Pfizer, Moderna and J&J collectively spearheaded the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine to Americans desperately awaiting a chance to return to normal life. While a number of the US population remains unvaccinated, companies have begun to implement a return to the office policy after more than a year of remote work. Many offices have already opened their doors while a number of organizations plan to have their employees return come Fall. According to the Chicago Tribune Paula Allen, global leader of research at LifeWorks believes, “Without question, the workforce that’s returning is not the same as the one that left.” Regardless of the strategy they have planned, employers must take into account that their employees have a new perspective when it comes to working.

Employee Expectations

Many employees have proved their ability to work productively remotely and hope to continue remote work or support their employers rolling out a hybrid model with some days in office and others at home. Novartis spokesperson told FiercePharma, “we realized that there was no ‘going back’ to the pre-COVID paradigm.” A hybrid work model will give employees the opportunity to decide when they want to work in the office on a project by project basis. Novartis coined this plan as “Choice with Responsibility” to give their employees more power. This choice falls into a rotational work schedule that will help keep the number of employees in the office at one time to a minimum and also award employees with the choice to work in the environment they feel most comfortable and productive in.

Employer Expectations

Some employers such as Eli Lilly have come to see that while some jobs are suited for remote work, they still plan to bring their employees back to the office. FiercePharma reports on July 12th, Eli Lilly opened their Indianapolis office’s door to all employees regardless of vaccination status. In a LinkedIn post CEO David Ricks states, “collaboration, innovation and learning is best done in-person at our facilities.” Other employers like Amgen hope to provide remote work opportunities to employees in departments that previously did not have the choice. Jessica Simpson, Amgen’s human resources director of manufacturing states “we can envision manufacturing processes to be further automated such that workers can control the system from remote locations, providing opportunities for even further flexibility.”

Many employees are quitting even before having to return to the office, a term coined “The Great Resignation”. The motivation behind this stems from employees looking for the flexibility they had when working remotely and even the thought of returning to the office is enough for them to leave their current positions. According to a blind survey, 1 in 3 employees would quit if work from home ended. It is important to acknowledge no one solution will work for everyone and an open discussion with your team is crucial to make sure both employer and employee concerns are addressed as we move forward or run the risk of losing some of your team.

As companies start to bring their employees back into their office with the delta variant on the rise, safety must be the number one priority. The recommendation is to offer hand sanitizer at every station, create “6 foot offices” to ensure social distancing and open windows to increase airflow. If there is a COVID outbreak in your office, lifesize suggests having a contingency plan in place and encourages employees to bring their laptops home daily in case they need to work remotely for a period. While safety is a huge priority, employee welfare is also important. Experts are encouraging having an open conversation with your employees to understand how they would like to move forward.

The PharmaOut team remains committed to being your partner during this period of transition. We are putting together some data and would love to know your plans and your thoughts on the models being implemented in your workplace. Please let us know how we can assist you and your team.

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