What the leaders need to be ready with, before getting their people back to the workspace

One of the key questions business leaders should ponder is not necessarily about ‘are we ready to open the office or the workplace,’ but ‘can we open it and keep it open’?

The cost, disruption, and anxiety caused by opening and closing any workplace is something every employer is anxious to avoid. From my point of view, it is really a preparation of having the tools in place, which are able to give the board confidence that now is the right time to bring people in and that we can keep those people in.

I think what every organization is experiencing, with the wealth of information that’s around, particularly in light of the pandemic, is a change in employees’ expectations around data. I believe every person in every company around the world wakes up and is looking for more information in regards to their local environment; if there are any other outbreaks, what is the latest number, what’s the infection rate, etc.

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People are checking on the pandemic’s impact almost as much as checking the weather in the morning or checking their daily train route. There’s an expectation that we are going to have access to relevant and timely information, specifically linked to our well-being. I think that’s been the fundamental shift.

Data has always played a crucial role been for industries. Today, the most successful businesses and data-driven organizations make decisions much quicker and better than any other organization. But with supply comes demand, and there’s now an expectation from every employee that they can access information.

Employee well-being is not just explicitly linked to their environment, but their mental well-being as well, how they are feeling and how they are coping with day-to-day working from home. In fact, employee well-being has been the driving force for the suite of products we developed way back in March. Even before the pandemic, we started to develop a suite of tools for employers to understand staff well-being. Whether it’s a geopolitical issue or unexpected natural events, there’s always an immediate need for information that will affect the inner workings of a company and its employees at ground level.

COVID-19 accelerated the need for faster delivery of such information, allowing us to assess our products and services in a much broader context. And with Domo’s Get Back to Work applications, you can protect your most valuable assets: your people. You can leverage data to keep business moving and make informed decisions on emerging issues while ensuring the safety of your employees when they first return to work and beyond.

I think being ready to get employees back to work entails sharing clear and transparent data with them, about their well-being, their risks, and what we as employers are doing to mitigate them once they are back at work.