What are the best practices for facilities managers? How do we deal with risk management, and get employees on board with contact tracing?
There are many questions at this moment, but not many answers. After all, these are unprecedented times. As lockdown measures lift and life resumes in a new, socially distanced way, businesses around the globe are struggling with the question of how to safely reopen offices after COVID-19 closures.
In this new landscape, where sourcing PPE, adapting to regulations and ensuring employees’ mental and physical wellbeing have become paramount, how can we be positive that we’re being as safe as we can be?
So while there may not be a tried-and-true playbook for this situation, there are some recommended protocols that can ensure a safer and more secure workplace. Here are a few tips for how facilities managers can safely reopen offices after COVID-19.
Best practices for facilities managers to safely reopen offices after COVID-19
Facilities managers face a number of challenges when deciding how to reopen and reinvent the workplace safely. First and foremost, they need to minimise risk, focus on prevention, and plan for containment in case of an outbreak. Here are some of the best practices for safely reopening offices after COVID-19.
Institute social distancing measures
Recommendations for these measures vary by country, but facilities managers will need to limit the number of employees that work in close proximity to others, and ensure that areas that normally have high congestion are re-imagined to accommodate safety protocols. The Command Center on Work.com enables managers and planners to schedule shifts and stagger employee arrival times to avoid crowding in common areas such as lobbies and elevators.
Source PPE
Not too long ago, we were all blissfully unaware of the potential difficulties in sourcing PPE – if we even knew what the initialism stood for. Not anymore. At times the demand for effective PPE has outsourced the supply, and facilities managers will need to ensure that they can reliably source the safety equipment they need if the shortages persist.
Maintain strict hygiene measures
Instituting new hygiene protocols will be key when planning how to safely reopen offices after COVID-19. Requiring employees to clean and disinfect their hands when entering the workplace should be standard, as should a daily disinfecting routine concentrating on high-touch surfaces. Wipes and hand sanitiser should also be easily accessible throughout the workplace.
Monitor employee health
Making sure that the workforce is physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy is important in a time of crisis.
Contact-tracing technologies should be deployed in order to track and prevent the spread of illness. Many organisations have also begun to install smart devices that screen employees for high temperatures, with some even being integrated into door handles and elevators. Work.com offers a number of tools that enable businesses to assess and monitor employee wellness, which are all accessible in simple, secure dashboards. Work.com also prioritises the employee’s right to privacy, which is evident in all of its digital solutions, including a manual contact-tracing functionality.
Focus on mental wellbeing
Monitoring physical wellness is just one of the best practices for facilities managers; they’ll also need to keep the workforce engaged and motivated. Crisis affects everyone in different ways, especially when it results in a long-term disconnect from ordinary life.
Many employees may be feeling anxious and uncertain about their health, their loved ones, their job, or the current financial climate. More and more organisations have begun reaching out to their employees and scheduling 1:1s to simply touch base and see if they need anything.
This idea of engaging in more empathetic ways and of “sentiment gathering” has certainly been accelerated in the upside-down conditions of the New Normal, but showing concern about the workforce shouldn’t be reflexive, it should be ingrained in a company’s culture. We’re all in this together, after all, even when we have to stay two metres apart.
To find more resources and tools for safely reopening the office after COVID-19, check out Work.com.
