It’s been one year since the COVID-19 pandemic sent the U.S. into lockdown and, overnight, millions of businesses and their employees faced the unknown. As the economy faltered, many companies encountered hurdles not addressed in existing emergency plans, but they quickly adapted to the new and unexpected situation by adopting pandemic-inspired business practices.

Pandemic Put Businesses to the Test

In the early stages of the pandemic, essential businesses went into overdrive. Healthcare companies and providers treated escalating numbers of patients, and manufacturing facilities produced necessities for healthcare providers and Americans quarantining and working from home. At the same time, transportation service providers and retailers worked long hours to deliver and sell essential goods, while governments and businesses that support critical infrastructure did the same to ensure the U.S. workforce had uninterrupted services.

Businesses not deemed essential faced different hurdles, and many grappled with how to support and manage remote workers and continue operations. Restaurants, bars, retailers, and other businesses faced crises when forced to close for months due to COVID-19 mandates. But in true American form, these companies picked themselves up, and got to work implementing safeguards that protected employees and customers; adopting pandemic-friendly business practices; and, in some cases, transitioning to home offices with Zoom meetings, flexible work hours, and kids and pets as work colleagues.

In time, temporary fixes implemented by many companies to keep the wheels of business turning began to feel more permanent. As many still yearn for a return to normalcy, it is clear that some pandemic-inspired business practices are here to stay.

"Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.”

—— Arundhati Roy, The Pandemic Is a Portal

With Great Crisis Comes Great Innovation

When America went into lockdown, business leaders recognized the need for solutions that allowed their employees to continue working while limiting their exposure to COVID-19. For many, that meant sending non-essential workers home to makeshift offices and protecting essential workers who served on the frontline.

COVID-19 forced the pace and scale of workplace innovation, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). "Many are finding simpler, faster and less expensive ways to operate," states the WEF article. "All of this points to our innate ability to change, and to move away from prescribed approaches and standardized solutions. COVID-19 is a catalyst to reinvent the future of work and create opportunities for companies to look at things differently.”

As they struggled to keep afloat, businesses of all sizes reviewed their strengths and weaknesses to address opportunities and threats. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)’s COVID-19 survey found that 32% of businesses discovered new ways to deliver services, 22% asked employees to learn new skills, and 43% found new ways to stay in business. New business practices included:

• Using contactless deliveries to make their services available
• Adopting new revenue streams, such as converting production lines to make hand sanitizer
• Instituting new safety measures, such as installing Plexiglas barriers between staff and customers
• Adopting new technology

Temporary Fixes Become Permanent Solutions

The pandemic is not over, though an end is finally in sight due to the rollout of vaccines. If you are a small or mid-sized business, consider incorporating these pandemic-inspired business practices into standard operations as you transition back to the office.

The Hybrid Workplace

It’s hard to remember how different our lives were just one year ago—in early 2020. Caught up in the early spring hustle and bustle, we were commuting, collecting kids from school or after-school care, and juggling housework, yard work, and family life on the weekends. Few could imagine a pandemic scenario that resulted in a large portion of the American workforce working from home. But overnight it became the norm, and as the pandemic wore on, employers found their employees remained productive and even thrived in their home offices.

According to Upwork’s Future Workforce Pulse Report, nine months into the pandemic, an estimated 56.8% of Americans were still working from home at least some of the time and 41.8% were still fully remote. Sixty-eight percent of hiring managers surveyed for the report said that remote work was working better than at the start of the pandemic. Only five percent said it was worse.

Now, the promise of socially-distanced office spaces and hygienic/healthy workplace practices, bolstered by newly-introduced COVID-19 vaccines, signal that it’s time to transition back to the office. However, the remote work environment—or hybrid work schedule—looks like it’s here to stay. An Intermedia survey of 250 small and medium-sized business owners found that 57% said they will likely maintain increased remote working options for employees in the long-term. Why? Their employees’ satisfaction with work-life balance has improved, and their overhead costs have decreased.

Your Business Outlook:

Switching to a hybrid schedule where employees split time between working in-office and remotely could be a win-win proposition for your business. Employees realize cost savings associated with reduced commute time and fewer lunches out, while also maintaining connections with family when working from home and with colleagues when in the office. Companies reap benefits through increased employee productivity and a possible reduction in their real estate footprint. According to McKinsey & Co., office-space decision-makers expect the percentage of time worked in main and satellite offices to decline by 12 and 9%, respectively, while flex office space will hold approximately constant and work from home will increase to 27% of work time, from 20%.

“These changes may not only improve how work is done but also lead to savings,” according to McKinsey’s research. “Rent, capital costs, facilities operations, maintenance, and management make real estate the largest cost category outside of compensation for many organizations…In a post–COVID-19 world, the potential to reduce real-estate costs could be significant.”

The Hygienic Workplace

Essential businesses that stayed open during the pandemic, and those that reopened as lockdown measures scaled back, adopted health and safety measures that protected employees and customers from COVID-19. Face masks, face shields, and gloves were new additions to uniforms donned by employees who work face-to-face with the public. Foodservice and retail stores shifted to contact-free pick-up and delivery services and installed Plexiglas barriers between staff and customers. Several fast-food chains shifted to cashless transactions for hygienic purposes, and many businesses scanned clients’ temperatures before allowing them entry into their facility.

Companies may scale back on mandatory protective gear as the risk of COVID-19 decreases, but many pandemic-related protocols will stay put throughout 2021 and beyond, such as wearing masks in medical facilities, implementing upgraded air filtration and touchless elevator controls in buildings, increasing sanitization frequency, and continuing contact-free pick-up and delivery services.

Your Business Outlook:

Consider keeping pandemic-related policies, protocols, and procedures in place—at least for now. For example, if you optimized the placement of desks and office equipment to reflect safe social distancing in the workplace, consider making it a permanent part of your environment. If you put restrictions on employee gathering places, such as lunchrooms and break areas, relax the rules but encourage hand washing and maintain daily cleaning schedules.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have developed detailed COVID-19 guidelines designed to protect employees' health and safety as they return to the workplace. G&A Partners Safety Consultant, Jesse Valencia, said OSHA guidelines and CDC recommendations and findings can and will change as time goes on so businesses should stay on top of the latest information to protect employees and ensure company compliance. An HR department, manager, or HR outsourcing agency, like G&A, can help ensure a company is complying with all federal, state, and local regulations, as well as implementing safety protocols that proactively address a variety of threats, ranging from workplace accidents to COVID-19.