Restoring Your Workplace In The Post-coronavirus Era

By Author: Martina Lewis
Total Articles: 4
Comment this article

What effect will this next step have on our everyday operations? Cafeterias may be locked, desks may be segregated by plastic, and corridors may be turned one-way.

These are all speculative statements made by the Wall Street Journal, but might this be the grim truth over the next few months or even years? Amenities provided by competitive 'white-collar environments' can be restricted in order to limit the spread of germs. According to the WSJ, there will be no more popcorn cans, coffee bars, or elaborate gyms inside the office. So what does this mean for us small and medium-sized businesses?

Our offices at Strike Force are separate; they are not part of a single open room. This seems to be advantageous to us because we do not occupy as many high-traffic areas. We'll use less plastic between desks because we still have dry-wall between them. Instead, we will continue to concentrate on our common areas. We have a waiting area for guests, as well as a welcome desk where our employees clock in every morning. We have a coffee shop, as well as a reception area, a training room, and a cafeteria, all of which need special ...
... attention.

This high-traffic area must be updated and disinfected on a daily basis. One idea would be to place disposable pads on the tops of chairs and restrict the number of people in each room. Companies such as Infor, a cloud computing firm headquartered in New York, require employees to wear masks when working. Discover Financial Solutions in Chicago is putting Xs on desks and chairs that can bring staff too close together. They've even gone so far as to make certain hallways and stairwells one-way while closing down meeting rooms entirely. Another common practice is to schedule staff to come in on certain days of the week to allow for more space between employees.

A more prudent solution would have been to provide the staff with the requisite PPP equipment. Provide the employees with hats, masks, and hand sanitizer. Cleaning and disinfecting the workplace can be done on a regular basis. Inform each employee about the steps that must be taken to limit the spread of the virus and to recognize high-traffic areas inside the workplace. Be aware and constructive, but don't cripple the workforce by instituting 'A' and 'B' days. Don't go overboard by wrapping chairs in plastic and barring staff from going in a certain direction in a corridor. The most cost-effective solution to a safe reopening would be routine disinfection and training of personnel on proper procedures.

Wall Street Journal – Reopening the Coronavirus-Era Office: One-Person Elevators, No Cafeterias