While the pandemic is still an issue we shouldn’t ignore, many businesses are gearing up to return to the workplace. Whether you run an office, shop, building site or warehouse, it’s important to put a return to the workplace plan in place.

Employee safety should still be a number one priority. Ensuring the workplace is safe could mean making a few changes before everyone heads back. We’ve put together some ideas on what you can do before you reopen your doors.

Hand out masks and gloves

Handing out protective gear could be a simple way to help people feel safe and stop any potential spreads. This is particularly important if you have employees interacting with the general public or vulnerable people.

Hand sanitiser and deep cleaning

We’re no stranger to hand sanitiser now, and it’s still a necessity for many workplaces. Try to offer hand sanitiser and make sure there’s plenty to go around the workplace. You may also want to offer it to any customers coming onto the premises.

It’s now more important than ever to invest time in deep cleaning your workplace. Office equipment like keyboards and mice, or work tools, harbour plenty of germs. This is particularly a problem if these items are shared and used by others. Making sure surfaces and work tools are cleaned regularly will help to reduce the chance of contamination.

Staggered arrival times

If, like many workplaces, you have set starting times, it might be time for a rethink. Everyone arriving at the same time means crowded entry and exit points. Not to mention the morning coffee rush to the kitchen!

Instead of having each employee arrive at the same time, you might want to put a staggered arrival schedule in place instead. This would allow employees to come through the doors in dribs and drabs (and leave at different times) to help avoid crowds.

Reduce meetings

Another thing you can make changes to is the weekly catch-up meeting with the team. Unless there’s adequate space for social distancing, you may want to skip the meetings for a while until absolutely necessary. The same goes for in-person client meetings. It’s a good idea to reduce the number of clients coming on-site where possible.

Continue remote working

It may not be possible for every business, such as shops or building sites. However, if you can continue remote working, then it might be wise to continue this for a while longer.

Some of the biggest brands are extending their remote work policy until October, or the end of the year in some cases. Others are making the move permanent such as Twitter which recently announced that employees could continue working from home.

For those struggling to work from home, you could open the workplace as an option to work from. That leaves those who prefer remote working to stay at home if they wish.

Designing a return to the workplace plan will look different for every business. For some setups such as small offices, it might be easier than those with shops and members of the public coming in and out all day. In any case, it’s definitely worth spending some time putting a plan into place to ensure the safety of everyone.

Have you made a return to the workplace plan yet? Are you considering remote working for longer? Let us know your thoughts below. If you need an online accountant for your business, we can help! Call us on 020 3355 4047, or review our services.