The year 2020 has brought in unprecedented challenges for human existence. This is the time when we, as a community, need to rise to the occasion and act swiftly to safeguard the human interest and everybody around us. This is precisely what has become the mission of every company, which is now trying to get back to their routine after the extended lockdowns. This is the time when companies across industries are using the insights gained from the long stretch of work-from-home experience and reimagining the most creative and effective ways of enforcing the system of work.

Changing attitude and roles within the office

Before the pandemic, offices worked on a traditional system which was quite critical to winning the war of talent, culture and productivity. They had immense competition for getting the prime office spaces in some of the major urban areas. However, post the breakout of the pandemic, the same companies are more open to ideas of working from home through effective technologies of video conferencing and such other digital collaboration. And, the results have been outstanding so far.

However, many people have complained about productivity and working ambience not being the same in the case of working from home. This is when, we, at Dream Logo Design, had to work out ways for such people who were eager to join back work and get back to their regular 9-to-5 regime. Reopening office post the pandemic was a bit of a challenge for us as well. And, to implement everything smoothly, we had to have proper planning for every sphere.

4 Steps towards reimagining work-life post-pandemic

While we had to boldly question the long-held assumptions of reopening office and the limits of working from home, we understood that we had to find out solutions for different individuals with different issues. The one-size-fits-all solution doesn’t exist. A lot has to go behind giving the employees a regular work routine which differed from job roles, geography, technology, the effect of the pandemic in specific locations, and above all, their safety. Here are some of the steps that we took forward while reimagining the work in future.

Reconstructing the mode of work

Our work never stopped during the lockdowns, and all of us collaborated the processes through remote work contexts. At this time, we had to categorize the importance of every process across geographical locations and functions. While previously we held brainstorming sessions and meetings with large groups of employees, now such courses need to be more asynchronous over the digital platforms followed by long hours of debates over video-conferencing.

We always focus on developing talent through sustainable community practices. So, we have concentrated upon improved operating models as a pre-cursor to living with the COVID-19. We have focused upon leveraging the best of both, working from the office and that from home.

Deciding on “People to Work” or “Work on people.”

The competition to acquire and retain talent has become immense in the past few years. However, the location was always a significant factor in considering employment opportunities. The post-pandemic scenes are entirely different from what was before. Now, we have categorized the roles under the below-mentioned classifications. However, we still consider their upskills before considering them eligible. The following categorization includes:

1. fully remote (net positive value-creating outcome)
2. hybrid slight (net neutral result)
3. hybrid remote by exception (net negative effect but can be done remotely if needed)
4. on-site (not eligible for remote work)

Redesigning work-place to support the multi-layered organizational priorities

We have understood the fact that the earlier organizational priorities have to be completely redesigned to make way for activities which were explicitly not possible with remote working facilities. We kept our office space open for those who found it extremely difficult to work from home any further. The future of offices looks more technology-centric with more cleanliness and frequent sanitization for those who prefer to get back to their office desks. We have tried to remove the barriers between being physically present at the office and that working from home.

Resizing the footprint creativity

We are working on a transformational approach to reinventing our office culture. We needed to make sure that the space at the office was utilized in fostering the outcomes of work experience, learning, productivity and collaboration. In any way, we had to make sure that the number of employees so using the office facilities are always seated within the permissible range of social-distancing.

Now is the time

It is now a global struggle for the employer trying to bring back their employees to work. However, there has to be a perfect balance maintained between productivity and safety. So, it is quite essential to break the inertia and dispense the sub-optimal habits and systems of the past. Reinventing roles and well-planned execution of the job-roles is the need of the hour. With this, we are hoping to get a better experience of talent, improved collaboration, productivity and reduced costs. Transformational thinking on grounded facts is what it needs to leverage the change.

Despite the world being affected severely with the COVID-19, the full implications of the same are yet to be understood. The extent of extensive damage can only be foreseen and estimated in approximate values. No one knows until when and to what extent is all this going to continue. However, that should not hinder work and economic development at any cost. We, humans, are also known as rational beings on Earth. And, it is up to us right now to fight this situation with creativity, innovation and vigour.

