Balcony View: A Perspective For The Post-COVID-19 World

The world has been in a turbulent state for the past two years, but now things are starting to settle into the new normal. As we enter the post COVID-19 world, the state of organisations and workplaces looks very different. 

With remote work and hybrid workspaces becoming a global norm, the future of work will take a very different path. Everything from decision-making to teamwork and management will change in this setting. 

The “New Normal”

In order to stay on the path moving forward, organisations need to re-imagine work and the possibilities that we can achieve with technology. This includes challenging how we think about workforces, and how we can use technology to improve human potential. 

There are also many cultural shifts that are needed to adapt to these new work environments. 

Here are a few key things to keep in mind as we settle into this shift:

Maintaining Inclusion and Human Relationships in the Hybrid World

Now that the world has shifted away from offices, new social dynamics appear in the workplace. Maintaining inclusion can be difficult in remote work environments, and it's something that businesses need to consider as they move into this new period. 

A few ways to improve inclusion in hybrid work environments:

• Encouraging 1:1 meetings
• Scheduling virtual team building events
• Maintaining strong cross-team communication

It can be easy to lose the human touch with hybrid work environments. People now work from anywhere, any time, which could mean a lot less communication and human connection. This applies to work both as an employee and as a manager. 

One important strategy is to make sure work hours overlap and only connect with each other during these hours. An interesting example here is Portugal’s new law that prohibits managers from contacting their subordinates after official work hours. This helps employees and managers to maintain a healthy work-life balance instead of being tuned into work tasks 24/7.

New Office Standards

In the post COVID-19 world, we’re all taking health and safety measures differently. New office standards have to be introduced to keep us safe as we return to workspaces. This can include setting up the office space to account for social distancing, installing hand sanitiser stations, and limiting the number of people in the space at a time.

Management also has the right to require workers to be vaccinated if they come into work. However, to avoid the potential for discrimination, employers should offer alternatives - such as a negative COVID-19 test result.

Final Thoughts

We need to continually redefine the human dimension in today’s workspaces. The world is still transforming as it shifts into the post COVID-19 landscape. Reimagining work and adjusting to this new state of the world is a must for all types of businesses. 

One of the most important factors is to focus on maintaining inclusion and putting systems in place for effective communication. This will help us address some of the key challenges that the “new normal” brings.

If your organisation is looking for a tool to involve all employees in the post-COVID-19 world have a look at our platform. It enables your staff to participate in creating clarity on non-conformities, prevent and decrease the amount of friction in cross-team communications and gather actionable data while doing these.

We are building the world's first operational involvement platform. Our mission is to make the process of finding, sharing, fixing and learning from issues and observations as easy as thinking about them and as rewarding as being remembered for them.‍

By doing this, we are making work more meaningful for all parties involved.

More information at falcony.io.