As England once again enters a lockdown, we can all admit it is starting to feel a little like deja vu.
Only it isn’t.
We cannot deny that businesses are going to struggle during this period, with many teams once again working remotely, managers and business leaders are starting to feel the pressures which coincided with the first lockdown.
However, we have learned a lot since this period and as they say hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Which is why we want to draw your attention towards something which may benefit you. In June we crafted an insights document using data from our clients and candidates to identify what worked during the original lockdown and what went a little wrong. You can download this report for free here.
Our research found two key elements of the workplace suffered as a result of lockdown; communication and culture.
Communication
Less than 50% of those working from home during lockdown had regular contact with their manager, with 25% of those individuals receiving barely any contact at all.
A failure in communication is often down to poor structure. Understandably we all had a lack of routine and structure during the early days of lockdown, however this should not be the case this time.
Here’s what we say about managing communication remotely:
Culture
During the lockdown 50% of surveyed employers admitted workplace culture was impacted by lockdown, as identified earlier this is likely due to a lack of communication between teams, collaboration/idea sharing and the implementation of more performance/outcome based targets in organisations who historically may have taken more laissez faire orientated approach.
These days culture is vital to staff retention, failing to ensure this is maintained and rectified following the previous lockdown could have a detrimental impact on staff retention entering the new year.
Here’s what we say about managing culture remotely:
Something we learned from the first lockdown is that communication and culture go hand in hand and a failure at one point can have an impact on the way your business performs in regards to employee engagement and loyalty. If you fell short last time, it is imperative you get these elements right this time to ensure you are able to maintain a motivated workforce.