The socio-economic framework of the world might have been paused for a moment, but it has not stopped. The once-upon-a-time regular activities including going to school, work, travel, social gatherings and such other errands, might have taken a temporary dip, but are not halted permanently. The resulting lockdown has proven to be detrimental for the entire community with a protected contraction of about 3% in the global economy.

However, that should not be the cause of a significant set-back or no reason to fight back. This is the time when the public policy-makers will impose the most challenging situations on the common men, and it is up to us to overcome the scenario and live a life that we can call normal. It is up to the different business sectors to deliver their services with the same level of creativity and expertise, even amidst a global Pandemic.

Innovation through the challenges

Change and shared responsibility for creating the favourable opportunities, through these moments, is the biggest challenge faced by humankind at the moment. This is when, we at Dream Logo Design, have taken upon the onus of creating more opportunities for the right candidates and connected them through remotely through their homes. So, right now, even if people are not able to set feet in office premises, work hasn’t been hampered for anyone.

This way, we have tried to meet the unique needs of our employees after prioritizing their health and taking every step possible to break the chain and combat the malice of COVID-19. Here are the following lessons which the current situation has reflected and urged us to act accordingly to meet the global development requirements.

Understanding the complexities and nuances of the issue being faced

The world, currently, is struggling with a multitude of insecurities and challenges. There are sectors of people who already struggled to meet ends when it came to getting adequate food, nutrition, education and health, are such other insecurities. This is the time of enhanced challenges and hardships, especially for these sectors. Most of our employees came from the middle-class segment of the country and grew up seeing some difficulty or the other. So, reducing working opportunities for them would only aggravate their situation. Hence, we moved forward without needing cutting down our staff, thereby understanding their inherent nuances and complexities.

Since all of us are facing this global Pandemic for the first time, and probably the only time in our life, we understand that all of us are on the same page, and the option of “one-size-fits-all” does not exist. Despite the remote restrictions on work, we had to find potential solutions that would bring a meaningful change at the community level. So, we have committed to do everything we can to keep all our employees engaged with productivity throughout the crisis to not only support them through the situation but also help them benefit from the more profound and diversified experience and knowledge.

Working with multiple perspectives in response to the forefront efforts

We have always strived to bring the technical experts to solve issues by connecting to these professional networks. Our problem-solving procedure involves the inclusion of the different opinions and perspectives so that we come across the best solutions possible. This way, we would also gain meaningful insights into the issues and enhance our genre by solving the problems efficiently. Also, all these solutions are centred around the more significant challenge imposed in the world at the moment, and we would make sure that all our beneficiaries and counterparts are equally benefitted in the wake of COVID-19. This is the reason why all our experts represent the company is actively investing and promoting the expansion of their knowledge networks across every platform.

Partners in Finding Solutions

While the first common practice to problem-solving involved understanding the underlying issue and moving forward with the knowledge that someone, somewhere must have explained it already, at this point of time we focus on building the team with creativity and connectivity. This way, we are also able to maintain an extensive network of local and global partners with ease and find rapid solutions to issues.

We believe in the fact that collaboration can achieve a more significant impact on identifying a solution to a particular situation. We have been consistently partnered with the market leaders so that we can harness the best knowledge and ingenuity to cater to the complex challenges that we face in our routine these days. Collaboration and partnership are by far, the essential element of all our venture to tackle various problems.

Adapting solutions to cater to local needs

We follow the strategy of changing the best solutions to the local needs. Looking at the current scenario, this step is not only beneficial for the moment but also will be useful in years to come. This way, we can easily explore the horizons of the currently constrained environment to support every sector. And, this would also mean adapting to the newest technologies and digital means of enterprising, which we have been carefully incorporating in our work-pattern.

The Final Wrap-up

The world is in a very challenging environment and needs people to act swiftly into a more creative and innovative mindset. This is the only way to tackle the current direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 and delivering services with the same creativity and expertise. No one knows when the Pandemic is supposed to end. Still, with a little holistic and flexible approach, we can easily overcome the situation without letting the economic set-back affect us.

The year 2020 is no less than a nightmare. It is no less than one helluva experience of tragedies and losses which nobody anticipated. The stances get uglier every day, and the power and existence of humankind are getting questionable every moment. We being an avid Hollywood movie buff, could not help but link these dark times with the immaculate depictions from the movie series Final Destination. But, let’s pause for a moment here and get real. With cases crossing a 7-Million mark on the global front, and no end to this mess any time soon, the global economy has also gone in for a toss; and that is just the beginning of the long foreseen problem.

