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The Return of the Office: How to Ensure On-site Safety for Employees

Stuart Sykes, Managing Director at Sharp UK, explores how facilities managers can ensure businesses’ employees can return to the office with a robust system in place.

With office employees being encouraged to work from home again, guidance on how premises should be adapted to safely accommodate the returning workforce has taken a backseat. While a blended home and office approach to working feels like some time away for now, businesses should use this time to hone their preparations for a full return to the office once the current rise in cases subsides.

Ways of working have changed dramatically this year, and it is no exaggeration to suggest that there has been an end to the assumption that employees must always be office-based. Remote working has become the new normal, with many proving during lockdown that they are capable of being efficient and productive while working from home.

Whatever the new working preferences of employees, businesses must work to ensure all employees are kept safe. Facilities managers will be key to helping clients provide a healthy workplace, which is now more important than ever.

New layouts, new processes

There will need to be changes in the vast majority of offices to layout and processes to help employees maintain social distancing. For example, printers are often clustered together which leads to people congregating in the same place. These are usually positioned in high footfall areas too, such as next to the coffee machine. Space and distancing are essential, so it’s recommended that these devices are moved apart and installed in more spacious areas to reduce the need for people to be in close contact.

Authentication at a print device is also seen as a potential hygiene risk as many companies require users to manually input a code or user ID when using a secure printer to release jobs. To reduce contact businesses should encourage users to authenticate at software managed printing devices, using door passes or key fobs – which remove the need for people to touch the printer or MFD keypad.

Providing these recommendations to businesses could make a big impact to the health and safety of employees when they return to the office.

New technologies, new opportunities

The new health and safety measures taken by businesses can often be supported by new intuitive technologies. For instance, businesses will need to meet government rules and regulations on contact tracing, especially where there are regular on-site visitors.

Keeping track of who has been on the premises can be a challenge, although technology can address this; for example, visitor management solutions with a touchless sign-in feature facilitates contactless registration by employees and visitors. All signees scan in with their smartphones, reducing the need for physical contact with the device.

Such solutions can keep a compliant record of personnel on-site each day, and when a case is reported the business can easily produce a list of who has been on-site. Contact tracing will be a necessary measure in continuing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and this technology can make the process easier for businesses.

New ways of working

COVID-19 has rapidly changed the way we work and has shown businesses that employees can effectively work from home, and many may now prefer this option. When businesses return to the workplace, some employees will likely feel uncomfortable, either due to the perceived risk commuting on public transport or being in an enclosed office space, so employers are going to need to be flexible in their approach.

Facilities managers can provide value here by recommending tools available to help businesses keep all of their workers safe, no matter where they are working from. Such tools offer features that ensure remote workers are able to be contacted with wellness checks, provide visibility of log-on times and send reminders about best practice for home-working – perfect for checking in with employees and regularly reminding them the importance of looking after themselves.

It is vital that remote workers, as well as those who return to the office, are supported effectively by employers. By implementing some key measures, including those outlined above, facilities managers will be helping their resident businesses take steps to ensure the best experience for employees when the working world re-emerges from lockdown.