How companies are preparing for a return to the office
Afbeelding van moritz320 via Pixabay
Right now, there’s a lot happening in the world of business in terms of how teams function. After two years of staying away from the office and learning to work remotely, many businesses across the world are starting to reopen their workplace’s doors and welcome back staff. With the decrease in Covid cases and milder variants, as well as successful vaccine rollouts, businesses are targeting this spring as a return to the office.
But things won’t be completely normal. Companies are preparing with new measures and new approaches to working and we’re going to see how the whole transition back to the workplace is being prepared for below.
Consultations with staff
Lots of businesses are consulting with staff directly to ensure any action that’s taken is done with their understanding and approval. It’s not easy to satisfy everyone, and there are divides in many businesses about the importance of working in a central office and whether it’s preferable to remote working. Finding balance and compromise is in everyone’s best interests here.
Vaccine mandates
For some businesses, the decision has already been made to only admit staff members back into the office if they’ve been vaccinated and had the booster vaccine too. This is a controversial topic for many and it’s something that not all businesses are implementing for that very reason, but some certainly are. It remains to be seen how that’ll change going forward.
Rules for employee common spaces
For many businesses, the rules for private work areas where people aren’t in particularly close proximity and the rules for common spaces will be different. This enables a balance between comfortable and relaxed working and safety for everyone in the office. Rules for common spaces typically involve mask-wearing and things like that. Shared spaces need to be safe and each staff member should feel comfortable in them.
New office cleaning procedures
There’s clearly going to be a heavier focus than ever before on strong cleaning processes. As we now know, hygiene is more important than ever where Covid exists, and it seems like we won’t rid ourselves of the virus entirely, even if it’s now safer to be in closer contact with others. Companies are turning to commercial cleaning companies that know how to keep spaces as Covid-safe as possible.
A semi-return to the office
In many cases, businesses aren’t looking to rush everyone back at the same time. Lots of businesses are staging a staggered return or offering a rotating schedule so that there will always be some staff members working at home and some working at the office. So even though there is a return to the office, it’s often not a complete return for all staff members at the same time.
So although the communal workplace is set to make something of a comeback this spring, things won’t be normal and most companies will offer greater flexibility to employees compared to pre-pandemic working situations. That’s a change that’s unlikely to ever be reversed.
