With the imminent threat of COVID-19 appearing to subside, a return to workplace normality may be only a month or less away.
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Just as we have gotten used to working from home, some anxious bosses are waiting for the exact moment when businesses of all shapes and sizes can flick the safety switch to activate National Go Back to the Office Day.
It will be a day of celebration, ignoring how underprepared they are for the occasion.
But such a national day is based on false beliefs. Not only have some bosses misunderstood how a return to the office might unfold, they are under a false impression in relation to health and safety issues.
The reality is what happens back in your office could make the difference between relative safety and ongoing disruption and health issues arising from new viral outbreaks.
Minimisation of virus transmission should therefore be at the very top of bosses' to-do lists.
Yet with a return to the office possibly only a short time away, many bosses have devoted little or no attention to crafting plans for a safe, healthy and productive workforce reunion.
Of course, the elephant in the room is the question of whether all employees will need to return to the office when WFH has served many individuals and businesses well over the past few months.
To be fair, bosses have had their hands full keeping staff healthy and productive, including in WFH environments, trying to keep their businesses afloat and protecting as many jobs as possible.
At the same time, a failure to think now about our return to the office poses a multitude of risks.
It starts with ditching an increasingly common assumption more broken than the global economy: that there will be a single day when most of us will return to the office.
The truth is our return to work will vary from industry to industry and from state to state.
Even within individual businesses, bosses need to get their head around the possibility of choreographing a staggered return of workers. Already there are examples of workforces being split into teams and alternating their time in the office and, soon, staggering their full-time return over a period of weeks or even months.
Then there is the infection risk associated with commuting. It might mean replacing a journey on a packed train with a safer car-pooling option.
Stepped-up cleaning measures, signs to remind employees to maintain social distancing and hand sanitisers positioned in strategic locations all need to be given more thought, along with the instalment of technology to provide access to rooms and lifts without the need to handle or press a button.
Bosses will need to contemplate how to provide increased elbow room, create more barriers between workers, minimise movement around the office and obviate the need for large gatherings in conference rooms or break areas.
For some, this new approach will need an office rebuild of sorts, and that will take time - particularly if wider walkways and doorways are needed.
Bosses will need to remember, too, that many workers are fragile. Returning to the closeness of cubicles - even those spaced more generously - may well be considered creepy.
There is an obvious need for opening windows or adjusting air-conditioning to increase air circulation and flow.
The possibility of regular COVID-19 screening regimes for employees needs to be thought through, and plans must be devised to deal with any new infections.
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With hugs, kisses and handshakes on hold, there may even be need for a company policy on greetings. Of course, the elephant in the room is the question of whether all employees will need to return to the office when WFH has served many individuals and businesses well over the past few months.
The bottom line is those bosses who fail to launch plans for a safe return to the office are likely to infect their workforce with a lack of confidence and respect in their leadership.
And that is one virus no leader wants to catch.
- Professor Gary Martin is a workplace culture expert with the Australian Institute of Management.
