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COVID-19 and Working From Home

Your Guide to Managing Employee Wellbeing and Organisational Performance



Recent Government Guidance has introduced stricter measures to combat the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant.

As part of this strategy, working from home, whenever possible, has been included as one of the critical factors impacting businesses across the country.


As we had only recently started to return to office work, this is not foreign to many businesses. However, it can be an opportunity to assess what worked and what can be improved from your past experiences to increase organisational performance during these times of continuous uncertainty while ensuring that your employees' health, safety, and wellbeing are maintained.


Based on our Consultants' expertise, we have outlined the main steps and considerations that your business can take to improve its capabilities and keep on operating safely and profitably.


Reflect


As your team members return to homeworking, consider gathering feedback, if you have not done so already, on what improvement opportunities you can implement based on past experiences.


Listening to your employees can allow you to understand any underlying issues they face. Then, involve them in the process and address their concerns.



Plan


During your reflection stage, consider creating an action plan on what measures you will need to implement to meet the concerns raised by your employees and the reality faced when working from home.


Consider including members of your management team in the planning phases so that the execution can occur efficiently and within reasonable timescales to meet your workforce's demands.


Some examples for you to consider during the planning stages are:

  • Will our employees need a DSE assessment for homeworking?

  • Do our team members require specific needs to be addressed?

  • Do we have any new or expectant mothers in our teams, anyone with a temporary or permanent disability, or any health issues to consider?

  • Do we need to revise or create a homeworking policy or procedure?

  • Have we considered our performance from our previous experience?

  • How do our employees prefer to be updated on organisational matters?

  • What are our communication efforts in place?

  • Are our risk assessments up to date?

  • Are our control measures realistic based on the current internal and external environment?

  • How often should we communicate with our people?

Implement


Once you have finalised your action plan, it will be time to act.

As an employer, you have a duty of care to take all reasonable steps to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of your employees.


Research suggests that organisational performance correlates to higher levels of employee satisfaction, which may impact health in and out of the office.


Involving management team members in the implementation phases will ensure that you win the support of your people, and your strategy implementation will be efficient, thanks to the overall participation of your workforce.


Monitor and Improve


During your planning phase, you must consider how you will continuously monitor and improve the measures you have implemented or intend to introduce or review.

By ensuring constant communication with your employees, you can review your policies, risk assessments, and overall health and safety strategy to meet their needs so that your organisation's performance can stay at peak levels even during these times of uncertainty.



How can Embark help you?

Our expert team of Consultants can provide you with dedicated support and create bespoke solutions to meet your organisation's individual needs while ensuring compliance with UK Legislation with all health and safety matters.


Ranging from policies, procedures, and risk assessments catered to your employees' requirements, Embark can assist you in ensuring that you reflect, plan, implement, monitor, and improve with the most suitable strategic initiatives to meet and exceed your organisational performance objectives.



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