By Jason Eisenberg
Community Program Manager for Office Depot

As communities begin to reopen & rethink what life in a ‘new normal’ looks like, business owners are getting creative & drawing inspiration from those that have seen success – whether they opened recently with limitations or were deemed essential and helped put these practices in place early in the pandemic. If you’re reopening your business – or preparing to – here are some examples from other businesses that are implementing new cleaning and safety practices.

Enhanced Cleaning Protocols (CBFS)

Businesses are rethinking the way they approach cleaning their facilities. The CDC emphasizes cleaning surfaces often with exceptional attention to objects that are frequently touched like door handles, cash registers, tables, counter space, sink handles, shopping carts, computer terminals, etc.

LMI Fitness in Colorado shared a snapshot of staff disinfecting gym equipment and reassured its customers that they are following safety protocols. Because a gym has so many shared surfaces/objects to use, staff should clean surfaces after each use or provide a means for the gym goer to clean it. It’s also important to educate and train employees on how to properly clean surfaces as well as wash their hands/use hand sanitizer with frequency.

Barriers (Sneeze Shield)

Sometimes staff is unable to keep six feet of social distancing as recommended by the CDC, particularly in the case of restaurants and shops using cash registers. To help make distancing easier for employees and customers, many businesses have installed sneeze guards or shields at registers in order to create a literal barrier between people.

Silas Bronson Library in Connecticut announced in their reopening post that they will only have one-way doors with a greeter as well as a ‘sneeze shield’ at the front desk to let patrons know what to expect upon visiting.

Separate Where You Can

Creating separation – about six feet apart as the CDC recommends – can be difficult to enforce all day, every day. Many businesses have made tweaks to their operating models in order to accommodate our new way of life of social distancing.

Signage and floor decals

While most people have heard of and know what social distancing is by now, it can be helpful for everyone if your physical space – be it your office building, retail store or restaurant – has floor markers to note six feet of space. The CDC also recommends posting signs in highly visible locations that can be educational and just a simple reminder on safety protocol.

Online ordering/curbside pickup

Businesses that were allowed to continue to operate, like Office Depot, adopted online ordering with curbside pickup to accommodating customers while complying with state and local ordinances. Now, as more businesses are reopening, offering curbside pickup is a means of limiting the number of people in your space and helping to comply with requirements for social distancing.

Drive-through accessibility

If your business is lucky enough to have drive-through capabilities, it’s a great way to combine convenience and safety for your customers. Others set out to create a drive-through experience and some of those businesses, like Marietta’s Diner in Georgia, have seen success from adding drive-through accessibility and are planning to continue with it.  

Remote work

The CDC says to stay home if you can. The work-from-home movement was catalyzed by the need to continue work amid shelter in place restrictions, but some businesses are finding that working from home can be productive and help to comply with safety recommendations.  Twitter and Square were among the first to announce ‘permanent’ work-from-home policies.

Personal Protective Equipment

Having personal protective equipment on while working has fast become the new normal for many people both working and non-working. Wearing a protective covering for your face (and hands when applicable) is deemed necessary by the CDC when staff and customers are interacting with each other and social distancing isn’t plausible. If possible, it helps to provide PPE for your employees who will be in close contact with each other as well as visitors. Servpro in South Carolina took to social media to let their customers know how serious they are taking precautions before entering someone’s home.

Look at Grocery Stores for Inspiration

An essential business that hasn’t closed since the start, which means they have the most experience in testing these measures, is the grocery store. Even at the peak of verified cases, grocery stores and their employees had to find safer ways to provide food and other essentials for their customers.  

This tweet posted by a happy customer says it all.