We’re midway through 2020 and it’s been dominated by the global COVID-19 pandemic. South Africa’s experience was kicked off with a massive nationwide lockdown, forcing millions to work from home. Since then, government has introduced a phased approach at reopening the nation and its economy and as of the 1st of June, we’re official in Level 3, which is the closest to normal we’ve seen since the virus hit the country. We may never return to normal as we knew it, and that’s okay, but we do need to return to some semblance of normal if we’re going to make it out of this pandemic with our livelihoods in tact. So here are our top tips on how to do just that.
1. Coming out of lockdown, take it slow and protect your people.
We’re in the middle of world-wide pandemic. Rushing back to normal is not the wisest thing to do, despite the loosened restrictions coming out of lockdown. Taking the extra week or two to put together some refined COVID-19 workplace guidelines will make for that extra preventative measure in keeping your staff, their families, and their communities safe. If you protect your staff, you protect your greatest asset.
Protecting your people means being strict with office protocols – sanitise, wear a mask, keep some distance, and regularly santise common areas. If working from home has worked for your employees, let them keep doing it and limit the number of staff in office at any one time.
2. Re-imagine the way things are done for Level 3 of lockdown and beyond.
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Being forced to move your business to a remote network may have been enlightening for you. Maybe you don’t need everyone in the office all the time. Perhaps the cost of your overheads needn’t be so high. Maybe your communication with colleagues has improved. Returning to work needn’t cast these lessons aside. Think of ways that you and your business can change to accommodate the positives working remotely has shown you.
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate, during lockdown Level 3 and onwards.
Hopefully having to work remotely has taught you a thing or two about open and frequent communication. As your business returns to ‘normal’ encourage your colleagues to keep up with the open communication. If your business can master effective communication remotely, imagine what it could do when it starts returning to business as usual!
Jessica Evans is a final-year Journalism and Media Studies student at Rhodes University. While she has experience in lifestyle and science writing, she has developed an interest in branding, HKLM’s speciality. She joined HKLM for a week and diverted her writing and editing skills towards a beat totally new to her. Jessica hopes to gain experience as a copywriter and to build her knowledge of the world of brands.
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Jessica Evans is a final-year Journalism and Media Studies student at Rhodes University. While she has experience in lifestyle and science writing, she has developed an interest in branding, HKLM’s speciality. She joined HKLM for a week and diverted her writing and editing skills towards a beat totally new to her. Jessica hopes to gain experience as a copywriter and to build her knowledge of the world of brands.