What measures do you need to put into place so your employees return back to the office safely…
With lockdown restrictions lifting and the children already back at school many businesses will be looking at how employees can now return to the office and other workplaces.
Whilst we are getting used to keeping socially distanced from strangers for an hour in the supermarket, a whole day with your colleagues in the office is a completely different proposition.
Business Owners and Facilities Managers are used to being experts in a range of areas, but COVID-19 introduces aspects that are new to most of us. To help you prepare, this blog lists our top tips for how you can get your office ready to bring your workforce back in the short term and to plan for the long term.
Communication
Keep communicating with your staff. Even if you can’t give them concrete information, reassure them that you are working on how you can make the workplace secure. Ensure everyone has a way to contact you to raise any specific concerns they may have and wherever possible take this into consideration when making your plans. When the plans are in place communicate these clearly to all employees.
Flexible Working Patterns
Initially you may need to be more flexible about who is in the office and the hours they are there - some members of staff may be vulnerable, or who have families and cannot find childcare. This may mean working remotely or using different shift patterns if these options are possible. This will also enable you to keep the number of staff in the office at any one time to a minimum. Teams grouped (another sort of bubble) by varying skillset or necessary interactions will allow for easy isolation should anyone show any symptoms of the virus. Screening and social distancing between these teams will allow additional safety.
Barriers & Signs
Being back in the office means we are likely to slip into old habits of popping over to a colleague’s desk or the kitchen for a chat or a cup of tea. Barriers and partitions break up open-plan spaces, and create new working areas whilst protecting staff. They offer a constant and very visible reminder of the need to socially distance, but offer the additional benefit of keeping light and airiness in the workplace.
Signs and posters placed throughout the building are also helpful for reminding staff and visitors of the rules. Stickers on the floor can denote 2 metre distances as well as identifying one-way systems. Posters explaining the importance of regular handwashing, communal-area hygiene, meeting room etiquette and general guidance are quick and cost-effective solutions. Smaller protective screens and desktop screens along with larger glass partitions are another low-cost option that is very quick to implement.
Hygiene Focus
Deep cleaning will have to be increased, with regular disinfecting of shared areas. Hand sanitiser stations should be placed next to entrances and exits along with communal areas. High traffic contact zones, such as door handles, lift buttons, bathrooms, desks, and chairs should be wiped down with an antibacterial cleaner frequently throughout the day.
Rethink the Floor Plan
Staff should now be avoiding hot-desking wherever possible and desks and workspaces should be reconfigured - ideally with individual desks to allow at least 2 metres between employees, or to create back-to-back or side-to-side working. Glass office partitioning should be installed to allow staff to work closely without the risk of contamination.
Shared spaces such as kitchens and meeting rooms should be redesigned to allow for appropriate social distancing. Floor markers and signage to help guide and remind staff to maintain safe distances.
In larger, open plan spaces you can consider one-way systems in walkways. Additional break-out zones will reduce congregation of people during breaks. Glass or perspex free-standing partitioning systems are an effective and affordable solution. These allow you to create smaller ‘offices’, and as they are free-standing and transportable, they give you the flexibility to alter the layout any time you need to. New furniture such as vinyl fabric chairs and wipe clean partitions instead of fabric, enable these areas to be wiped down easily.
Other design changes could include partition gangways, new separate entrance/exits and improved barriers at receptions.
Immediate Actions
When adapting your workspaces to adhere to COVID requirements, you should take time to plan your new layout to ensure it will work for your staff and your business. However, the priority is clearly to get people back to work as quickly and safely as possible. So we have listed some steps that you can take immediately to keep your workplace safe while you consider how to move forward for the longer term.
Install hand sanitising dispensing units
Organise regular deep cleaning and provide cleaning materials
Use posters and stickers to inform and remind all staff about the new office guidelines
Add screens to all desks and allow 2 metres between all seating
Use free-standing glass or perspex screens between workspaces and to create new work areas
De-clutter personal workspaces
Remove fabric furniture and screens and replace with something easy to wipe down
Long Term Planning
As soon as you have solved the immediate need to make it safe enough to get people back in the office, you then need to look at futureproofing by making more permanent changes. Wider corridors, extra entrance/exit points and more permanent partition walls should be considered within any future office refurbishments.
Whilst this workplace review has been forced upon us, it is also an opportunity to refresh and revitalise your workspace, to support the current, and future, needs of your team and your business.
This may sound like a lot of suppliers to engage and regulations you need to get your head round, but there are experts out there that can help you. Yellow Interiors are a ‘one stop shop’ for everything from partitions to social distancing stickers. Whether you are adding partitions or completely redesigning your office space there is help available to ensure this is done as cost effectively as possible whilst making employee safety a top priority.
Contact us to see how we can help you make your workplace COVID safe.
T: 01494 521622
M: 07973 145742
hello@yellowinteriors.co.uk
