Current government advice states that people should work from home if they can, across the UK, although guidance in England was set to change on 19 July.

A great many people have already been at their workplace throughout the pandemic owing to the nature of their jobs. Returning to the office will be an exciting change for some employees, but a worrying time for others; providing clear support and expectations can help smooth the transition. However, combining remote and office work presents its own challenges for maintaining communication and equality among colleagues.

Many senior managers are now thinking about opening up offices to facilitate collaboration and communication - with expectations ranging from full-time office work to the occasional drop-in.

With this in mind, Nimble Elearning, in conjunction with their business support partners Circle2Success, have created a bite-sized eLearning course called "Returning to the Office", which takes only ten minutes to complete. It was created as an example course, covering how to respond to government guidance in a way that addresses the needs and anxieties of team members and offers practical ideas for communicating policies, requirements, and responsibilities to staff. It covers everything they need to know about what to expect as they come back to the workplace, and lays out their responsibilities clearly.

The ability for Nimble's customers to rebrand, edit, and adapt the course themselves to their own company requirements, is of utmost importance. Nimble's LMS customers can access this course for free and have full editing capability because of the high unlikelihood that the content will precisely match the broad client base’s various requirements. This flexibility allows the users to add in policies and materials that are of specific relevance to them.

The course examines several key topics for employees:

• staying COVID secure
• addressing their anxieties
• using office time wisely
• successful hybrid working

Its learning objectives include

• understanding how the office environment has been adapted to reduce risk
• doing your part to keep yourself and others safe
• considering the feelings and worries of colleagues when at the office
• communicating effectively, wherever you are working

There is also a short survey at the end to gauge concerns for returning to work.

Nimble's Learning Adviser, Hannah Davies, says, "Employers are facing some difficult decisions as COVID-19 restrictions ease and people head back to the office. For example, they are wondering how they can keep their staff safe and address their anxieties, while making sure everyone understands what's expected of them. At Nimble, we've created this free short course to support business leaders and HR departments as they navigate this challenging time."