The COVID19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted the way we work and interact with our colleagues and customers and has forced companies to make fundamental changes in the way they manage both the office environment and their employees. These changes are being realized more than ever as employees start returning to the office after extended periods of working remotely. Employers are being tasked with looking at different ways they can reduce covid transmission rates among their employees, and this might mean some big changes. Here are some suggestions on how you can make these changes.
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Regularly Test Your Employees
It’s becoming standard practice as time goes on in more and more countries and businesses the world over – and for good reason. Testing your employees or making them test themselves before they come into the office means that infected people are less likely to expose others to the virus and thereby cutting down on the transmission rates at your office. There are companies that can provide Covid-19 compliance software for employers to make managing Covid testing simpler.
Related reading: Keep Yourself Healthy From Coronavirus
Change the Physical Layout of the Office
You’ll want to consider how the office layout will affect the transmission rates of covid in the workplace, particularly if it is an open plan layout. Clusters and desks where your employees are sitting too close together will mean that they might not be getting the social distancing they need from each other. Look at spreading out workstations or providing individual offices if you have the space and budget to do so.
Allow Hybrid or Remote Work to Continue
Hybrid and remote work have likely been part of your company for the last couple of years, and if you haven’t seen too many detrimental effects and if the work your employees do allows it, you could always just continue to allow remote work or hybrid work. It’ll save you on rent and utilities at the office, and productivity time lost to your employees in traffic. Many studies also suggest that employees are happier and more productive when they work from home than in the office. You could even implement a bookable hot-desking policy or system to allow your staff to work in a hybrid way, coming into the office when it is needed or if they want to.
Educate Your Employees
Perhaps the most important weapon in the fight against covid transmissions is education. Provide signage and literature to your employees to help promote good workplace ethics around mask-wearing, social distancing, and handwashing and sanitization in the office. There are also services that will deliver training in person and via video conferencing to your employees to help them better understand how to prevent covid transmissions.
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There is still a large need and responsibility for employers to contribute to the reduction in Covid transmission rates in their employees, not only to keep them safe and healthy but to avoid lost productivity from sickness and absence. The modern office has fundamentally changed forever, but that doesn’t mean that your employee productivity has to drop.
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