Best Practices for Returning to the Office During and After COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way we interact with others and how we work. Social distancing is likely to remain an important part of our work lives for months to come. Companies will need to make adaptations to their work environment in order for employees to stay safe. Furthermore, employers will need to clearly communicate their return-to-office plan to employees to ensure a smooth transition.

Clarify what the return to the office will look like for employees. What phases will be followed? Share details about the phased return as well as what cleaning procedures will be followed to keep employees safe. Any flexible work policies being adopted will also need to be communicated.

Stagger Employee Shifts & Adopt Flexible Working Arrangements 

Staggering work shifts is one of the methods companies have been using to prevent all workers from being in the office at the same time and to ensure that social distancing can be maintained. This means that employees have different start, finish, and break times to stagger their arrival to the office.

Hoteling and hot desking are desk sharing practices that companies have adopted in response to COVID-19. With hoteling and hot desking, there is no longer one desk assigned per worker. Employees share a fewer number of desks and none of the desks are assigned to specific people, so staff members have to book a desk before they are able to use it.

Employees can use the Workspace App to book a desk or workspace before they arrive at the office. When they make their booking, they can also order lunch and have it delivered to their desk. This allows for contactless lunch orders and prevents the cafeteria from getting too busy.

With the Workspace App, you can also limit which workstations are available to be booked, so workers can only book certain workspaces. All of the information about meeting room bookings and schedules are up-to-date because the app syncs with Microsoft Outlook^®, Exchange, and 365.

Booking Hybrid Meetings with Remote Attendees While in the Office 

Since some employees will be working in the office and some will be working from home, most meetings that employees organize will likely be hybrid in nature. Therefore, it’s important to give employees the ability to book meeting rooms yet also invite remote attendees to their meetings and provide them with a videoconferencing link.

The meeting room manager, Resource Central, allows users to schedule hybrid meetings and arrange videoconferences using a variety of videoconferencing solutions, including Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Pexip, and Polycom.

How to Create a Safe, Socially-Distanced Workplace with Add-On Products

From contactless meeting room booking to shared desk booking via a mobile app, Add-On Products can help you create a socially-distanced workplace that follows all of the necessary safety measures to ensure a smooth transition back to the office.

To learn more, contact us today to schedule a free trial or free online demo of our solutions.