--- title: Don’t Neglect Your “Back to the Office” Plan! description: We are still far from the end of the pandemic, but some companies are starting to return to the office. PMs coming back will face a number of challenges that will require a new normal. image: https://resources.educate360.com/hubfs/Back%20to%20Office%20Plan.jpg --- - *A Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam Prep Provider* - [877-637-0450](tel:8776370450) - [Contact Us](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/contact) - [My Account](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/portal/user/login.php?redirect=no) [![Project Management Academy](https://resources.educate360.com/hubfs/logo/PMA_Logo.png)](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/) [![Project Management Academy](https://resources.educate360.com/hubfs/logo/pma-mobile-logo.png)](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/) - *A Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam Prep Provider* - [877-637-0450](tel:8776370450) - [Contact Us](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/contact) - [My Account](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/portal/user/login.php?redirect=no) - [PMP® Certification](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/pmp-certification) - [PMI-ACP® Certification](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/pmi-acp) - [All Courses](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/training-courses) - [Corporate Training](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/corporate-training-solutions) - [PDU Catalog](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/online-pdu-training) - [PMP Exam Practice Questions](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/free-pmp-questions) - [PMP® Certification](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/pmp-certification) - [PMI-ACP® Certification](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/pmi-acp) - [All Courses](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/training-courses) - [Corporate Training](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/corporate-training-solutions) - [PDU Catalog](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/online-pdu-training) - [PMP Exam Practice Questions](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/free-pmp-questions) - Topics - Follow Us - [Subscribe](https://learn.projectmanagementacademy.net/subscribe) - [Agile](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/agile/) - [Continuing Education](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/agile/) - [Lean Six Sigma](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/lean-six-sigma/) - [PMI-ACP](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/pmi-acp/) - [PMP Certification](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/pmp-certification/) - [Project Management](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/project-management/) - [Risk Management](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/risk-management/) - [Training and Development](https://projectmanagementacademy.net/resources/blog/category/training-and-development/) " - - - - ![Don’t Neglect Your “Back to the Office” Plan!](https://resources.educate360.com/hubfs/Back%20to%20Office%20Plan.jpg) ![Blog Feature](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/298890/blog-files/blog--cards-feature.png) [Subscribe](https://learn.projectmanagementacademy.net/subscribe) ![Kiron Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI](https://resources.educate360.com/hubfs/Kiron.jpg) By: [Kiron Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI](https://resources.educate360.com/author/kiron-bondale-pmp-pmi-acp-psm-ii-pmi-rmp-cdap-cdai) on August 19th, 2020 Print/Save as PDF # Don’t Neglect Your “Back to the Office” Plan! [Project Management](https://resources.educate360.com/tag/project-management) - Share: - - - - - - [mailto:?body=https://resources.educate360.com/dont-neglect-your-back-to-the-office-plan](mailto:?body=https://resources.educate360.com/dont-neglect-your-back-to-the-office-plan) It would be an understatement to say that project managers have had to deal with a lot of change this year. Projects have had their budgets vastly reduced or been cancelled outright, and remote work has become the norm rather than the exception. We are still far from the end of the pandemic, but in those areas where they have successfully flattened their first waves, some companies are starting to encourage their staff to return to the office. For PMs who now have to adjust to being in the office with their team members, things are not as simple as winding the clock back a half-year or so. They will face a number of challenges including: - Planning for a combination of on site and remote team members - Scheduling in person meetings with added complexities of safe physical distancing and people’s working arrangements - Helping their team members (and themselves!) cope with the stress and natural fears of returning to the office So how can a PM prepare for the transition and what should they do once they get back? - ![Corporate Training Best Practices](https://resources.educate360.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Corporate%20Training%20Best%20Practices.jpg?width=250&name=Corporate%20Training%20Best%20Practices.jpg)Review the arrangements their employer has made to keep staff safe and raise any concerns they have before returning to the office. Don’t assume team members are doing the same, so take the time to do a mini-onboarding with them upon their return to the office in the event that their employer’s HR or health and safety departments are not already doing this. If team members are hesitant to communicate their concerns to those who can do something about it, advocate for your team members with these decision makers. - Review working agreements with the team. Since some team members will now be working in person and others will continue to be remote, rules of engagement might need to evolve to ensure that remote workers don’t feel like second-class citizens. - Plan for unforeseen absences. While the risk of some team members being unavailable was present even while they were working from home, the likelihood of risk realization is increased due to the increased complexity of coming back to the office. Even something as simple as getting to one’s cubicle could be delayed due to the lengthened time for commuting or for taking the elevator to one’s floor. Timing for regularly scheduled meetings may need to be adjusted to allow for this. - Enhance co-location benefits. While the entire team might not be able to be in the office at once due to capacity restrictions, determine which combinations of team members might give the best bang-for-the-buck from a collaboration perspective and structure team rotation based on that. - Keep your second (or third or fourth) wave plan up-to-date. Just because in person work has resumed, doesn’t mean things can’t revert to the way it has been very quickly. Develop and regularly review contingency plans which could be implemented if some or all of the team is required to go back to working remotely. - Frequently take the pulse of the team. Now more than ever, PMs will need to cultivate psychological safety within their teams so that team members feel comfortable sharing their fears and doubts with one another. When the pandemic hit, many project teams were caught off guard. Project managers should heed the adage “*Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me*“. ***To read more articles by Kiron Bondale, visit his [blog](https://kbondale.wordpress.com/).*** #### About Kiron Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI Trainer, trusted advisor, coach & speaker. Proficient at dispelling the fog surrounding project management & agile. - **Connect with Kiron Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI** - Copyright © 2026 Educate 360 / New Horizons / Project Management Academy / Six Sigma Online / TCM Security / TRACOM / Velopi / Watermark Learning. All rights reserved. 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Project Management Academy®, PMA®, the most trusted name in project management training®, and Senior Certified Project Manager® are registered marks of Educate 360, LLC. ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "Article", "articleBody" : "It would be an understatement to say that project managers have had to deal with a lot of...", "articleSection" : [ "Project Management" ], "author" : "Kiron Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI", "creator" : "Kiron Bondale, PMP, PMI-ACP, PSM II, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI", "datePublished" : "2020-08-19 08:16:05", "headline" : "Don’t Neglect Your “Back to the Office” Plan!", "image" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent40.net/hubfs/3294842/Back%20to%20Office%20Plan.jpg", "keywords" : [ ], "mainEntityOfPage" : "True" } ```