Okay, let’s get straight to business. The global economy practically hitting rock bottom, the struggle of humankind to survive the pandemic also gets more difficulty every passing day. But, what is the way out of this? While experts have already declared that you may have to live with the situation for a very long time, the biggest challenge that we are facing is trying to regularize life amidst all the crisis. And, this has already taken its course through businesses struggling to restart their journey after suffering the biggest standstill in history.

Now, while COVID-19 is in no mood to show mercy any time soon, employees and workers have been facing a dual panic –

• a) Either Contaminate the Virus
• b) Lose their jobs and starve to death

At Dream Logo Design, we have been extremely conscious about the safety of our employees and taken adequate measures to make sure that none of our workforces is exposed to face any of the above-mentioned situations. So, in an attempt to synchronize everything in perfect harmony, we have adopted a few safety measures that will not only keep the employees safe from contaminating the deadly virus, but also contribute towards keeping the society safe in the face of a public emergency. Let us now take you through some of the essential measures that we had decided to keep your workplace safe in front of Corona Virus.

1. Encouraging Work from Home

Post COVID-19 was declared a Pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the world was slowly yet steadily getting engulfed by its ill-effects, we had made every arrangement possible for our employees to work comfortably from home. This served two purposes:

• a) They did not get exposed to any scope of getting contaminated
• b) Office was conducted without any hindrance

The COVID-19 being one of the severely contagious diseases, we have left no stone unturned to make sure that all our employees adhere to the norms of physical distancing while at work. For those employees who could not miss coming to office, we made sure to sanitize the entire place with disinfectants on regular intervals.

2. Actively Arranging Awareness Campaigns

We understand that consistency, leadership and repetition are the three most essential elements of effective crowd control. So, for the starters, we had put posters and banners all over the premises to contribute to heightened awareness. We have also made these awareness campaigns, including food safety measures, hand washing guidelines and such other memo accessible to our remote employees. They will not be able to present themselves at the office premises. This has enabled all our employees to get adequate education and knowledge of the various situations and their solutions. We have made sure that they are aware of what is supposed to be done if they ever face situations. They would take the right steps if they came into contact with a sick person, handling resources such as food and personal items, implementation of the proper hygiene methods, identifying the warning signs and symptoms or even seeking the right help in case of an emergency. We have always encouraged them to be self-reliant without breaking the safety protocols.

3. Eliminating the need for Business Travels

We have always prioritized the health and safety of our employees. And, looking at the current scenario, we strongly feel that travelling to other destinations via public transports should be subsequently banned at the moment, considering the safety of employees and health impacts. Many countries have already imposed travel bans as travelling is considered as one of the quickest ways of aggravating the pandemic. So, to make sure that we reduce the chances of their exposure at the onset of a public health emergency, we discourage them from travelling and seek shelter to a different form of technology to communicate to our long-distance associates.

4. Felicitating Telecommunication

The economic ramifications of the pandemic have taught us vital lessons in the most brutal ways possible. While many companies have been forced to reduce their workforce to a great extent to comply with the norms of social distancing, we have adopted the simple measures of telecommunication. This way, all our workers were not only in production but also out of the office. However, everything is maintained with discipline through the extensive use of employee monitoring software and threat protection tools of various kinds. This way, we are always at the edge for keeping our data safe and our employees on track. Limiting face-to-face interactions for reducing interpersonal contacts does not mean we have to sack our staff. Technology has the answer for everything today!

5. Screening or limiting visitor accessibility

We believe in being well-prepared and alert. Mental agility needs to be enforced to combat a situation such as the COVID-19. Otherwise, your entire existence is on the verge of getting rattled like how. So, we focus extensively on screen and limiting visitor access to our premises. We understand that at the outset of a pandemic like the Coronavirus, which has already affected more than seven million people, anyone and everyone can be at the risk of contaminating with the virus. While many are affected without showing any sign or symptom, screening the visitors for the common signs is the only way to reduce the escalation of the disease through a threshold. Also, reducing the visitor to our premises has ensured to keep our office safe and employees healthy.

So, these were five of the most effective ways that we enforced to keep our workplace safe in the face of Corona. We hope you all can also take note of the same and protect your employees and associates from the malicious of COVID-19!

