The COVID-19 pandemic has made most of the companies worldwide struggle real hard to keep up with their productivity. There has been a severe drop in product demand since the onset of lockdown. Hence organizations could not capitalize on their talent acquiring opportunities.

As a result, the existing employees had to face tremendous pressure while working from their homes. Balancing both family and work at a time had proved to be exceedingly difficult for them.

So, organizations had to bid both final goodbyes and some temporary ones to some of their efficient star performers, and this had hit their productivity huge.

In short, COVID-19 had impacted the employee attraction, management, and retention of many organizations outright negatively, leading to deteriorating productivities.

In contrast, organizations that have excelled in keeping employees engaged and inspiring them to keep up with their productivity have made the best use of three factors; namely, time, talent, and energy. They have –

• Cut down on the wasted time and have successfully kept their employees motivated and concentrated in their work, unlike the others
• Capitalized on the fluctuating new-normal work pattern and thereby gained access to the right talent who could make a difference
• Found ways in which employees can be kept engaged

Upon taking cues from the best companies, the rest are finally acknowledging their shortcomings and thereby reconsidering their market reentry strategies now that lives are getting back to normalcy. In doing so, understanding the difference between the past and existing work and working conditions of the employees is vital.

An article published by Deloitte says that in the past workplace was all about camaraderie, comfort, control, and commute. But today, it means grabbing the relevant gadgets and technologies, building necessary habits, and making the much-needed shifts in closeness with co-workers.

Going by a Korn Ferry survey, even though a majority of 75% of employees believe that their employers would create a safe workspace for them, 50% of them are still scared of heading back to offices. So, all an employer needs to do right now is building the reentry strategies based on trust. The existing, as well as the aspiring employees, should be able to depend on their organizations for the following reasons –

• Highlight the competencies in a well-thought manner
• Prove their care for their employees
• Calibrate on the promises they make and deliver
• Keep the communications clear and unambiguous
• Make way for collaboration between leaders and subordinates

Every working professional today, either he or she is making a way back to the workplace or is working from home, will be placing their faith on their respective employers for making working in the new normal balanced and comfortable.

Be it a leader or a subordinate, both will have to be considerate and work in close and transparent association with one another, rely on one another, and work towards closing the present productivity gap. If this cannot help in rebuilding the new-normal work environment, then probably nothing will!