Anxiety Opportunity

New workers are anxious about returning to the office with nearly half of university students feeling unprepared for employment.

For two years, graduates have been introduced to an online version of corporate life. This creates a divide between workers eager to return and those who have never been.

Throughout the pandemic there has been significant interest in mental wellbeing. This has been fuelled by 60% of adults and 68% of young people reporting the decline of their mental health during lockdown. The pandemic has highlighted the need to support workers mental health. And your business runs best when you do the right thing.

Here’s three steps to welcome people back.

1) Consider an induction day. Offer this orientation to those who have never been to the office. Ease fears through face-to-face introductions, a full office tour, and the opportunity for new joiners to meet others in the same situation. Encourage workers to ‘show up’ to ease fears and anxiety.

2) Encourage workers to include new members. It is essential different generations of employees collaborate. A ‘buddy system’ provides a work and social support system to new employees and drives productive new connections within your company. Encourage inclusion.

3) Adopt a temporary hybrid schedule to allow employees to work both in the office and at home. As ever, follow Google and trial their three-day-week plan to slowly integrate personnel back into the workplace. This is designed to ensure workers stay connected and engaged at home, and feel safe at the office.

Your teams’ emotions benefit your company: their passion and confidence translates to security and sales.

So, proactively support people as they transition and change. This is a precious opportunity to unify your employees, boost their confidence and fuel progression.