Virtual, virtual, virtual. Pivot, pivot. New normal. Eeek! Well, it’s pretty obvious that, while we may get a handle on our pandemic nemesis, similar to the days and decades following other major world events, some things will be very different as we move forward. For instance, what are your expectations of staff?
Are they back in the office? Or, are some still at home? Will it always be this? Bosses have been very lenient up until now but as semi-normal evolves, what will your employee rules and regulations be?
If you have employees, you surely have an Employee Handbook. Our company made a major investment in drawing up new employee guidelines last year following an incident that wasn’t covered in the short folksy one we’d had for many years. We paid serious money to an employment law firm for proper crafting. So, I’d hate to think we’d need to overhaul the new handbook with its ink barely dry.
Truth is that those hardcore office hours we had are history. Why? Because we’ve figured out what so many did before 2020: You can work from home, relaxing the rigid clock-punching standard of the 20th-century workplace, still being productive and meeting deadlines. Mostly.
Because our team works so collaboratively for our many charitable and association clients, we’ve chosen a hybrid office hours model that has pluses and minuses, but it works for us and for those we serve. So, I guess I need to revise our new handbook on the Office Hours expectations page. Glad to do it as it benefits work-life balance. And, that’s good for our clients, too.
