Transitioning from a Remote Environment Back to the Office

After an extended lockdown imposed by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, cannabis companies and many other businesses are eager to get back to work. While the cannabis industry has been largely deemed essential throughout the pandemic restrictions, every business has been affected.  

The return to work is literal for some since many businesses had to close for the quarantine’s duration. For other companies who were able to shift to remote work scenarios, employees are now returning to the office for the first time since the shutdown. 

Transitioning from a remote environment back to the office can be difficult without some pre-planning and forethought. Here are some tips to help you and your employees to make a successful transition back to work. 

Continue Remote Working

Many businesses that initially shifted to remote working are considering whether bringing staff back to the office is really necessary, especially after big tech companies like Facebook and Google have allowed their employees to work from home indefinitely. 

A primary reason to consider maintaining a remote workforce is eliminating the spread of the virus and avoiding an unpredictable and uncontrollable situation at the office. Individual employees have any number of risk factors that could increase your chances of bringing in the virus. Alternatively, some may live with elderly or at-risk family members. Companies are looking for ways to mitigate these uncertainties.

Other cannabis companies are letting remote staff continue working from home simply because they can. Pre-pandemic, some organizations lacked the capabilities for widespread, ongoing remote working capabilities. Now that they’re operating effectively from the cloud, organizations are examining the risk vs. reward for keeping employees at home, including the financial benefits, employee satisfaction, and more.

Revive Workplace Morale

If you are one of the many cannabis shops who are ready and willing to open, congratulations! Bear in mind that the pandemic outbreak has created anxiety for many people and that your staff morale could be in need of a boost after returning to the workplace after weeks or months sheltering in place.

An inspired and motivated workforce drives successful businesses, so consider ways to pump up your employees. Promoting small or funny achievements, granting flexible hours or ushering in crazy hat day will help you staff look forward to returning to the office. You might even carry over some of what made working at home a joy with a bring-your-pet-to-work day. 

With this, a company can organize an event for its employees to lift their morale and motivate them to work to achieve the goals.

Maintain Regular, Transparent Communication

Communication played a significant role when you shifted to remote work, it needs the same priority when transitioning back to the office. The pandemic forced many companies to invest in new technology and communication tools after recognizing the importance of frequent communication while collaborating remotely. 

How you communicate is just as important as how often. If you were using Zoom or Hangouts while working remotely, consider if keeping the practice going, at least short-term, can help you stay connected at a safe distance even while at the office.

It’s easy to assume everyone is on the same page, but that’s probably not going to be the case. Be transparent about post-pandemic plans, new procedures, and anything else that affects employees. 

Review of Infrastructure Needs

Most cannabis companies who are returning to work will take many months or more to overcome the pandemic disruption. Nearly every company will have to overcome major concerns on the other side of this re-opening, including staff changes, financial setbacks, and supply chain hang ups.

Effective technology platforms are essential to return your business to success. Are there deficiencies in your infrastructure to address so employees can continue performing their jobs in the new normal? Each department and location should assess how business and the needs of your customer have changed. Review operations to identify areas of deficiency, especially in technology and communication infrastructure. 

Cannabis Cloud Best Practices

Transitioning back to the office from working remotely is a great time to begin navigating new paths of productivity back at the office. With the right plan in place, you can return with fewer obstacles while rebuilding morale in a safe, productive environment.

Cannabis cloud ERP helps your remote workforce transition back to work by delivering greater levels of communication, security, and scalability to your operation. By switching to a flexible cloud platform, your cannabis business becomes more dynamic with transparency to your workflows and vital insights into your business performance.

Find out more about how c2b tek can help your cannabis business make the transition back to the office.

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