- Recruiting: If remote work is possible, can we tap a wider employee pool for select positions? Are there new skills we should be considering for specific positions?
- Training: What new training topics may be required to support an effective remote workforce?
- Communications: Can we reimagine more efficient meetings and messaging? More immediately, are we maintaining proactive communications to provide guidance and expectations for remote work and return to work?
- Operational model: If we decide we can have remote workers, can we have remote teams operating across time zones to allow for extended processing time?
- Process improvement: Some processes cannot be done off-site very well, so what processes can be automated or redesigned?
- Policies: What new policies and procedures are required for the return-to-work phase and for the potential of long-term remote work?
- Infrastructure: What technologies (telecommunication, network, etc.) work, and what do not? Is our infrastructure adequate?
- Security: Does our security support wide-scale remote work? What new threats should be considered?
- Collaboration: Do our tools support collaboration and knowledge sharing?
The response to COVID-19 has changed priorities, behaviors and expectations, making those in government roles rethink the way they do business and engage with their workforces. Resilience has become front and center and has put agency leaders in the spotlight as problem solvers. Consider the return to work by applying a two-gear approach:
- Reopening: Deliver a trusted transition focused on employee health and safety
- Transforming: Create a future-focused transformation that reimagines an optimized workplace for the long term