The Importance of Retraining Staff Returning to the Workplace

Around the world, countries are beginning to ease restrictions after several weeks of lockdown attempting to stop the spread of COVID-19. Many non-essential businesses have been closed for over two months and some people have not sat at their desks for almost three months.

We are living through something we have never experienced before, and we don’t know what to expect when workplaces reopen or how staff will work after lockdown. Some processes and business models may be different and require training to allow staff to easily adapt to ‘the new normal’. Then some businesses will remain somewhat unchanged, but training may still be necessary.

As people and businesses try to return to normality a question that is frequently being asked is will staff need to be retrained? By the time some stores that are located in indoor shopping malls reopen, staff will not have used their customer service skills for several months.

Staff are at the forefront of your business and no matter how competitive your price is or how good the quality of the product is, if a customer has a bad experience with a staff member, that is what they will remember. Now is the time to ensure that staff are trained and skilled on how to create the perfect customer journey and how they should treat customers.

There are also skills that staff may have forgotten such as manual handling skills. Manual handling training is a legal requirement, but with social distancing and the constant risk of people self-isolating if they begin to show symptoms, management should consider manual handling training to reduce injuries and disruption in the months ahead.

Businesses are struggling to stay afloat in the current economic environment and an injured staff member is the last thing that they need right now.

With staff returning to work, it is a good time to refresh policies and procedures and re-energise staff. Staff must be efficient and know how to implement COVID-19 measurements as well as regular policies.

This is a good time for businesses to establish a training programme to help staff understand what is expected of them and how to complete every task while fulfilling the company’s vision statement.