1. Stay proactive and persistent when communicating the return to the office. Keep in mind the return to the office will be a welcomed journey for some of your staff and a scary journey for others.
2. Clearly communicate ways you plan to keep your employee safe and healthy. This would be a great time to revisit your fringe benefits policies, such as time off and sick time.
3. Develop a plan for your HR department to know when to direct employees to seek professional help. Be kind and consider paying for the costs or at least pay for a portion of the cost of the outside help.
4. Develop a response plan for how to handle disrespectful clients. Train a few key employees on how to manage clients who are disrespectful to the health and welfare of your employees and other clients.

“Protecting employees’ health in the COVID-19 era was the No. 2 concern among businesses nationwide in the latest Principal Financial Well-Being Index. And 40% of these leaders don’t want to reopen until they feel it’s safe for their employees to return (not including those “essential” businesses who’ve had to remain open)”.

5. If you can’t develop a response plan for rude clients, try minimizing client visits.
6. Offer flex (telecommuting) work culture when possible. Embracing the flex work culture can help reduce the number of people in your office at one time.
7. Create office spaces for key paralegals and attorneys. Give your employees their own space.
8. Create a plan to keep and maintain a more hygienic office.
9. Set Up A Transition Team by creating a return to work guide, outlining exactly what your employees and clients can expect from you. You will want to outline any changes to office space assignments, how to enter and exit the building, cleaning schedules for sanitizing high traffic areas, capacity restrictions for in-office and in-person meetings such as depositions and document signing.
10. Restrict capacity for in-person meetings and ask your employees to weigh in on the limit.