While there is a sense of relief at being able to return to some normalcy post lockdown, there is also an apprehension to return to the workforce. Employees fear for their own safety and health.

2020 will be etched in the memory of every human for years to come. Apart from the stories on Covid-19, the year will also be remembered as a year when things changed. I remember in March when people were waiting for the lockdown 1.0 to end and things would be back to “normal.” Five lockdowns later, we have now moved from getting back to “Business as Usual” to “Living with Covid”. The world has changed, not only in the way it functions but also in the way we now perceive life as individuals. It took a pandemic for us to realize that our conventional approach to work needs to change.

Now with offices slowly resuming throughout the country, there are different reactions to this. I would say it is a mixed bag of feelings.

At Fast&Up, we are a millennial organization with not more than 60 employees spread across our offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Many of our team members belong to different states and living outside their homeland was a challenge. Being stuck in the city and away from home, they are definitely overjoyed to get back to work with gusto and follow some sort of routine. Employees are finding this more productive as there is a sense of team spirit besides, they also missed working with their colleagues and seeing them in person. Work from Home came with its own pros and cons, as there were multiple things to look after. Now, they are experiencing a sense of joy, as the focus will shift from co-ordination and organizing calls to actually working together. This will save a lot of time on doing follow-ups and the focus will be on one task at a time rather than multi-tasking.

For many others, the transition from office to Work from Home was smooth. This also gave our employees an opportunity to spend time with loved ones and get some ‘me’ time too. With offices resuming, there is a sense of fear on having to move back and miss out on these opportunities. While there is a sense of relief at being able to return to some normalcy post lockdown, there is also an apprehension to return to the workforce. Employees fear for their own safety and health.

Not many of our team members have cars or personal vehicles and have to rely heavily on public transport, which is their lifeline. With COVID-19 calling for social distancing, in a crowded country like ours, this becomes a challenge to do so.

There is also the fear of touching or sitting in buses/trains/autos and taxis as multiple people are using these facilities.

For us at Fast&Up, our employees always come first. We are encouraging those that live away from home to continue the work from home option, to put their fears to ease.

Many have children at home and with schools and colleges being shut, the burden of taking care of the house and work can be take a toll on them. We would like to invite our teams to our office only when they feel comfortable. For those returning to the workplace, we intend to follow social distancing by ensuring only 10 people are present for the working day and the rest to be coordinating with them from their homes. Giving those employees who need to use public transport to reach office, we will be maintaining temperature checks regularly and we intend to follow a few practices. One rule we are keen to apply is a strict policy of avoiding meeting people from outside the organization and not allowing them inside the office premises for meetings or any other related work to guarantee the safety of our team.

We are also telling our staff to wear masks and come, which will be discarded once they reach office and new ones will be provided for internal and external use. There will be frequent sanitization in the office and we will not be allowing any food to be ordered from outside, at least until the month of July.

Our employees will also need to get their own food and cutlery from home to avoid using pantry services as much as possible as there are frequent chances of touching surfaces and we want to avoid that.

For those who cannot bring food from home due to the current situation, we are requesting our team members to carry extra food for their employees.

The time that we are witnessing has no handbook that we can use to learn from. It is our duty collectively as an organization and individually as a team member to follow safe practices for the health of those around us and for ourselves and loved ones. The opening up of offices and practices we follow will need to be constantly reviewed and changes incorporated quickly as per our learnings.

As a brand that is into health & fitness, we feel it is our duty to ensure the same at all levels of the organization. Our teams look forward to meeting each other once things change but work like the greatest showman once said – must go on.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house