How do I get my employees to come back to work?

I want to discuss what businesses can do to entice their employees to come back to work, especially in challenging times like right now where some employees are making more money on unemployment than they are in their typical job.  As I researched and prepared for my workshop Creating an Engaged workforce I discovered I had so much information to squeeze into a 1 hour workshop I wanted to address this topic more in depth outside the workshop. This particular topic is really pertinent and really important. And so, I wanted to really dedicate a little bit extra time to talking about the challenges businesses are facing, and what they can do.

My philosophy and my belief is small businesses are fantastic. The owners of small businesses are amazing, they have fantastic ideas, and we can all learn from each other.  We can all grow from our experiences and learning things that have worked really well, and the things that have not. It’s my job to help businesses understand those ideas.   Businesses right now are facing unprecedented times. We have a cultural, political quagmire, that is horrible to watch unfold.   It is so disappointing that there’s not a common bridge that is bringing everyone together. People are very emotional and very passionate about their beliefs and feelings, and that is how we create change. That is how we make things happen, using your voice, using your actions to create positive movement forward.

So, you have very emotional employees right now. Part of that emotion is scared, some employees are scared to come back because they are fearful of the pandemic. Or they’re fearful for their families if they’re coming into a public setting. Or they may or may not be scared depending on where you are in the country or in the world.  Everybody’s in a different space. As businesses are reopening, and starting to make those invitations to their employees there is so much complexity to what the employees are feeling, experiencing and evaluating for themselves and their families.

Businesses have to create their culture to have employees invested in the success of their business.  First, businesses that have previously created purposeful positive interactions with their employees will have a much easier time bringing their employees back. If businesses,  before the world turned upside down, took dedicated time to share with your employees how valued they were, those invitations to return will be much easier. And whether they’re cleaning your toilets, or building your buildings or making food for your customers, they have to know what role they play, and why it’s important to your business.  Every person that does something within your business has an important role to the success of your business.

Part of that is communication is making sure that they understand the mission and vision. The message behind your business. There are so many companies out in the world that  rock. They are so good at letting your employees know how valued they are. But there’s a lot of companies that also struggle with this, because they get so busy with the day to day. Buried under what’s happening now, they haven’t taken time to build the foundation of their business.. They look towards employees as more transactional- “I’m paying them to do their job, they should just do it”.  These types of cultures are going to face more challenges right now bringing people back.

The biggest thing that you have to do is talk to your employees.  Whether you are already a rock star and have a really amazing positive culture or bogged down in the quagmire, and forgot to take that time to communicate with my employees how important they were before the world turned upside down, you have to talk to your employees.

If  they are in your workplace, or you’re trying to get them to come back to your workplace, be really transparent with them.   Explain where you are in your business what are the struggles and/triumphs, where you are emotionally with your business are you worried about health issues, financial status, making accommodations etc.  Most importantly explain your why. Simon Sinek has the best philosophy is you have got to start with your why. Why is it important?  Why is it important that that person come back to their job?  Why is it important they participate in opening your business?

Talk to your employees, have open, honest communication and listen to them. I posted an article on social media asking Are you a window gazer, or are you a mirror holder.  Are you having conversations with your employees, saying, you need to come back to work and you need to do this now. And you need to do it because I said so. Or are you having the, this is what the work environment looks like and I’m ready for you to come back to work. Are you ready?  What can we do, and have open ended questions, so that you can really understand where your employees are coming from.

Most importantly,  if you were not in the rock star category before, admit the past mistakes.  Acknowledge you may not have been the best at communicating this before we had to change our business, but I really want you to know that you are important and this is why.  Further, commit to genuine change to improve the communication and culture.

That conversation is huge.

If you have your PPP loan, you need to get the people back to meet those minimum necessary payroll expenses. You have two things to do. First, you need to offer those positions back to your employees. You need to be straightforward upfront and say, Hey, I got this loan funding for payroll expenses. I need everyone to come back, so that the funding is forgiven. And if it’s possible for your business, acknowledge that your employees have been going through  just as tough a time as your business, and if possible give them a return to work bonus.  This acknowledges the hardship the employee has been going through, and says  I know I wasn’t able to keep things going as smoothly, I want to give you this extra financial recognition or reward.  This is a hard time and by you coming back at this time, you are helping me with this PPP loan forgiveness. In the long run this will help the business as a whole. Be straightforward.

