How to explain why you don't feel safe?

Whilst some people are relishing the potential to escape from a permanent home existence, what if you don’t feel safe to return to your work environment?

This New York Times article exposes some of our concerns (albeit from a US perspective) and certainly demonstrates that any return to office anxiety you may be feeling isn’t yours alone.

It’s ok to express your concerns about returning to work, but a bit of planning can really help you work out where to begin. 

Start by establishing what your concerns are, make a note of them and review what is realistic as a concern and what might not be. Still have concerns? Then it's time to escalate to the next tier up.

This kind of reflection on what your concerns are can make your appeal for reassurance more pragmatic and therefore, more likely to be well-regarded. 

If you manage teams, it’s likely that they share your concerns and may harbour concerns you hadn’t considered. Before taking workplace safety issues higher, it could well be worth reaching out to your team and getting a collective list of concerns together so they can be consolidated and shared in one setting for (hopefully) better outcomes.