CPA Practice Advisor - 14

THE LEADERSHIP ADVISOR

Is There a Right Way to
Reopen Your Office?
AT THE START of the year, would you have ever expected to work so many days from home?
Did you bet on an emergent pandemic shutting down businesses and leaving the future of

AMY VETTER, CPA.CITP, CGMA

Mindful Technologist &
Keynote Speaker
@AmyVetterCPA

office spaces in flux? Had you ever even heard of Zoom?
Nobody could've predicted what
this year has done for firms and their
clients, and many people are aching to
get back to normal as soon as possible.
However, it can be a risky decision to
try to force things back to the way
they were, especially when it comes to
reopening offices and bringing teams
back to the office. If you are engaged in
that process right now, you know how
much depends on getting it right.
The best strategy forward will be
different for every business, and every
factor is worth considering. Weighing
public health and business operation
concerns, as well as gauging the feelings of your team and assessing the
stability of your finances is important.
It's a lot to consider. Taking it one step
at a time and breaking it down can
help to make it achievable.

HEALTHY AND SAFETY
The first question to ask with regard to
opening is whether it is safe to do so.
If you are a two-person firm working
at a spacious office in a rural area that
hasn't experienced many COVID-19
cases, you're a lot safer than a crowded
office in a hard-hit city that's trying to
bring dozens of team members back
on site.
When it comes to this topic, each
person may gauge safety differently
as well. It is important to give people
options that will not only keep them
safe if they come back into the office,
but also keep their family and friends
that come in contact with them safe.
What is certain is there is not a onesize-fits-all solution. When coming up

14

SEPTEMBER 2020 ■

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with a plan, providing people options
on what safety looks like in the office
or providing the option to stay remote
is important if you want to keep your
team happy.

FINANCE
Unless you're in a truly exceptional
circumstance, your office space will
be among the biggest costs for your
business if you decide to reopen. At a
time when businesses of all sizes and
types are looking for ways to decrease
spending without letting go of people,
commercial real estate is a great place
to find savings.
You may already be taking advantage of a rent relief program, but
why not use this time as a chance to
renegotiate more favorable terms? If
you're nearing the end of a lease, you
may not want to automatically extend
terms and instead negotiate based on
the current status of the business.
You've learned you can work outside
of the office if need be so there's no
harm in waiting for the ideal situation.

OPERATIONS
At the beginning of 2020, most business owners would've said that their
physical offices were essential to their
ability to get work done. Now, many
are singing a different tune. Huge
companies like Twitter and Facebook
have announced they will no longer
require employees to come to an office.
People have learned to leverage tech to
facilitate a work-from-home strategy.
You may have some teams that could
benefit from a physical space where

others can do their job just as well
from anywhere.
It's up to you to decide who needs
to be in the office, how frequently
they'll come, and what they do when
they're there. As an alternative, you
may want to look into shared office
space offerings where you can fractionalize the cost and leave the health,
safety and operational considerations
to their expertise.

TEAM MEMBER
WELL-BEING
The final piece of the puzzle is making
sure your team is onboard with the
strategy you put in place. You may find
that some folks are itching to get back
to the office while others have adapted
to their new environment. It's a great
idea to start by bringing back the
people who are most willing to return,
evaluating how it goes, and progressing
from there. Sending an anonymous
survey to your staff to allow them to
provide their comfort level on returning
to work will give you a good gauge on
how to progress and plan from there.
At every turn, being agile and making changes if decisions don't serve your
company, your team members, your
clients, or the wider community, is key.
There is no one right way to reopen an
office, but there are approaches that will
ensure you go about it in the right way
for your business. Things may never go
back to how they were for your business
operations, but that doesn't mean you
won't learn new ways of working that
may improve your culture overall and
be for the better. ■
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