skyrocketing out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. For instance, in the US itself, employer-sponsored health insurance is significantly more affordable for employees.

That's why, nowadays, career professionals consider health benefits and group health insurance coverage when finding a new job or switching an existing one. Short and long-term disability coverage is a priority for job seekers in the post-pandemic world.

Here, your organization can significantly benefit from nurturing a culture of wellness and delivering employee-centric health benefits to hone a competitive recruitment advantage. Leaves for maternity and other caretaking needs and flexible paid time off for issues like long-Covid-19 can help you retain top-tier employees.

Workplace Challenges & Solutions #5: What Happens To Meeting Rooms?

Free-balling ideas while huddling around a table and stumbling upon a solution during a post-meeting chat are crucial parts of successful brainstorming sessions. Since the onset of pandemic-induced lockdowns, there has been a 12.9% increase in the number of meetings. And remote or on-site, the significance of meetings remains unparalleled.

However, in hybrid workplaces, conducting meetings with everyone present has become a herculean task. When employees return to office, Let’s see how.

• How do you find the most appropriate room that brings together every employee, whether in-person or virtual?
• How do you know if the meeting room has been frequented and is sanitized?
• How do you book the room in a hassle-free contactless manner?

Also Read: 5 Effective Tips for Meeting Room Management

The last on the list of workplace challenges & solutions is a simple but effective, technology-backed, quick-fix- meeting room management software. Your meeting room management system must allow you to-

The Bottom Line

Reimagining workplaces challenges & solutions is a necessity today for HR managers, especially when employee safety is paramount and hybrid workplaces are the new normal.

To bridge the gap between a remote workspace and a vibrant on-site workspace brimming with employee activity can be a tough nut to crack for companies. Turn to adaptive solutions from WorkInSync and smoothly transition to a hybrid workplace. Elevate employee experience and deliver the perfect blend of services to your remote, on-site, and hybrid employees as they return to offices with ease.