Return to Office Tips
Health and safety threats due to COVID-19 have forced businesses to rethink their office space to be able to provide a safe and productive work environment for employees. As businesses begin to make the needed changes to accommodate returning employees, here are some key things to consider.
#1 Determine a system for how staff will return to the office and work onsite.
Determine how best to return employees to the office, whether it’s everyone together on the same date or a phased approach. Consider the occupancy limit of your space to provide for social distancing practices. The size and configuration of your office plus the number of staff will be factors in your decision. Some staff RTO options to consider are:
Have a phased staff return based on teams or groups returning over the course of months.
Have alternating A and B teams onsite where they work in shifts. For example, teams of employees can alternate every other week or every 1-2 days.
Stagger staff work shifts during the day to decrease the density of people in the office at any given time.
#2 Make changes to staff works areas for better protection.
Incorporate social distancing for work areas by spacing out seating in workstations and bench-style areas to give a 6-foot buffer. Review your office layout and determine if the workstations can be reconfigured or have fewer seats occupied to create more space and less density.
Consider adding height partitions to workstations to create better barriers, especially in work areas that face each other.
#3 Make changes to meeting rooms and other gathering areas to better protect employees.
Determine maximum occupancy at one time or even temporary closure for your conference rooms, huddle rooms and other collaborative areas to provide for social distancing. It might involve removing chairs from large conference rooms to cap the number of people to ten. Protocols for usage of other smaller rooms may be based on size and configuration of seating or again, temporary closure.
Determine maximum occupancy for kitchens, break rooms, work rooms and other common-usage rooms. This will likely be based on size and configuration. One method is to stagger kitchen usage for breaks and lunch use to avoid overcrowding.
#4 Increase cleaning and disinfecting of the office.
Improve cleaning and sanitization of the office, such as nightly disinfecting desktops and other surfaces, door handles, drawer pulls and other high-touch items.
Consider as a protocol, having staff wipe down meeting room surfaces after their use.
Note that staff desks usually have papers and other items left on top, which inhibits thorough cleaning. Consider having a staff policy to keep desks uncluttered for cleaning purposes.
#5 Have health and sanitization supplies available onsite.
Have supplies readily available onsite for staff to use, such as hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes, tissues, face masks, disposable gloves, soap and paper towels in sink areas, and disposable thermometers.
#6 Switch to no-touch controls where you can.
One of the ways germs spread is through touching, so businesses are exploring ways to make upgrades within their office to install no-touch controls, such as an auto-opener for the front door, no-touch faucets, and auto-openers for trash and recycle bins.
If staff are using telephone handsets for calls, consider purchasing hands-free headsets. Note that this might require a switch to VoIP phones.
Start to digitize your files and papers that are currently housed in file cabinets and drawers so that everything can be accessible via the database.
#7 Revise your staff protocols and new procedures for working onsite.
Consider health and safety protocols to put in place for your staff to follow, such as:
Staff are to stay home if sick and/or have a temperature.
While at the office, staff should wash hands throughout the day, cover their mouth when coughing or sneezing, preferably with a tissue and not touching colleague’s equipment.
Before leaving for the day, staff desks should be completely clear of any items except for computers and phones so that nightly sanitation can occur.
#8 Work with your building manager.
Understand any new rules put in place by the building management. Some examples may be having a maximum number of 2 people in an elevator at one time, having hand sanitizer dispensers available in common areas, enhanced cleaning methods, and new policies for the usage of the building fitness center and other common areas.
Work with your building to determine how to improve the air quality within your office suite. According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, some methods include increasing outdoor ventilation, improvements to air filtration, and portable room air cleaners with HEPA filters.
#9 Develop new package delivery and visitor policies.
Determine how to accept deliveries and visitors at your office to protect your staff.
For package delivery, packages can be left at the front door and then wiped down or the contents
can be removed from the packaging outside of the office suite.Reassess your visitor’s policy so that anyone coming into your office follows the same protocols as your staff: no entry if sick, etc.
#10 Have an interim policy in place with additional planning for contingencies.
Create an interim policy with procedures and protocols to be followed, and incorporate them into your employee manual. Note that the CDC recommends employers post staff protocols on the wall in a common area.
Outline the steps your business will take to offset any problems in the workplace, such as a staff member not adhering to the new rules or a staff member becoming ill or testing positive for the virus, or if another stay-at-home order is issued in the future.
It’s important to have strong leadership to develop and implement the policy and to monitor the onsite occupancy and adherence to the rules. Identify a staff member, a team of people, or an outside professional to coordinate the interim policy and facilitate the changes. The goal is for staff to feel protected at work so that they are comfortable returning and can remain productive and engaged in their work duties. Note that staff may be hesitant to return to work even if you put thoughtful measures in place, so having good communications and a willingness to accept feedback is important.
This article is provided by the Office Relocation Center to help businesses navigate the changing landscape of COVID-19. Subscribe to our newsletter here to get future articles and updates