As the days go on, we are coming closer and closer to the end of the pandemic. With that, many offices are slowly starting to reopen and welcome back droves of employees. Although a lot of companies are offering a hybrid work environment of a few days in office and a few days out of office, many require full-time on site all week long.
In order to keep employees feeling safe and their work environment clean, here are a few adjustments offices and companies can make to keep things sterile for workers when they return.
Remove Bathroom Doors
As long as it doesn’t sacrifice privacy, remove bathroom doors. With an open-air entrance into the facilities, employees can wash their hands, and keep them clean without having to touch the handle of a door. If that is impossible for your office to build, then make sure there are hand sanitizer stations outside of the bathroom, so hands can be immediately sanitized upon exiting.
Install Automatic Faucets
Commercial automatic bathroom faucets enable workers to not have to touch faucet handles. The less surfaces someone has to touch the better. If you can, install automatic hand soap dispensers as well. Go even further with automatic hand dryers. Having all three of these apparatus in your employee bathrooms means that nothing ever gets touched, and with hand dryers, there are no paper towels, waste, or overflowing garbage cans.
Check Your Ventilation
Ventilation is a major deterrent against the spreading of germs. Having a fully ventilated office along with constant airflow will keep germs on their way and away from your employees. Allowing workers to have personal fans at their desks to keep the air flowing around them is also a good idea. This gives your team the feeling that they have control over their work space, and it will make them feel more comfortable coming to work.
Offer Cleaning Supplies
Each employee should get their own basket of cleaning supplies. Give your team bleach wipes, sprays, cloths, and window washing soap to keep their work area as clean as possible. Giving them these tools means that no one has to come into their area to clean. Workers can do it themselves. After they run out, it is up to them to replace and replenish their own supplies.
Spread the Hand Sanitizer Around
Having hand sanitizer at every desk, in the break room, at the entrance to elevators, and the exits to bathrooms will allow your team and yourself to keep your hands sanitized at all times. No one will ever feel they can’t immediately sanitize their hands if they feel compromised.
Offer hand lotion as well at these stations because the alcohol in the sanitizer will dry out the skin and cause cracks, bleeding, and sores. Having the lotion on hand (no pun intended) also sends the message that you care very much about the well-being and health of your team, and that will make it easier for them to return to office life.
Clean the Office More Than Once
For most offices, the cleaning crew comes at night to clean the office after everyone has gone home. It may benefit your employees to have the cleaning crew come more than once. Having a smaller team come in during the day to keep common areas sterile and clean will be very helpful. Wiping down surfaces, replenishing hand sanitizers and soaps, and keeping elevator areas and eating areas in order will help prevent the spread of germs.
Hold Meetings In Open Areas
In the past, many teams would lock themselves into conference rooms in order to conduct business and have meetings. In order to keep germs from spreading around the room, meetings can be held in open common areas where people can sit in ventilated air and still be part of the meetings.
Cater Lunch
For those companies that have the cash, cater lunch for your employees. A catered lunch gives employees the option of staying in the office to eat instead of going outside and going into businesses where they may feel uncomfortable. Catered lunches also help employees save money, which is always something that creates loyalty and happiness at work.
Give More Time Off
A lot of people are going to be very cautious when it comes to their health, and being able to stay home if need be without penalty keeps sick people out of the office. This will allow less germs to enter the works space and keep a healthy atmosphere.
