5 Precautions to Take When Returning to Workplace After Covid

5 Precautions to Take When Returning to Workplace After Covid

As vaccines roll out and regions start to open up again, people have gradually begun getting back to normalcy. Offices are opening up and there are fewer restrictions on the movement across the city. In no time, the best practices and etiquette have changed for all of us. These changes not only apply to our personal lives but also apply to the workplace.

It may not be easy returning to work after COVID-19 but the organizations will have to make this transition easy and safe for their employees. HR teams across the industries will have to make changes to the policies to ensure smooth and efficient return. Here are a few precautions you must take to ensure that the office is well prepared for employees to return.

1. Ensure That the Workplace Is Safe

Health and safety should be the prime focus upon returning to work post-COVID. It is important to ensure that the physical workplace is safe for all employees. Hire a cleaning service to keep the entire space clean. It is essential to ask the cleaners to disinfect the common areas as well as the individual workspaces. No space should be left uncleaned even if no one has been in the office for weeks, deep cleaning of every area including office furniture will put the employees’ minds at ease and will make the office sparkling and safe for their return. It is also important to increase the standard of everyday cleaning in the office.

2. Maintain Good Hygiene

Once the workplace is cleaned, it is important to ensure that the employees are safe and healthy. Each one has to do their part to help the entire office feel at ease. It is important to ask the managers and HR teams to lead by example. Wash your hands, always sneeze into a tissue, and continue to practice good hygiene. Give employees a reminder about the fact that we are not completely safe yet. Hang posters or make announcements time and again to make it easy for them to follow good hygiene. Ensure that the office has enough stock of sanitizers, disinfectant wipes, soap, face masks, and paper towels.

3. Make Changes to the Policies and Procedures

This pandemic has changed the way we do business and it is far from over. You will have to take a look at the current policies and procedures and update them to fit the current situation. The first change you need to make is the sick leave policy. Allow employees to take extra days off if they show any symptoms of COVID-19 and an additional leave in case they test positive. Next, you will have to make changes to the policy about holding meetings. Too many people cannot be present in one place so it is best to hold larger meetings on video.

4. Change the Office Layout

Social distancing remains an important part of our lives and you may have to make changes in the office to ensure that every employee is safe. If there is not adequate space inside the office, you can ask 50% of the employees to work from home. Maintain adequate distance between two desks and at the pantry. You need to make sure that a lot of employees do not gather in one place.

5. Help Restore Productivity

Having worked remotely for the last few months, the employees will fall into a home office routine. It is natural that going back to commuting and earlier alarms will feel uncomfortable for a while. HR must take steps to help employees deal with the reluctance by easing the transition. You can give flexible work hours in the first few weeks, give them an option to work from home 3 days a week or add productivity resources that will help employees get back to normal.

These five steps will help employees resume work and adapt to the new normal. You may have to maintain social distancing for some time and encourage employees to do the same. Employers who can manage to build trust and responsiveness will ensure that the employees are comfortable returning to work. Honest communication and flexibility will go a long way in 2021. The new normal may not be easy but there is no other alternative. Organizations need to take all the necessary steps to ease the transition and to ensure that no employee feels scared to return to the workplace. It is best to take one day at a time. Allow flexibility to the employees and add sick leave days in the HR policy. Regular cleaning and sanitization of the office space is a must. Even if it adds to the administrative expenditure, it is something one must stick to in the long term.