A golden opportunity exists to use the valuable time between now and the end of the furlough scheme to upskill, cross skill or reskill furloughed team members. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme allows training whilst receiving furlough pay in a bid to get people ready to return to work and quickly become effective to drive recovery.
As we embark on the pathway out of lockdown, organisations are, of course, considering carefully and fully what new working practices will need to be in place. Many businesses have shown great agility, supported by the flexibility and ingenuity of colleagues. As we bring furloughed colleagues back into the workplace, we all have an opportunity to help those currently on the scheme to make the very best use of the time they are spending away, to refresh their skills and be ready thrive when they return to their work.
The drive towards recovery will need the resourcefulness of all colleagues in any business to navigate through the uncertainties that exist all around us and so everyone having a positive, productive mindset is really important. This mindset needs everyone taking ownership and responsibility to do their bit with an optimistic and positive outlook and really feeling that they can make a difference. Assessing whether colleagues have this optimal mindset, as well as the skills and behavioural capabilities to thrive going forward, is a good starting point to define what training could be put in place during furlough time.
As team members come back into the workplace, they will experience in one fell swoop, what others who have been working, have had time to get used to. There are new questions to be answered from customers, new rules and regulations to be followed, new working practices including social distancing and remote working, new challenges in communicating with each other and in many cases new pressures and stresses to manage. Taking time now to think about these challenges and put in place training that can equip your people to cope better when they return will be time and investment well spent.
Two additional important considerations that our customers are taking into account are firstly, the wellbeing of people on furlough and secondly, the opportunity to help current employees be more employable outside the organisation should downsizing or restructuring be required.
We have created an online learning experience which can be undertaken by individuals or by groups and teams to give tools to boost wellbeing and resilience and improve communications and customer service skills. Click here to book a demo of our eLearning programme and experience it for yourself.
Equipping your team members with the ability to cope better, excel in service, build strong communications skills and build resilience, whatever the future holds, will be a service to them and enable them to be part of the impetus to drive recovery.
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