As state restrictions begin to ease up across the country, employees will slowly start returning to their office. It is important to have a plan in place to make employees comfortable to return to the office. Whether you are going back to the office after working from home remotely or returning to work after being furloughed or laid off, here are some procedures to put in place to have a safe return to work.
Temperature Checks
Based on your city or state requirements, temperature check may be mandatory. If not, have a temperature check station in the office to take the temperature of every employee. It is best to place the station near the employee entrance so temperatures can be taken upon arrival to work. Whether a member of management takes temperatures daily or the employees do it themselves, make them log the temperature and keep it in a secure and confidential location. Keeping a daily log of each employee’s temperature will help decrease the probability of someone having a high temperature at work.
Place Barriers at Desks
For offices that have an open floorplan environment it is important to put up barriers for those in close proximity with one another. If you have plenty of free space in your office, socially distance desk from one another to maintain the six-foot rule. If your space does not permit for social distancing, place barriers between the desks.
Require masks in common areas
To keep employees safe, require masks to be worn in common areas such as the kitchen, meeting spaces, or printer rooms. Oftentimes, social distancing can be hard to maintain in these gathering areas. Try to keep meetings rooms and common spaces to no more than 10 employees, to help cut down on the amount of exposure to one another.
Hand Washing/Sanitizer Stations
Create a couple sanitizer stations throughout the office, to allow employees to sanitize and fully wash their hands throughout the day. The best places to put a sanitizing station is in common areas and entrance to the office. This would allow people to sanitize their hands upon entering the office or a common area. Also, encourage regular hand washing breaks throughout the day before and after peak times like lunch, after meetings, etc.
Go Virtual
If your office hosts many guest or client meetings, see if you can make them virtual! Going virtual gives you more flexibility during a meeting. Looking for guidance on going virtual? Request our “Employers Guide to Working Remotely” here. This is a great alternative to an in person meeting if it requires more than 10 people to be in attendance. There are plenty of video conferencing platforms available to use, which allows you to find the best option for your company.