It is perhaps not too early to point out the significane of 2020 for all the wrong reasons. As many nations cautiously make their way toward relaxing Covid-19 lockdowns, many of us are starting to envision a time when we can stop working at our kitchen tables and return to the office. Yet, in the absence of a vaccine, aspects of modern workplaces will have to change if employees are to safely return to their desks. Here’s a list of a well-thought-out and carefully coordinated approach that will enable the employers to maintain hygiene at the heart of the workplace but also ensure that the employees are at the best of their health and productive abilities.

1. Educating the workforce & creating awareness drives:

Clear communication is the key to having a healthy and prosperous life. So, it is the responsibility of every employer to make sure that they educate and update their employees about the different procedures and policies that the company undertakes from time to time. These procedures might include any aspect such as workplace hygiene, visitor screening methods, safety measures, remote working facility, quarantines, and business travels. They should also solicit their employees to contribute to suggestions about workplace hygiene and personal safety. This is also a way to effectively demonstrate the fact that the company premises are always safe, and every measure is taken to curb the ill-effects of the pandemic.

2. Keeping track of case developments daily

It won’t be wrong to state that the coronavirus is a fluid that is spreading more devastatingly than wild-fire. Even as we pen down this article, thousands of cases are being reported globally. This has also kept the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at their feet while they need to keep rolling updates almost every other minute. As an employer, it is a part of your duty to keep track of these updates and implement them accordingly.

3. Appointing a cross-functional Corona Virus Emergency Management Team

Not every day is a day you fight a deadly pandemic. So, some level of advanced preparation is essential to ensure that the company is ready to address sudden emergencies and disasters while averting the situation. A sufficient team of EMT should comprise representatives from the HR, Legal, Communications, and the IT Departments. They should have enough authority to act swiftly and decisively to tackle a highly fluid situation such as COVID-19.

4. Reinforcement of Safety and Hygiene Practices

WHO has prescribed a few necessary preventive measures to comply with the occupational safety and health standards and rules at work. By facilitating these practices, the risk of contracting the virus or spreading the same at the workplace will be reduced substantially. Here is the list of such hygiene measures that every person should adhere to.

• Cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects
• staying home when sick
• avoiding close contact with people who show signs of sickness
• covering coughs and sneezes with tissues of sleeves of the shoulder
• avoiding touching the mouth, nose, and eyes
• frequently washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 70% alcohol.

Every company needs to ensure that they provide adequate supplies of sanitizers, soaps, tissues, and hand-wipes for their employees alongside the no-touch disposed receptacles and sanitizer dispensers in every corner of the premises. Using disposable wipes for wiping down the commonly used surfaces must also be mandated to ensure that the norms of social distancing are maintained.

Every employer should review their cleaning operations frequently to make sure that all the surfaces which fall at the risk of getting touched often, such as countertops, workstations, door handles, keyboards, phones, elevator buttons, and so on, are routinely disinfected. However, they must ensure the cleaning personnel makes proper usage of the personal protective equipment while cleaning to avoid contracting with the virus. It is also recommended that you hire professional experts to conduct routine deep-cleaning and sanitization services to support infection prevention.

5. Encouraging Sick Employees to stay Quarantined

According to the CDC guidelines, an employer must take every step possible to encourage a sick employee to stay at home if he falls ill or gets exposed to someone infected. If any employee shows signs of fever, he must be sent home immediately. For an employee showing symptoms of acute respiratory illness, he should only rejoin the office if he doesn’t show any sign for at least 24 hours.

The Parting Note

The pandemic continues to spread rapidly and globally. Even as you read this article, thousands of new outbreaks and developments are coming into the picture. So, as much as the economic uprise is concerned, nothing is more important than breaking the chain. Hence, it becomes imperative for employers to take adequate steps to ensure that their employees’ lives are safe and secure, even amidst a dangerous pandemic.

Accordingly, they should communicate with the workforce regularly, take adequate safety and hygiene measures, keep at pace with every latest development of the outbreak, and make swift plans and preparations to combat sudden emergencies. Nobody can eradicate COVID-19 at the moment. However, by taking adequate safety and hygiene measures, you will surely be able to keep it from impacting your employees and associates.