A little grace goes a long way: Navigating re-entry to the post-pandemic workplace

A year ago this week, my wife and I were supposed to be taking in the sights and serenity of Sedona, Arizona, and the nearby Grand Canyon. It was to be our first trip to the natural wonders of northern Arizona.

Last November, we were scheduled to spend Thanksgiving week in Maui with two of our oldest and dearest friends, alternating between the beach and watching our beloved Indiana Hoosiers compete in a premiere college basketball tournament that’s played annually on the island.

That was all PC (pre-COVID), of course.

Instead of getting some much-needed time to relax and recharge, I — like millions of others fortunate enough not to lose our jobs — was thrust into what would become a year of Zoom meetings and remote work. Work and home life became one and the same. A day away from “the office” became rare, and there was simply no point in taking a vacation.

Still, as mass vaccinations bring the promise of an end to the pandemic that has wrought untold physical, emotional and monetary devastation, businesses and organizations are publicly itching to get “back to work” — as if we’ve all just taken a year-long sabbatical.

As just one example, the governor of South Carolina, where I have lived and worked in public higher education since 2016, proudly said as much two weeks ago when he called all state employees back to their workplaces — even as he continued to stress that the Palmetto State had never really closed for business.

And therein lies the heart of the matter.

The one thing many employees need most right now is the last thing they are likely to receive: A chance to take a break that doesn’t involve staring at the same four walls that have been both home and office — and in many cases school or day care center — for the past year.

The urge to power out of the pandemic and resume the good old PC days of 2019 is understandable. If you are a business, or a university or a state government that has just spent the past year treading water (or worse) in choppy seas, there is significant pressure to begin making up for lost time.

The problem is that for many organizations the human fuel gauge is nearing empty.

For many who have remained on the job, either in person or remotely, during the pandemic there had been precious little down time. Beyond that, there’s been nowhere to go and little to do when not working.

The pandemic has shown us just how resilient our workforces can be. I saw it every day for the past year as my staff and colleagues from across the university stepped up to solve a daily deluge of problems and challenges unlike any we’ve seen — all while learning new ways to work and navigating unprecedented personal challenges. It has been equal parts inspiring and exhausting.

The pandemic also has, I fear, created a false sense that employee stamina and resourcefulness are a bottomless well. Simply flipping a switch to return to our old ways of working, without recognizing the need for employees to heal from the past year, is a recipe for a new kind of COVID wave characterized by burnout, lower productivity, high turnover and suboptimal results.

Much has been said about protecting the health of workers during the pandemic, and the best organizations have backed their words with deeds. As they begin to envision post-pandemic life, employers would be wise to extend an additional measure of grace and humanity to their beleaguered employees.

Here are a few modest proposals:

§ Resist the temptation to rush everyone back to his or her workspaces in short order simply to show that “we’re back, baby!” There’s been more than enough disruption in the past year, so an orderly return makes sense.

§ Use the lessons from the past year to determine a workplace environment that best suits your needs. For example, even as I have struggled at times in the past year due to a lack of personal contact with my staff, many of my team members have never been more productive than while working remotely. Tap into those types of lessons when setting up your post-pandemic workplace.

§ It’s probably time to move beyond crisis mode, which means reinstating some boundaries to separate work and personal time. Leaders should take extra care to model the behavior they want to see from the rest of the organization. For starters, stop assuming your staff members are sitting by their phones or computers at all hours waiting for your text or email, just because they have nowhere else to be.

§ Ramp up employee assistance offerings if possible, offer “re-entry” support and generally send a message that the mental and emotional health of your team is every bit as important as their physical wellbeing.

§ And, if at all feasible, insist that every staff member take at least a week’s vacation — two would be better — within the first few months of travel being widely seen as safe again. They’ve earned it and the intermediate and long-term payoff will be more than worth any short-term staffing pinch.

How many times have we heard a business or organization say, “Our employees are our greatest asset”? After the past year in which that has never been more true, leaders would be wise to invest in their employees with an extra dose of humanity and support as we all move toward what we hope is a more normal way of living and working.