Post-COVID

Effective Ways To Prepare Your Office For Post-COVID Reopening

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has created many changes in the daily lives of everyone, including businesses. Besides the stress of financial uncertainty, companies have had to deal with numerous new strategies to keep their customers and employers safe while ensuring the business is still stable enough to survive. Now, with vaccines being available and adopting a new norm, the world is opening up yet again. However, there are still several issues to deal with during this “post-COVID” reopening- especially for your office. How can you ensure you are prepared? Here are some practical ways.

• Adopt seamless workplace transition

An effective way of ensuring the health and safety of staff and customers are protected by providing flexibility for a seamless transition from remote working to in-person. During the pandemic emergence, many companies moved to a shift system and remote working. These flexible options seem to be a part of workplace culture even after COVID-19. Therefore, it is vital to invest in communication solutions and other advanced softwares and technologies for a seamless transition.

• Listen to your employees

Smart business owners and managers listen to their staff when designing their business policies. It helps to listen, review and collaborate with your staff to tailor work policies and review best practices. Your employees may have learnt valuable lessons from how the pandemic may have affected other businesses or operations within your business. You must allow them to give feedback and suggestions. In turn, you should listen and work with them to ensure your business can succeed during this time.

• Update office ventilation and air filtration

The COVID-19 virus is known to spread through droplets from talking, breathing, or coughing. Although these droplets quickly dissipate when it falls to the ground, a few particles linger in the air. For this reason, you need to enhance the air filtration and ventilation to alleviate potentially viral bits. Many large businesses are investing in their HVAC systems to update airflow and remove any potential contaminants. You might want to consider purchasing some blast equipment to clean your surfaces and building structures for a small business.  

• Be clear about your rules and expectations

Reopening your offices after the Coronavirus pandemic gives rise to a need to introduce new sets of rules and expectations. You must have the right equipment to protect your staff’s health and safety. Be specific with your guidelines to enable your team to know the procedure for office return. It would be best to have a signup sheet to keep tabs on everyone in the office at every period. Ensure to provide sufficient hygiene materials and proper training for your staff. Consider a customized health safety demo to assist your team in improving their before and after work routine to guarantee a safe return to the workplace. 

Irrespective of how your office post-COVID office setting will look like, it is essential to support and engage your staff along the way. It would help make everyone feel they have choices to fit into your office setting to retain your top talents.