Welcome back – how to make a return to the office feel like a welcome decision

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In the wake of the Covid pandemic, many businesses are still juggling employees either solely working from home, working in the office, or a hybrid combination of the two. With its impact finally receding, for many companies it can make sense from a business perspective to encourage employees back into the workplace. However, with the challenge of re-adapting – for some people after nearly four years – how can you make this notion feel like a welcome return rather than an unwelcome regression?

Fail to plan, plan to fail

Throwing out a blanket ‘one size fits all’ command that all staff must return to the office will inevitably be met with confusion and resentment. Not to mention, staff feeling forced into returning will be detrimental to their mental health. Being open and honest and giving the reasons why you wish for all staff to return to the office will help build trust. It will also go a long way towards having a happier returning workforce.

We’ve discussed before in a previous article of the importance of employee engagement, and how retaining your existing staff is money much better spent than in recruiting new team members. Not to mention the business time lost in the training of new staff, which can impact productivity levels across the business. That’s why, when planning a return for staff to the office, it’s important to have individual conversations to help formulate a plan that will work for everyone.

Think about additional considerations

This is easier said than done for smaller businesses, but for larger businesses this can still be achieved through managers having these conversations with their team, or sending out internal surveys, to discover the general consensus within the workforce, and what their misgivings might be.

Each employee needs to feel the same level of appreciation and support, and this includes the additional considerations of your staff about returning to the office, such as them now having to factor in new travel times, petrol costs, additional food bills and childcare, the stress of the commute, etc. The plan needs to be adaptive and responsive and could involve staff returning in waves to ensure their needs and requirements are met in time, rather than everyone all returning at once. Although this could be a logistical nightmare, you need to find a balance between it working for everyone, otherwise it won’t work at all.

A welcome change

Just as businesses and people had to rapidly adapt to suddenly having to work from home, returning to the office is quickly becoming another culture shift which employees will have to readapt to.

People have become comfortable working from home, so the challenge now lies in making the office a more attractive place to work, to encourage staff through the doors. This goes beyond providing quiet areas or ensuring each team member has their own desk, rather than having to desk share (no one wants the annoyance of having to adjust their chair and setup each time they come into work).

Providing incentives might be the key. People like to feel rewarded, and depending on the size and scope and budget of your business. This could range from providing small treats such as supplying free tea and coffee, to offering free daily breakfasts, or hosting fun events like team lunches every Friday. You could even partner with local businesses to provide something new for your staff. This could include such things as having stands occasionally set up selling sweets, perfume, makeup, gifts (such as is seasonal) etc, or offering manicures and pedicures during the lunch hour.

Don’t miss out

This can give employees a sense of something they won’t want to miss, as well as re-building a sense of workplace community that is lost when solely working from home. The more positive things you do to make the office seem an attractive place to be, the more your staff will sell the benefits to other team members and encourage others in.

The saying goes ‘if you build it, they will come’. So, if you provide the best possible space for your employees to enjoy, and not just work, this will go a long way towards building enthusiasm and making a return to the office a welcome decision.

Making the right decisions

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As an HR professional, choosing an Outplacement company to work with can be a difficult decision. It’s very dependent on what your company is like and in which areas it needs guidance. As the commissioning client, you should be given the opportunity to get to know your chosen outplacement Consultant. In turn, they should take the time to ask you about the issues and individuals involved, as well as giving a full explanation of the process and how they treat people. Knowledge and experience are crucial, and a good consultancy will have accrued a great deal of both over the years. Selecting the outplacement company that is suited to your needs is one of the biggest challenges facing HR professionals. You don’t want to find yourself wasting time and money, so choosing one that is a good match is paramount.

Mapping the road ahead

A good approach to outplacement is to allow a Consultant to initially spend some time with the company or individual, so they can get to know each other and discuss how to work together. We offer outplacement recipients an introductory session, lasting up to a hour, to explain what we do and importantly talk through their career to date. The process is two-way, so it’s worth communicating from the outset, openly and honestly. Once you’ve found an approach that will work, outplacement programmes have a variety of collateral benefits that are part of the discussion and coaching process.

To give just one example, if an individual is assessing where they currently are with their career and where they would like to be, it’s a good idea to build and strengthen their CV and LinkedIn profiles. These are useful tools in making someone more attractive for employers and allows the showcasing of strengths and knowledge in a positive way. It’s also worth taking time to map out some other areas that will be looked at, such as opportunities to practice interview skills. It might be that the Consultant also explores further avenues, including self-employment, contracting, interim and perhaps Non-Executive Directorships. Strategy and review are vital ongoing components to ensure an individual keeps on the right track and feels supported while they are doing it.

Getting along together

One of the most gratifying aspects of being a Consultant is when clients realise how much they are getting out the process and relationship. The ideal scenario will result in the candidates getting on well with their Consultant on a personal level as well as a professional level, thereby building a rapport. At Career Evolution, we have always worked on a holistic basis, to help support our clients and ensure that our outplacement candidates not only get the right job, but also one that will suit their preferred lifestyle.

