After the huge, life-changing events of the past year, it’s no wonder that the world has experienced a marked increase in levels of stress and anxiety.
As employees begin their return to the office, introducing a healthy programme of workload management techniques can act as a visibly supportive way to help them acclimatise to their ‘new normal’.
These techniques could include:
Breaking large projects into small, manageable pieces
Comfortable, bite-sized tasks will help to boost motivation, ensuring your employees are able to finish the working day with a glowing sense of achievement.
Building flexibility into deadlines
Once you’ve set and clearly communicated your deadlines, check in regularly to make sure everybody is happy and on-track. You will also have a useful opportunity to address any issues as soon as they arise.
As people settle into their new in-office working routines, be prepared to delay or extend your timings if needed.
Setting regular break times
Some employees may feel that they’re expected to be hyper-productive from Day One of their return to the office, which could trigger a stress response.
Actively scheduling breaks, as well as vocally encouraging fresh-air walks, or relaxed social time with colleagues over coffee, will help to ease the sense of workload pressure.
Encouraging collaboration and chats
Through necessity, many employees will have become used to working alone over the past year.
You may therefore need to re-introduce in-person collaboration, by organising dedicated sessions for people to get together and share their ideas.
Don’t forget to arrange regular ‘catch up’ chats with individual team members too, so you can provide them with the right level of support, as and when they need it.
If you have any questions, or would like further advice about how to support returning employees and manage workload stress in your organisation, please get in touch.
