If your current staffing business insurance clients are preparing to return to the office after COVID, they may have questions about new work requirements and how to manage those requirements smoothly while taking employee questions and concerns into consideration. As their agent, you may be able to provide your clients with a simple COVID-19 Back-to-Work Checklist to make the transition back as straightforward as possible. Here’s some key advice you can provide your clients to help them manage post-COVID in-person requirements as they make their return to the workplace.
Consider Different Approaches When Deciding Whether To Require In-Person Work
Before setting a return-to-the-office date, your clients may want to consider all their options for work arrangements going forward. For example, while some companies may prefer to go back to entirely in-person work requirements, others may prefer to offer employees hybrid models or greater flexibility in choosing their work locations. Some of the top options your clients could consider adopting include:
- Fully in-person work
- Hybrid work, wherein employees can opt to come in person some days and work remotely on other days
- Fully remote work
Add Special Employee Accommodations To Foster a Safe Environment
In many cases, requiring full-time or part-time in-person work may lead to safety concerns among some employees. To mitigate employee fears and balance essential requirements effectively, your clients could consider incorporating special new employee accommodations to be granted on a blanket or as-needed basis. For example, your clients may opt to:
- Offer additional paid sick or family leave
- Institute thorough cleaning policies throughout the office
- Consider offering some or all employees flexible schedule options
Discuss In-Person Concerns With Employees To Determine Reasonable Requirements
Perhaps one of the most effective strategies for determining and managing new work requirements is for your clients to speak with their employees directly about how best to proceed with the return to the office. By involving employees, hearing out common concerns and brainstorming together, your clients can ensure that the entire company is on board with new work requirements. You can advise your clients to:
- Crowdsource ideas for sensible and practical in-person work requirements
- Clearly communicate your company’s guidelines for returning to the office
- Hold brainstorming sessions and listen to employees’ concerns and suggestions
- Slowly start a transition back to in-person work to give employees time to adjust
- Allocate new work requirements to designated task force employees to avoid confusion and ensure a seamless transition back to the office
For many staffing business insurance clients planning an upcoming post-COVID return to the office, new in-person work requirements may seem difficult to manage. Thankfully, with enough planning and forethought, your clients can help make the transition back smooth and simple. You can use this checklist to advise your clients to debate their return options, consider adding new accommodations to their workplace and consult with employees to ensure clear in-person requirements and a safe and thriving work environment.
About World Wide Specialty Programs
For the last 50 years, World Wide Specialty Programs has dedicated itself to providing the optimal products and solutions for the staffing industry. As the only insurance firm to be an ASA commercial liability partner, we are committed to that partnership and committed to using our knowledge of the industry to provide staffing firms with the best possible coverage. For more information about Staffing Professional Liability Insurance or any other coverage, we have available to protect your staffing business, give us a call at (877) 256-0468 to speak with one of our representatives.