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As many of us have been asked to return to work, here are six things to consider for meeting rooms.
If your company’s return to work keeps you awake at night, this is just another item on the long list of things you shouldn’t worry about right now. Or let the ever-changing business trends get in your way.
Remote work has replaced on-site work. Even in difficult situations, organizations and individuals appreciate the increased productivity and return of time to their schedules. Will it last though? When employees return to the workplace, what happens? How to organize a meeting in a safe environment and synchronize everyone’s calendars?
When everyone is back to work, you might want to think about setting up a conference room as an IT manager or even an HR manager.
You have a few things to think about whether it’s this year or next.
- How many of your co-workers have returned to work in the office in the last few months?
- What will future meetings look like in the next few months and in the future?
- How to organize meetings in a socially distant environment?
- How will you include all office and domestic workers?
- What can you do to keep these meetings going as planned?
- How can I make my employees return to the office with a positive attitude?
- How do you connect your conference room hardware to your virtual meeting software?
- You will find answers to all these questions and many more in this article.
Employees go back to work
JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank, has asked traders at its New York facilities to return to work after a slump in productivity – and this is likely true for many other companies as well.
A brief LinkedIn survey revealed that some employees have already returned to work.
Dominic Kent is on Medium Director of Content Marketing and Communication at Mio. Founder of UC Influencers. He of respondents returning to work compared to working from home last year, and many more are returning now.
It has been widely publicized that companies are returning to the office – starting last year – and now the return is increasing. Still, giant companies like Shopify and Twitter have gone remotely quickly and openly, but now they’re back in the office too.
Other companies such as Yahoo, IBM, Aetna and Best Buy have changed their work-from-home policies and asked employees to return to the office.
In an article in Wired, David Bishop stated: Customers like Gymshark and other big companies like Yahoo, IBM and Deloitte have realized that office workers are more productive. This means they require their employees to come back and work to transform the workplace into a solid corporate culture. Bishop is the design director at Oktra – (nice office design and furniture).
Because some companies are aware of the limitations of remote work. However, the desire to return to the office is a new problem for IT and HR managers.
Employees look forward to getting back to work for a variety of reasons. Reasons include fatigue, lack of personal contact, and even lack of driving.
When it comes to your business, take your time. You must ensure that you are adequately prepared for future meetings.
What will the next meeting look like?
We don’t know what future meetings will look like. However, we can anticipate what might happen – and how to make it enjoyable and productive for your team.
We’ll start from scratch. That is, instead of implying that most meetings would be in person, as they were before the pandemic. There may still be meetings that would be best kept virtually, for example for teams that are in different locations – or maybe even if you’re scattered around a building. However, it is still very beneficial for all teams to meet in person to improve productivity (and camaraderie) and overall team unity.
new technology
If you think you will still need to hold many virtual meetings, you will need new video conferencing software and hardware. In this situation, quality will win over quantity; you might consider adding cameras, microphones, computers, computer stands, or anything else your employees might need. It’s also possible that you’ll need some way to integrate old hardware and meeting software. This may require you to purchase new hardware if your current hardware is not up to date.
People
You may not have as many people in the workplace as you used to. Still, meetings can be productive and beneficial for everyone involved, whether they are virtual, in-person, or hybrid meetings. At the end of the day, it’s important to focus on the people in the meetings more than the technology that will be involved. Sure, technology will play a role, but the people who make up your teams are much more important than a microphone or other piece of equipment. Consider setting up meeting rooms or even individual meeting rooms if you haven’t already set up one.
When it comes to employees, your top priority as a leader should be keeping them comfortable. Moreover, do everything to make it feel safe in an unfamiliar environment.
Once safety and comfort issues are addressed, it becomes extremely difficult to keep everyone involved. You could hire a brass band. Or show movie trailers. But the best way is to make participants responsible for their own involvement. Ask them what they want from the meeting, then make sure they get it – words in emails and announcements should be no more than 200 words.
Employee feedback
When a company transitions from remote work to in-person operations, employee feedback is essential. Here are four reasons why it is so important to collect and take into account employee feedback:
Adaptation to changing requirements:
As employees return to their personal work, employee feedback provides helpful insight into their changing demands and expectations. When it comes to workplace design, safety procedures, planning and teamwork, employees may have specific concerns, preferences or recommendations. Companies can modify their policies and procedures to accommodate the changing demands of their employees by actively seeking and listening to employee feedback, which promotes a smoother transition and increases employee satisfaction.
Employee support and involvement increases when employees are given a voice in the decision-making process through feedback mechanisms. Employees are more likely to care about the success of the transformation when they believe that their ideas are valued and taken into account. A collaborative environment in which employees feel empowered to participate in the decision-making process is created by actively seeking employee feedback, which increases commitment and support for the changes being introduced.
Challenges and opportunities for improvement:
Employee feedback can be used to pinpoint issues and areas that need improvement during the transition period. Returning to personal work can cause bottlenecks, communication interruptions, or other inefficiencies, and employees can shed light on these issues. With these inputs, companies can proactively troubleshoot issues, make required fixes, and improve processes, ultimately improving the overall work environment and maximizing operational efficiency.
Well-being and help:
Feedback from employees provides a forum for them to voice their concerns about their well-being and highlight any additional help they may need during the transition. Employees may need to make changes when they resume personal work, such as commuting, juggling responsibilities outside of work, or adapting to more social interaction. Companies should implement policies that support employee well-being by ensuring smooth and successful change, asking for and acting on employee input.
Image credit: Pexels; artificial; Thank you!
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