As the world begins to lift lockdown restrictions, the major concern for businesses is to ensure that they reopen workplaces with all the safety precautions in place. As offices reopen, you are required to follow government issued guidelines to ensure the safety of all your employees.
With health and safety at the core of reopening workplaces, you will need a thorough plan for the transition period that lies ahead of you as you deal with the effects of COVID-19.
Depending on the type and size of your business, there is no one-size-fits-all approach that you can adopt. You have to do your best to take in stride the latest government health advisories and proceed with caution.
With these essentials in mind, from an operational stance, here are 3 tips that will help you ensure that your employees ease back into the work environment successfully as offices reopen.
Let’s dive in!
1. Plan an Effective Return-to-Office Strategy
Bringing all your employees back to the workplace all at once might not be the best decision as social distancing measures are still very much in effect. So, as you navigate and come to terms with the new normal, the best you can do is to limit the return of your workforce in phases. Have some teams come back to work a few days before or after the others and alternate the number of people who stay in the workplace at a given time.
To implement this in a much better way, maintain work from home arrangements, where possible, across teams and have them come to work on an alternate basis. This way, you can still maintain social distancing while doing your best to prioritise the health and safety of your staff. Have arrangements made for teams who work remotely as well the teams who will work directly out of office.
Leverage the best of what technology has to offer to create a safe working space. Sanitise your facility regularly and maintain a clean and hygienic environment at all times. Before sending back your employees, considering replacing manual doors with automatic options. Contact automatic door suppliers and have automatic doors installed to curb the spread of the virus.
Automatic doors will keep employees from touching communal surfaces while entering and exiting the office premises as they come back to work. Click here to find out more!
2. Maintain an Open Line of Communication
As you prepare to welcome your staff back to work, you have to maintain an open and continuous line of communication. In a shared workspace, when, where and how employees work is expected to change in order to safeguard their health and safety.
You can enforce new rules as you limit the number of people entering meeting rooms and communal areas. Ensure there’s a safe distance of at least a metre between workstations of your staff to promote social distancing. Conduct routine desk and floor cleaning to further sanitise the workplace. Ensure that all your employees are following proper hygiene procedures as they use the facility so as to not jeopardise their own or their colleague’s health.
As you welcome your employees back to work, ensure that these new rules are duly communicated and reinforced regularly. As offices reopen, ensure that your staff understand all the safety procedures clearly as safety is of utmost priority.
Send regular updates via email or the company’s intranet or social channels to effectively communicate and update employees about the most recent developments.
3. Update Company Policies Around Illness
In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, all organisations should be aware that workplace safety and health guidelines need to be updated and refined over time. It is crucial for businesses to stay abreast of developments regarding Coronavirus as they continue to communicate with their staff and encourage new, safer ways of working.
This way, you can develop a work environment that’s safe and healthy for everyone. Emphasise the importance of staying home if any of your employees feel unwell to avoid the spread of seasonal illnesses around the workplace.
Businesses need to show a high level of adaptability as offices reopen and employees come back to physical workspaces. As people shift from one new normal to another, it will pay off to be tactical and methodical as you establish a comfortable and health and safety-conscious work environment.
Contact Doorway Services for Automatic Door Installations
To ensure the safety and security of your employees, investing in robust technologies like automatic doors is important to promote social distancing.
At Doorway Services, we are at the forefront of the automatic door industry with state of the art business door technologies that are in compliance with the safety measures that are the need of the hour.
Give us a call today to create a safe space for your employees as they come back to work!