088: Matt Hassler | Evolving Work Environments Post-Pandemic - a podcast by Nikki Lewallen

Truth You Can Act On:

1. The entire work environment has permanently changed. Your business has to change in order to survive and thrive. This is a must to understand and embrace as a leader.
   • [00:08:45]from an opportunity perspective, if a business is able to adapt and work from home, I think there's a tremendous amount of opportunity maybe to even create a competitive advantage.[00:08:55]
     [00:08:11] The problem is when they need to develop or grow into a new role and change. So employee development and a work from home environment is much more difficult than it is in the office. And that challenge is even greater for new employees who are trying to adapt to a new culture and to learn new tasks for the very first time. Doing that from a home office is much more difficult. [00:08:39]
2. Be incredibly transparent with great communication. Communicate more and share more.
   • [00:03:07]I think what's really important for organizations as they open back up is first of all, they need to ensure that they are being incredibly transparent about the policies that they're putting in place and communicating well with their employees. And there's a lot of things that they'll have to do differently as they bring people back into the office or onto the production floor. [00:03:28]
3. Think through the policies you need to add and what you need to reiterate. Now is the time to make sure employees know them very clearly.
   • [00:06:56] So normal practices that I mentioned earlier about, uh, taking your temperature to help ensure that you don't have a fever is a really great way to help isolate people who have sickness. Communicating with people who have been exposed to people who may have had a fever in the past so that they have an opportunity to self isolate, changing the way you do business so that employees can operate at a social distance from each other of six or more feet. And then also ensuring that all employees have the appropriate amount of protective equipment, like face masks and gloves, access to hand sanitizer, and the ability to wash their hands on a regular basis. All of those things are incredibly important for businesses that have to return to work. Many businesses though, are functioning in a new normal where they're able to work from home. [00:07:48]
4. Be cognizant of employees' apprehension to the changes and returning to work. Take time to address them in group forums and encourage managers of all levels to have 1-1 conversations.
   • [00:05:16] There is a lot of fear in the society right now around COVID-19 and it's impacting people's opinions and their willingness to return to work. [00:05:24]
   • [00:04:21] Probably the best way to do that is to just simply ask. I know with my employer Ascentis we were very, very quick to provide a work from home environment for those that were still in the office. And now for more than a month, we've been taking a weekly survey, gaging our opinions and our concerns and our fears as pertains to return to work. So even as policy is allowing businesses to open back up and return to the office, our organization is taking a cautious approach and ensuring that the employees are ready to return to work while they also think about their profitability and their ongoing business. [00:05:01]

Full Notes:

• https://gutplusscience.com/matt-hassler/

Nikki’s Book Recommendation:

• John Adams by David McCullough

Sponsor:

• Ascentis –  As we transition into the new normal at work, it’s time to start creating a safer work environment for employees. Ascentis is making the transition easier for businesses that use time clocks with CarePoint–a completely touchless time clock experience with configurable prompts and voice command capabilities. To learn more about how CarePoint can create a safer environment for your workforce, visit https://www.asenctis.com/carepoint

 

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