Post-Pandemic Ways to Reconnect with Employees

As businesses start to try and return to normal after the pandemic, a lot of employees are returning to the workplace or returning to work completely. You might have made efforts to keep employees connected during the pandemic, but with things changing again, you have the opportunity to re-engage with them. Everyone may feel the need to touch base and even be reintegrated back into the company. Perhaps you’ve taken on some new hires while people have been working remotely, and they’re now coming into the offices for the first time. 

Reconnecting with employees and helping them to reconnect with each other might be a challenge, but it’s important to help your business get back to normal. If you’re thinking about how to achieve this, here are some ways to help everyone re-engage and connect.

Bringing People Back to the Office

Bringing people back to the office or another workplace is going to be key for a lot of businesses in getting back to normal. Many businesses are continuing to make use of remote working in some way, especially as it can help to save them money. However, having people working together in person offers a number of advantages that make it worth it to bring people back. You might start off by doing this slowly, perhaps only having people come in for a couple of days each week. It gives everyone a chance to touch base and start transitioning back to the office.

Employee Recognition

When you need to engage your employees, get them to care about their work, and raise their productivity, employee recognition is key. They want to feel appreciated and like their work matters. There are multiple ways to increase employee recognition so that everyone is rewarded for the hard work that they put in. Your employee recognition could range from praise to teams or individuals to monetary awards, gifts, or activities. It can be especially important to work on employee recognition after everyone has felt disconnected from each other and they need to start working together as a team again.

Design a Fun Event

Corporate events have definitely not been easy recently, and most events moved online if they weren’t canceled. However, with in-person events now becoming possible again, you can make use of them to connect with and engage your employees. There are many fun corporate event ideas that you could use to offer an interesting perk to your employees. Create an event that you can use to show your appreciation for them and to welcome them back into the fold. It could be the first real opportunity they have had to socialize with each other in a while.

Celebrate Successes

After a tough time, sometimes you just need a win. If you want to reconnect with your employees, making sure that you celebrate your business’s successes and the successes of individual teams and employees is important. Something going well is a reward on its own, but it’s also a good idea to do something official to recognize the completion of a project, securing a new client, or any other significant milestone. You might do that by organizing team drinks, giving everyone a gift, or even just making a big announcement.

Organize Team Socials

You might have been conducting Zoom happy hour every week, but it’s not exactly the same as getting to meet up to socialize. Being able to socialize outside of work hours or even over lunch allows everyone to get to know each other better and connect regarding things that aren’t related to work. Team socials and outings could involve a number of things, from after-work drinks to lunch outings or fun activities. Employees might naturally organize these things between themselves, but it can also be a good idea to encourage them, especially to welcome new team members.

Focus on Employee Wellbeing

If employee wellbeing hasn’t been a focus during the pandemic, it should become a priority as you try to return to normal. Turning your attention to both the physical and mental wellbeing of your employees will help them to reintegrate back at work and feel happier being back in the workplace. Things might have changed and perhaps you’re dealing with a lot of work now you’re getting your business back to normal, and it’s important to support your employees during this time.

Your employees might be feeling disconnected from the company in a number of ways. Try to bring them back together and make efforts to reconnect with everyone to improve the workplace culture and environment.