Returning to the office post-lockdown is a hot topic for many teams and managers alike. There’s understandably some reluctance about returning from some employees, and it’s also understandable that for many managers, workplaces and industries, returning to the office is crucial for a variety of reasons. So how do you strike the balance and entice teams to return to work after COVID? With a little help from office furniture, of course! Here’s how to get office furniture working for your back to work campaign.
1. Make sure your team is comfortable with its office furniture
Your employees need to be comfortable with returning to the office. And of course this is where all of the COVID-safe measures come into play.
Be sure that you are mitigating the risk of potential infection as much as you possibly can; as well as the likes of virus protection screens and sanitiser stations, other measures that you can take include giving everyone their own desk or workstation rather than encouraging hot desking. You may need to purchase additional office furniture to make this work, but there are plenty of stylish and compact workstations and desks available to fit all spaces.
The other side of the ‘being comfortable’ coin is physically being comfortable. If you’re going to ask your team to come back to work after being in their comfy, cosy homes for so long, you need to make sure that they feel at ease in the office. This means investing in office furniture such as ergonomic office chairs and height adjustable desks.
2. Provide social office furniture
For many people, the temptation to return to work after COVID lies in the fact that they miss their colleagues. We spend so much time with our colleagues that they often know the ins and outs of more about our lives more than most and we become friends as well as workmates. With this in mind, make sure you are providing your team with fun furniture to create a social area for those water cooler moments they have all been missing.
This could be a staff room or a kitchen area, or even just a small space in the corner of the office which is dedicated to down time and zoned off from the rest of the room. Choose dining furniture for kitchens which allows several people to safely sit together, and modular furniture which can easily be moved for safe social distancing purposes for staff rooms.
3. Let your office furniture furnish your team with ideas
One of the biggest difficulties many managers have with managing remote teams is how to allow for creativity and brainstorming. When you have a spark of an idea, having to schedule a virtual meeting or put in a call with your teammates often means that by the time this process takes place, the idea has been dampened or forgotten or you’re not in the right headspace to collaborate.
Good breakout furniture can really help with fostering creativity in the office. When your team come back to work, make sure that they know that they can spend some time in breakout zones with the use of comfortable office breakout furniture designed specifically for collaboration and teamwork.
Ready for your team to return to work after COVID? Get in touch with ADD office for all your furniture needs.
If you need to purchase additional office furniture ready for your team to return to work, talk to ADD office. As trusted suppliers of office furniture throughout the UK, we can help you to get ready for your team to return and embark on the new office normal. Get in touch with our helpful team to find out how.
