Post-pandemic Workplace Challenges & How to meet them
As workplaces slowly begin to reopen and as we return to the office or begin a hybrid model of online and in-office workplace, it is important to be prepared for conflict, tension, and the effects of the pandemic spilling over into the workplace. These issues can be around disagreements about COVID precautions, the organizational and job-role changes that have happened (including some workers being hybrid and some not), and the massive change in daily routines that many workers will experience. These issues will predictably result in some degree of tension and disagreements in any workplace.
It is important for leaders to be aware and create preemptive plans to meet these challenges as they show up.
We have created a list of what to look out for and how to navigate these new workplace challenges in this new ‘post-pandemic-intensity’ era.
Recognize that there will be an increase in tension and conflict
We have already seen a drastic increase in conflict in some workplaces during the pandemic. This trend is likely to continue for some time as we heal and recover from the trauma of the pandemic. It is important to consider a trauma-informed approach to workplace recovery. Be aware and mindful of your employee’s emotional and psychological well-being.
Suggestion
Err on the side of caution and increase meaningful staff check-ins. This will increase time commitment on your end bu this time commitment will become time investment for future conflict. Regular check-ins with individual employees and with the whole team creates connection among people. The greater the connection among people, the more likely they will be to not jump to conclusions and to assume the worst in one another. The greater the connection between workers and they will be more likely to help each other when one makes a mistake and reduce blaming and shaming of their fellow colleagues.
By meaningful, we mean check-ins that allow space for people to talk about achievements, gratitude, and struggles. If you are doing a 5 minute check in for a 15 person team, people will know there is not space for vulnerability.
Listen actively to your colleagues and employees. This means not only listening to learn about their struggles but also paraphrasing and checking out your understanding in order to demonstrate deep and empathic listening.
Leaders often feel the sense of burden to solve all their employee’s problems and struggles, but great leaders know that you can’t resolve every problem but you can listen and validate people’s feelings. Sometimes validation is all that is needed.
Segregation through Hybridity
If you are in a hybrid workplace, be mindful of the separation that is created between members of the same team: those who can choose to stay at home due to the nature of their responsibilities and those who must be present in the office to do their tasks.
Employees who must travel to their workplace will see an increase to their expenses, such as gas and food (both much more expensive than pre-pandemic), compared to their colleagues who may choose to stay at home. Although some of the same workers might have done this during the height of the pandemic as a form of sacrifice, this lack of choice will now be seen more and more as a form of inequality where one worker will de facto get a salary raise and the other a pay-cut. This can lead to resentments towards other team members and feelings of exclusion and unfairness regarding their workplace community. All of these will impact the employee and team performance.
Suggestion
Consider ways that your workplace might be able to address this issue. For example, is it possible to provide food for the employees who have to come into the office?
In addition, if those who work in the office are a small group of people in what used to be a large office, the office can feel quiet, ghostly and create a sense of loneliness for employees alone in a vast office space. Pay special attention to the workers who are isolated in their offices, especially for women as these spaces create a greater sense of unsafety for women. Recent research studies have identified that overwhelming number of women identify that remote work has improved gender equality for women at workplace because of the flexibility around child and elder care that falls disproportionately on the shoulders of women.
Pandemic hirees and regrouping of the team
The employees who were hired during the pandemic might not have met any of their colleagues in person. Their on-boarding process had been disrupted by the pandemic.
Suggestion
Consider creating a different version of an on-boarding where the ‘new’ employee to the office is shown everywhere and all their questions are answered. Consider having a special event to re-introduce your ‘pandemic-hires’ to their physical workplace and the rest of their colleagues. Senior team members or team-leads are critical in the welcoming process, and it can be worth highlighting the importance of their role in welcoming hires, and to express your appreciation for the part they play.
Consider creating small events where people of the same team can reconnect with each other and share food and stories. Don’t underestimate the power of food in creating a calming and a positive space of re-connection.
Pro-active connection & transformation as opposed to reactive conflict management
In recognizing that your employees might be struggling not just due to changes in work pattern and space, but also with the general recovering from the trauma of the pandemic.
What to do?
Be vigilant and stay curious: for some workers returning to the physical workplace is a return to dealing with subtle forms of harassment, bullying and microaggressions. Our world has changed and what workers used to put up with before the pandemic, they might no longer tolerate because now they know what it is like to work without them. Invite your staff to speak to you openly about their experiences of microaggression at work and involve them in collaborative problem solving.
Equip your workers with tools of having courageous conversations with each other and their supervisors. Remember the lack of conversations about conflict does not necessarily mean the lack of actual conflict.
Equip your employees and managers to be able to recognize and own their contributions to a problem and to apologize effectively. Check out our tool for that here.
Connect with us to see how we can provide your workplace with tools to reduce interpersonal and systemic conflict and increase the productivity that everyone would wish for in a psychological healthy workplace.
