Ensuring Workplace Safety Post-Pandemic: Strategies and GuidelinesPlanning to call your staff back to the office? Do you have a process in place? Have you worked out the workspace dynamics before reopening? Declaring a date for resuming work at the office might be easy but the work that needs to go behind it could be challenging. The goal of commencing on-site operations should be far-sighted and not just temporarily focused on having the employees back on board. The specifics around each employer’s strategy to return to work, or re-enter the workforce, might vary, however, there are many important challenges that all organizations need to be aware of and begin to prep for.
SAFETY AT THE WORKPLACE
Safety is of prime importance in the post-pandemic era. Employees and employers alike might be apprehensive about resuming normal operations; thus making it essential to effectively communicate how safety is a top concern. This could help soothe fears and build huge levels of brand loyalty.
- HEALTH-SCREENING PROTOCOL
Work is one of the most prevalent areas where people contract contagious illnesses. The steady influx of individuals into and out of the building. The long hours spent in the company of coworkers. The modest desks and shared amenities. Normally, the season to be concerned about is the ordinary cold or flu. However, with COVID-19, it’s more critical than ever to keep your employees and visitors secure. Having sick individuals stay at home is the best way to accomplish this. But how can you ensure that the people who enter your building are in good health? Ensuring the incorporation of health screening processes like thermal screening for employees as well as for any visitor that comes on-premise.
- EXPOSURE-RESPONSE PLAN
Strategising an exposure-response plan that could include monitoring the health status of employees as well as outsiders along with contact tracing. This may appear straightforward, but in order to be effective, the plan must be complete. It begins with a broad foundation and then expands to cover a wide range of threats. Make a map of your plan’s resources and reaction activities for each category of danger.
- MANDATORY MASKING
Making the entry with masks a mandate, absence of which could deny entry. Masks are effective. Many companies have made it mandatory to wear a mask in public locations as part of their workplace safety measures. Employees can choose whether or not to wear a mask while working or eating lunch at their hot workstations. When in shared locations like break rooms, kitchens, and coffee shops, though, it’s a good idea to encourage everyone to wear a mask.
- STATUS OF SANITIZATION
The post-pandemic times have made cleaning any workstation or the entire workplace imperative. Whether or not an employee or visitor has been introduced to a suspected exposure, it is critical to properly clean common workstations. Being particular about the sanitization status of every corner of the workspace, including the work desks, the meeting rooms, etc. is the need of the hour.
- STATUS OF VACCINATION
Employees who were looking forward to returning to work to collaborate in person and have a better work-life balance would need to showcase the status of their vaccination. Companies must develop a secure work atmosphere in which employees feel comfortable cooperating. Checking the vaccination status of employees to permit them from coming to the office.
- SOCIAL DISTANCING
Implementing the social distancing practice by enabling managers to manage the rosters of their team members. The minimum seating distance directed by the health governing bodies should be adhered to. You should be able to calculate how many people can safely be in your workplace based on local restrictions and social distance space planning.
- GOING TOUCHLESS
Putting in place touchless systems to ensure minimum touchpoints and even crowding of the visitors. Sending invites through SMS or email minimizes the level of interaction completely. By implementing a touchless visitor sign-in process, businesses can improve their present system. This not only protects their guests and team, but it also enhances the visiting experience. Touchless sign-in is safer, and it allows your company to easily adjust to comply with health and safety laws. This option also provides a frictionless check-in experience while providing peace of mind to your visitors and employees even when there is a worldwide health crisis.
- GUIDELINES ADHERENCE
Most organisations rely on digital solutions to help them maintain compliance in one of their most essential areas: visitor control. Knowing that your visitor management system is secure is a wonderful first step toward ensuring compliance, and it can help firms comply with a variety of requirements at scale. Adherence to the WHO guidelines is imperative to make sure there is no violation or spread of the virus at all.
UPLEVEL THE PRODUCTIVITY
While planning a regulated and ordered strategy for re-opening your office and permitting employees or guests to walk in, you should not forget the reason why are you doing this in the first place. Putting the safety parameters into place is crucial while remembering that all this should help in enhancing the productivity levels of your workforce as well. Coming back to work should be a stress-free activity for both the employees and the employers. Once you have adopted one of 3 work models for your organization (everyone back/hybrid model/completely remote), make sure you implement robust systems to maintain the flexibility of your workspace. To enable the proper execution of such a system or process, it is best to partner with experts in the field who could guide you through the best practices and standards to be followed.
VERIS IN ACTION
As workplace specialists, Veris helps organizations redefine their return to work strategies while keeping in mind their specifics. Shaping the future of workplaces by deploying secure, smart, and intuitive solutions offering a plethora of features for all the stakeholders and end-users is why clients worldwide choose Veris. Solutions ranging from hot-desking to visitor management systems are designed aiming to enhance the productivity of modern enterprises adapting them to the future of work.
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