Feature
The Return of the Office: How to Ensure On-site Safety for Employees
Stuart Sykes, Managing Director at Sharp UK, explores how facilities managers can ensure businesses’ employees can return to the office with a robust system in place.
With office employees being encouraged to work from home again, guidance on how premises should be adapted to safely accommodate the returning workforce has taken a backseat. While a blended home and office approach to working feels like some time away for now, businesses should use this time to hone their preparations for a full return to the office, once a vaccine rollout gathers steam.
Ways of working have changed dramatically this year, and it is no exaggeration to suggest that there has been an end to the assumption that employees must always be office-based. Remote working has become the new normal, with many proving during lockdown that they are capable of being efficient and productive while working from home.
Whatever the new working preferences of employees, businesses must work to ensure all employees are kept safe. Facilities managers will be key to helping clients provide a healthy workplace, which is now more important than ever. New layouts, new processes
There will need to be changes in the vast majority of offices to layout and processes to help employees maintain social distancing. For example, printers are often clustered together which leads to people congregating in the same place. These are usually positioned in high footfall areas too, such as next to the coffee machine. Space and distancing are essential, so it’s recommended that these devices are moved apart and installed in more spacious areas to reduce the need for people to be in close contact.
Authentication at a print device is also seen as a potential hygiene risk as many companies require users to manually input a code or user ID when using a secure printer to release jobs. To reduce contact businesses should encourage users to authenticate at software managed printing devices, using door passes or key fobs – which remove the need for people to touch the printer or MFD keypad.
Providing these recommendations to businesses could make a big impact to the health and safety of employees when they return to the office.
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