This is where getting to know your clients will really pay dividends. As times and work patterns have changed, we have all realised that the daily commute and  9-to-5 work patterns needn’t be the norm. Many factors have changed people’s expectations of work-life balance and what they hope to achieve to fulfil their career. A good relationship between Consultant and client will enhance this – so it’s all about making the right choice in the first instance. That initial decision can make all the difference in the long run.

If you’d like to learn more about outplacement and how it can help your business, then contact one of our outplacement Consultants today. [link]

 

Can you read your CV?

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Our CVs are one of those aspects of our personal profile that are often the last to be amended. This is perhaps because these days we are more likely to update our status on social media, or our job status on LinkedIn instead. As a result, we are more up-to-date in our profiles in some ways, but less so in others. We have different priorities and often something like a CV is only refreshed when we need it, to send out to prospective employers.

The story so far

If you are working with an outplacement Consultant, they will help you get your CV in shape. It’s worth remembering that a Consultant will not write your CV for you. They will help you to look at career/role/sector options through discussion and then point you towards how your CV can best display you and your skills. In this way your CV will speak to your selected readership or audience. This guidance is a reliable way of honing your CV towards sectors you would like to work in. It also helps you identify where your strengths and weaknesses lie, in relation to where and how you see yourself. All you really want from a CV is a true reflection of you, your career and experience thus far, and your ambitions and career goals – your story so far.

Cut the jargon, having read your CV

Your Consultant will be well versed in working with people at all levels, in multitudinous roles and sectors. They won’t understand the jargon necessarily, but they can challenge what you have put down, ask what it means and help you construct and articulate your skills and achievements. If you cannot explain what the jargon means, it’s probably best to take it out, as if you’re pressed on it in an interview, you’ll be caught out. At a push, if you think the jargon is justified for the sector – some digital abbreviations if the role is in IT for example, a sector littered with technical words and acronyms – then by all means leave them in. But in the main, aim for a general readership and an accessible tone.

The silence of print

My ‘go to’ when working with clients, usually after quite an amount of work, is to ask them to read their CV aloud to themselves. Speaking out loud changes the tone of the words dramatically from the silence of print. A good sign is if you simply write the way you speak. For someone who does this instinctively, there will be little  discrepancy between the written word and the spoken one. We all have different styles of writing and language that we use. If it sounds stilted, then it isn’t you and you should correct it. Always aim for plain English when you’re assembling a CV – the more straightforward the better. Again, your Consultant will help you recraft until you’re happy that the tone and content reflects the true you.

Catching Zs with Gen Z – why a multigenerational team is the dream workforce

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As more of Generation Z (Gen Z) moves into the workplace, there has started to become apparent a discrepancy between such a diverse range in ages all working together. With up to five generations all in the same work space, each with very different life experiences, especially regarding technology, the challenge now is how to make such multigenerational diversity work for you and your business.

Mind the (age) gap

Generation Z refers to anyone born between 1997 and 2012. Very much born into the ‘digital age’, Gen Z’s will soon represent nearly 30% of the workforce by 2025. Rather than seeing the differences between Gen Z and the rest of the more established workforce, businesses should see this as a new opportunity to pass on key knowledge and best practices, especially as older team members retire. This is particularly true in skilled trade workforces, such as construction, which is struggling to address the ever-growing skills gap.

Thinking outside the box

This issue just highlights how we shouldn’t put people into boxes. The type of employee is largely defined by their personality – you don’t have to be in a certain age bracket to have a certain type of personality. Especially in the job market, success largely comes down to personality, resourcefulness and risk taking, and these three elements don’t have anything to do with age.

A risk taker could be someone in their 50’s who wants to set up their own business, despite having a mortgage, three children and no back up finance to support them, and still be ready and eager to do it. Conversely, a 22-year-old ‘Gen Z’ living at home could be very fearful of setting something up on their own, even with financial support from their parents, and be terrified of failure.

A balancing act for a multigenerational workforce

Each generation will have different aims for themselves and their careers, and that’s true at any life stage. We are all influenced by the changing marketplace, together with our own needs and personalities.

I found that world events, such as the financial crisis of 2008, helped a lot of very senior clients in their 40s and 50s to take a good long look at their career and made decisions around what they enjoyed doing, rather than worrying about status, and the same was true following the Covid epidemic, with many of my clients looking for a change to reflect our new ways of working.

When the shared aim is to help a business succeed and do well, then the drive of the individual working with the team should be the emphasis, not the age.

I sometimes think older generations are fearful of Gen Z – they are hungry to do well, achieve and progress, but still want a good work/life balance, meaning a healthier and happier workforce, something we can all learn from!

It’s also not just about comparing Gen Z to the rest of the workforce, each generation has more in common than we may first realise. The lines are blurring as everyone tries to keep up to date with the latest changes in technology and ways of working.

Employers should therefore not limit their workforce by age, for fear of losing out on this growing and talented pool. They are the future of your business after all. So, beware of comments of ‘the youth of today’, an age-old phrase that we’ve all been subjected to ourselves by our previous generation. Time will pass and before you know it, people who never knew a world without AI will be the topic of Gen Z recruiters, telling them what the world was like when they were young!