Many businesses are planning ahead and looking how they can safely re-enter the workplace once lockdown sanctions have lifted.
In ensuring the safety and wellness of employees and continuing to decrease the spread of COVID-19, employers face providing a very different working environment to before.
It may mean every other desk is vacant to allow social distancing, staff work from spaced out machines in shift patterns and adopting very different at-work behaviours.
Briony McDermott, employment solicitor at Wake Smith considers some of the changes employers may need to look at.
“There is no doubt, it will be a different work environment that we will return to in the foreseeable future, but employers need to be considering this now.
“Defining and agreeing the new policies and protocols is critical now, so businesses are prepared for the return and employees are reassured that the workplace will be safe.
“Adapting the environment to best allow working together, whilst also ensuring safe practices and limiting the risk of COVID-19, is a difficult challenge.
“Every office and office culture is different, therefore businesses should devise their own strategies to allow environmental and behavioural changes making safety a priority, ahead of employees coming back into buildings.”
Employers – have you thought about:
The working day
- Re-occupancy procedures to allow reintegration into the office will include:
- Phased starts and finishes
- Extended working from home on a part time basis
- Phased lunch breaks
The workplace
Safeguarding against the spread of the COVID-19 virus whilst ensuring safe working practices:
- Review the employee/customer journey within the workplace
- Evaluate social distancing options
- Determine occupancy impact
- Developing protocols for coming and going, meetings
- Devise clear desk policies
- End hot desking
- Look at behavioural changes – colleague interaction
- Review and upgrade environmental matters such as temperature control, air flow, filter systems, increased cleaning
- Address high risk areas such as lifts, break/café areas, washrooms, printers, libraries, coat cupboards, or vending machine areas.
- Review the safe use of meeting, conference and boardrooms
The employees
Assurances need to be made that the workplace is a safe environment to return to and support is available:
- Consult with staff and employee representatives, including any trade union representatives and health and safety officials
- Explanations about changes – provide information on new policies and procedures to avoid confusion
- Advice on travelling to work
- Advice on shift systems
- Advice on the use of PPE for whole/or some employees
- Use of video conferencing to cut down client contact and visits to other sites
- Medical and mental health resources – continue to offer information and updates about the COVID-19 outbreak and any mental health support that may be needed
- Employee incentives such as discounted Will writing services for staff
For further advice on employment matters, included corporate packages for HR and Wills and Probate services, contact Wake Smith Solicitors on 0114 266 6660.
