Re-opening Your Business – Challenges And Opportunities

Organizations are thinking about reopening their businesses and about the challenges of getting back to work. It is also a great time to think about the opportunities that you have in store in the new normal world. From staggered shifts to work from home options, online meeting forums, promotional platforms and more- your new real world may probably have more new elements than ever!

Here are some top priority task lists that businesses may have to tackle before getting back to normal work.

Sanitization of work premises

With the office space lying in disuse for a long time now, it takes a thorough cleaning and sanitization of the premises before the staff returns. Ensuring a safe and hygienic work environment is undeniably the top priority of most organizations. Apart from deploying a professional cleaning company to ensure the ultimate cleanliness, you can undertake an inventory site review of cleaning chemicals, materials, and consumables. Carrying out a physical inspection of the operating equipment and its working condition is another step that should be done.

The Team

Are you planning new work protocols for your team? Make sure to offer virtual training in the new areas and roles before they return to work for a smooth transition and optimum productivity.

Controlled Access

In the wake of the new safety guidelines you may have to devices new access rules and visitor policies at the reception, lobby and other common areas like elevators.  Putting up awareness magnets or custom signs is a great way to make people aware of the new safety practices and access regulation.

Social Distancing

As social distancing is likely to continue for a long time, businesses may have to rearrange work stations and stagger shifts to prevent crowded office spaces.  If you have an open plan office, you can consider high partitions and sneeze- guards to ensure protection of your employees.

A hybrid plan of both work from home and office is another smart move to reduce the number of people in office without compromising on the productivity.

Reduce Touch Points and Keep Facilities Clean. Provide no touch utility tools, facemasks and hand sanitizers for your employees to reduce the risks. Installing voice command functions to activate light switches is a smart way to reduce touch points.

Naturally conditioned offices: Keeping doors and windows open is another option to reduce the spread of germ and ensure fresh air flow. Air-conditioned closed spaces are more likely to increase the chances of contracting illnesses

Reduce the use of shared equipment:  The team members can be encouraged to use personal mobile phones instead of conference phones.  Designate specific people to operate printers and copiers to restrict access and reduce the use of shared equipment.

 Work-at-Home Arrangements

Work from home option is already found to be highly successful in businesses all over the world. Organizations may decide to continue this to reduce the risks of sick leaves and save on operational overheads. Let’s be frank about it!  Work from home arrangements may become a permanent or semi-permanent feature of the work culture of most companies.

In this context, employees should be encouraged to set up a professionally furnished home office with all the technology, equipment and supplies that they may need.

Virtual Meetings

In the wake of social distancing policies that are likely to be in force, conventional meetings will be replaced by virtual meetings. So, businesses can invest in video conferencing and teleconferencing equipment, such as video cameras, mics etc to make their conference rooms fit for the new normal world.

These steps will help businesses to ensure a safe working environment for their crew and ensure productivity while they restart the engines of business.