With more businesses reopening their doors, most of us are adapting to what is now considered a new working normal. Here’s how yesterday’s workplace has transformed into the health-and-safety-awareness job environment of today.
Touch Becomes No Touch
In yesterday’s business environment, deals sealed with a handshake or pat on a colleague’s back were part of the norm. Today, with social distancing, touch-free may become the order of the business day throughout the workplace.
Before: Turning on taps and flushing toilets with a lever or button
After:
A New Type of Face Time
At one time, showing your face at work was important, as was having face time with your colleagues.
Today, wearing a face mask has become acceptable in some work situations and mandatory in others. Businesses may consider educating themselves on what types of protection they need to provide employees, including personal protective equipment (PPE).
PPE may include the following:
Staying Together by Staying Apart
Before, we used to show respect to colleagues by spending time with them at work and, sometimes, outside the office. Today, we may want to show respect to our colleagues, customers, suppliers, and others by keeping a safe distance.
Social distancing might consist of transforming the workplace into a “6-feet office,” maintaining this distance between all people at all times. Among the considerations are:
- Do a thorough examination of the current workplace setup regarding safety and where you can make improvements.
- Create traffic routing in the office that helps keep everyone safe.
- Establish workstations 6 feet apart.
- Separate open-plan offices with high partitions and, where needed, Plexiglas shields.
- Use crowd-control stanchions and partitions and safety cone areas to keep people apart.
- Designate and train an employee responsible for advising on social distancing measures.
- Put in place clear rules of social distancing.
Changing the Way That We Work Together
For many employees and employers alike, the transformations of the workforce have been disorienting and, in some cases, distressing. Many organizations have gone from working together in a physical building to working alone at home. Most recently, working again together may be conducted in a way that is at once familiar but quite a bit different.
The return to work in a physical building requires wise change management so that everyone understands and can accept the value of the precautions being taken. Employers may consider communicating with employees before they return to work, outlining the new changes and the reasons for them, and perhaps giving some virtual training in the new safety protocols.
Clear, frequent communication is key to getting everyone to understand that the differences from the old workplace are positive — to help keep everyone safer and allow colleagues to work together again in the same facility.
Considerations for the communications plan include:
- How the organization is following government guidelines in keeping everyone safer
- Measures undertaken for the safety of returning employees
- Alternative commuting suggestions
- Information about new policies and practices
- Information about physical changes to the workplace (reallocation of desks, availability of meeting and common rooms, etc.)
- desks, availability of meeting and common rooms, etc.)
- Why certain people or groups were chosen to return to work (if not everyone has)
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