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How to Create the Ideal Post-Lockdown Workspace

By Robert Lear posted 06-17-2020 02:00 PM

  

As workers across the United States start coming back to work post-lockdown, employers everywhere are grappling with the new responsibility of making sure that workplaces are safe to inhabit. Most states have issued new safety and operation rules for companies, as have the government and the CDC. 

For any employer, all the information can be overwhelming to dig into. If you are an employer in this situation, these are the major tips to follow when preparing your workplace for operation post-lockdown.

Start with disinfecting the workplace

The first thing to do for any employer is to disinfect the workplace before workers can come in. This will involve the overall cleaning of all surfaces that employees access regularly. Disinfection will continue once the workplace becomes active again since the coronavirus sticks on surfaces longer than usual. 

One way to achieve this is by making hand sanitizer easily accessible across the workplace. Empire Promos has a series of good discounts on hand sanitizers that you can check on their website. The online shop has affordable face masks and other PPE equipment, all of which are customizable with your company logo.

Prepare for social distancing among employees

As many state governments have already declared, employees returning to work must observe social distancing measures to mitigate the spread of the disease. Employers whose workplaces are typically cramped daily will require a complete overhaul to make sure there is more space observed between people at all times. 

Depending on the nature of your workplace, this might involve lowering the number of work desks per room, the number of participants per meeting (so that they could sit spaced out) or the number of employees coming into the office every day.

Create work-in timetables for employees

Unless a company has very few employees or large office space, allowing all employees to come back to work at once is not safe post-lockdown. Simultaneously, not all companies have found remote work during the COVID crisis effective for their operations. 

In response, employers should consider allowing only a certain number of employees in the workplace every day. This will require the creation of a work-in roster for employees to follow, such that employees come to work in smaller batches.

Some employees can then work from home as required. For employers, this system will also work as a feasibility study for social distancing at work.

Plan to meet new government and federal policies

In addition to new office management changes, employers everywhere should get ready to incorporate new federal and state guidelines created in response to the COVID crisis into their company policies. 

Most of these policies are about workplace benefits for employees affected by the disease. In contrast, others introduce new guidelines on workers’ health, sick leave guidelines for the COVID era and more. 

While incorporating these guidelines might sound difficult, business experts have shown that this is a chance for companies to revisit their policies in general and see what works in this new period or doesn’t. 

Pivoting to new workplace technology

As remote work becomes more feasible and movement remains restricted, employers should prepare the workplace by employing the necessary technology before employees return to work. 

Remote work during the coronavirus lockdown has already shown how useful different technologies can be for various work purposes, be it Zoom for meetings or Slack for employee communication. 

As work opens up post-lockdown, many workplaces are going to become or remain partly remote. Savvy employers will have to make these technologies easily accessible in the workplace for seamless transitions for employees.

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