If you have an employee that is refusing to come back and you have work for them, you’re offering them the same wages that they were getting previously with the same hours and they refuse to come back, document it, the offer in writing given to the employee and their response!  Notify the employment department for those two things, this will make sure it doesn’t ding you if you are working within the PPP forgiveness structure, and it will make sure that those employees don’t continue to get unemployment when they don’t deserve it. It may change their attitude, it might make them mad. But in the long run, it’s the integrity of your business.

You need to be flexible with your employee.  Especially right now where some things are open some things aren’t.  Some people have childcare, some don’t. Some have older parents, some have all different new challenges to the day to day life.  Bringing people back and offer them flexibility, with how they’re coming back. Yes they’re coming back to work, but their schedule can adjust in one way or another. Maybe it’s a person who has a partner in their life sharing childcare duties so they shift to one person working early, the other is working late, so that there’s someone home with children.  It could be adjusting lunch hours, because they need a longer lunch to face whatever crazy challenge is coming at us.  We’re all facing those things.

If it works for your business offering a blended work location. Many businesses are continuing to have portions of their workforce work remotely.  Offering that as an option when it makes sense. Manufacturing businesses,  it doesn’t make sense for production workers, you have to have them in the plant to get the work done. But there other ways you can create flexibility. Are there other different ways to provide the employees more control over what they’re doing and how it’s getting done?

The flexibility, along with the transparency is huge. This helps employees know they have a voice, they have some control in the uncontrollable.

And another aspect to look at right now, as nobody in the world wants to increase their expenses. And everybody is in the “Okay how do I make this job look more valuable?  How do I make it look more enticing?” You have an opening because somebody is absolutely not coming back. They’ve relocated, they’ve changed their careers, they’ve started a new online business. You now have an opening to recruit for and right now is a fantastic time to do that. You have a huge pool of opportunity for people looking for work. This is a great time to start thinking about who is your ideal talent. Who have you had interactions with, what companies do you admire. And you can start headhunting from other companies.  Start recruiting from those other opportunities to get your more engaged people, to get people that are going to be invested in the success of your company.

The part of attracting those people, is you have to have a balance of meaningful work, understanding the why, and creating connection.   Employees are looking for that connection, being part of a whole or greater good. They are much more likely to say yes I’m ready to come back and help your business. Because I’m a meaningful part and making an impact.

One of the things that you can look at is getting creative, especially for small businesses, with the benefits you offer.  Create new opportunities that are flexible so that employees have more choice on what they want, what they need, what they’re willing to pay for. So, they’re getting benefits that they value. They’re getting things that are meaningful to them and cost you less than traditional benefits.

So there’s tons of different small things that businesses can do to entice their workers to return to work.  Talking to them is the first one.

And if you have a superstar in your office right now, the first thing you need to do is sit down and talk to them.  Have regular conversations, every six months, every quarter, every year at least.  Ask things like Why do you like to work here? What are we doing that’s good? What could we do better? What challenges do you have in completing your work?  What isn’t going well in the business?  What can we do so we can be the best in place to work ever? How can we maximize and make this more attractive, more valuable for employees.

There is a famous quote from Dwight Eisenhower of “What is important is seldom urgent and what is important is seldom urgent”  You have to take the time on the not urgent, building that foundation with their employees, so they understand their role in your company, understand why you value them, so that the urgent things don’t happen as often. That way when urgencies happen, your employees are more likely to handle them in the way that you want them to be handled.

First and foremost, talk to your employees, be transparent, be open. And listen, listen to what they say. Listen to what they mean. Listen to what they want. Are you going to be able to meet all of the wants? Maybe, maybe not.  But having the discussion communicates the employee’s opinion matters and they are valued.

Getting people to return to work is challenging in these unprecedented time.  Start the conversation early, have them often, be genuine and transparent with your staff.

If you aren’t sure where to start or need strategies to create the framework for your business book a free strategy call with me here: https://sowlesconsulting.com/schedule