Managing the Return to Onsite Work: There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

Meeting People Where They Are

As restrictions begin to loosen up and people are expected to start returning to the workplace, there are those who may not want to or who have good reasons not to:

• Individuals who may assert that they’re as productive or even more productive working remotely
• Individuals in the high-risk category or who are living with high-risk family members
• People who must take public transportation but don’t want to be in close proximity to others
• People experiencing heightened fear and anxiety, especially those managing mental health issues
• Others who may feel peer pressure, expectation, or self-imposed responsibility to be on site
• Those who job-share and would therefore have to share the same desk and office equipment
• The risks of sitting in separate cubicles or offices but still close to each other
• The need for social distancing outweighing the benefits of team collocation
• Concerns about work overload

As leaders in the federal workforce, you will need to understand where members of your team stand on these issues and plan for ways to address them before communicating return-to-work protocols and expectations.

Life-Changing and Staff-Altering Turns

Additionally, there may be more far-reaching impacts on the makeup of the federal workforce. Senior and tenured staff members may decide this is a smart time to ride the retirement wave and leave early.  Some workers may be rethinking their career choices and opt for organizations that allow full time remote or flexible work. Others may have relocated during the pandemic and are not interested in coming back to a location where they can have an onsite presence.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, if our basic needs for security and safety aren’t met—and can’t be assured—we’re not going to worry about meeting our self-esteem needs for prestige and accomplishment or our self-actualization need for achieving our full potential. That can have a significant impact on how you and your people move forward. Agency leaders can plan that the workforce will change and the performance, morale, engagement, and commitment of the public servants will continue evolving.

A Pragmatic Approach to Navigation

So what can leaders and managers do, and what support can be put in place to navigate this uncharted territory and mitigate risks? Our experts can help you navigate the various scenarios and options:

• Align leaders and managers on a path forward with a unified approach and develop messaging and communications materials such as FAQs and tip sheets for guidance.
• Focus on individual needs with empathy while holding each person accountable by setting clear expectations for performance and delivery.
• Leverage support tools on how to frame conversations about safety and how to handle difficult conversations with diplomacy.
• Take an agile approach to addressing the realities of changing circumstances, evaluate workloads and employee needs to provide balance, and consider upskilling or reskilling as needed.

Remember, you don’t need to go this alone, and sometimes an unbiased, external perspective can help. Federal leaders could very well be struggling with some of the same safety and security challenges that the workforce is dealing with, with the added pressure of having to confidently lead through this storm.

They Need Their Managers to Guide Them Through

One of the top reasons people stay in their jobs—or leave them—is because of their managers. So it’s important to show your leadership skills, understand your individual employees’ needs, and help your team through this gray area. There are great tools, training, and resources that can help you operationalize getting the work done while meeting people where they are.

At LMI, we understand what drives human behavior. We know the resistance points that will come up as agencies plan for return to onsite work and can help proactively address them through employee engagement, strategic communications and human capital planning. We can support leaders with coaching and work with teams to help them through the necessary transitions, and build habits that will drive organizational resiliency. We also have experts that can help leaders develop a strategy and plan to guide their workforce through uncertainty. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you navigate the near-future and beyond, contact us today.

One of the top reasons people stay in their jobs—or leave them—is because of their managers. So it’s important to show your leadership skills, understand your individual employees’ needs, and help your team through this gray area.