2020 saw the rise and spread of coronavirus and Covid-19 across the world. It was an extremely difficult year for businesses, as we all had to adapt to living and operating in a new world with completely new social norms that had been put in place to slow the spread of the virus. Throughout the year, many businesses collapsed due to their industries being unable to practice under new guidelines and restrictions. If yours has survived to this point, you’re doing great. But it is absolutely essential that you’re making an active effort to ensure that everyone who is working for you is safe and protected during this pandemic. There are a number of changes that you should be implementing and upholding in your standard working protocol to ensure safety at the same time as productivity. Both are essential to keep your business up and running, to keep your staff fit and healthy and to maintain your reputation. Here are a few areas to focus on in particular.
Switch to Remote Working
The first big change you should be making if you haven’t by now is switching to a remote workforce wherever possible. If your staff can work from home, ensure that they work from home. This should include all office-based staff. With the rise of technology, nowadays, many of us work from computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones anyway. All of this can be done from home and interactions that would usually be face to face can be carried out over video call. Of course, there are measures that you need to take when switching to a remote workforce. A brief look at some of these measures would highlight:
- Implementing work from home policies
- Making sure your cybersecurity is up to date
- Training staff in cybersecurity
- Ensuring staff have ergonomic furniture and equipment at home
- Checking in on staff through virtual meetings
- Setting KPIs so everyone knows what’s expected of them
Implement Covid- Safe Measures On-Site
Some businesses will have no choice but to continue on-site operations for staff who cannot do their jobs from home. This can include manual labourers, service staff and more. If your staff are continuing to work on-site, you need to take multiple Covid-safe precautions and measures to maximise their safety.
Implement Social Distancing
Wherever possible, staff should stay two metres away from one another. If this distance isn’t possible, you may want to consider adding perspex screens between their work stations to minimise the spread of germs.
Safely Remove Rubbish
If people are blowing their noses and throwing tissues in the bin, or eating their lunch and then placing disposable cutlery in the bin, or a whole host of other activities that could see their germs placed in the bin, you need to make sure that rubbish is emptied and removed regularly and safely. Look into rubbish removal services to help with this.
Provide Hand Sanitiser
Provide your staff with hand sanitiser. Consider small, individual bottles per staff member, as well as stations at key points such as entry points, exit points and near doors that will be touched.
These are just a few suggestions, but they could make all the difference when it comes to operating your business in a Covid-safe manner!
