preparing your workplace facility for employees to return.

Before your employees can return to work, you will need to prepare your workspace and take precautions such as deep cleaning and ensuring your facilities allow for protective measures such as physical distancing. Here are some considerations when setting up your facilities for workers to return. 

general guidelines 

• Clearly communicate the procedures for workplace access to employees before they return so they know the procedures they will need to follow when entering work premises (i.e. restricted use of elevators, temperature checks upon entry, etc.)
• Post signs and notices about new procedures at entry points in a visible place.
• If possible, place hand washing stations at entry points to your workplace
• Supply hand sanitizer dispensers in common areas and entrances.
• Post signage and reminders about proper hand washing in washrooms and at hand washing stations.
• Ensure critical supplies like soap, tissues and toilet paper are stocked.
• Provide disinfectant wipes to employees so they can clean their workspaces daily.
• Switch to non-contact forms of payment. If your employees handle in-person money transactions, request that payments be made with debit, credit cards, or other non-contact forms of payment.

workplace layouts

• Set up desks and workspaces at least 2 metres apart, to ensure physical distancing wherever possible.
• If separating desks is not possible, have employees occupy every second desk.
• Make sure employees are not sharing desks. If you have a hot-desk policy, consider alternatives.
• Wherever possible, remove shared office items like printers, pens, and phones. If this isn’t realistic, increase cleaning frequency of these items or supply disinfectant
  wipes so employees can clean before and after using them.
• Remove chairs from meeting rooms to ensure that physical distancing is possible. Wherever possible, limit in-person meetings to 5 people or less.
• Establish protocols to move in a clockwise direction in corridors, hallways and narrow spaces.
• Put markers on the floor so employees can visualize how far they should stand apart in common areas.
• In areas where social distancing is not possible, install plexiglass panes or other physical barriers.
• For manufacturing facilities, if you’re able to do so, consider slowing down your production line to allow workers to stand further apart.

clean offices and facilities

• Before employees step foot in your office, make sure that your health and safety.
  team conducts a safety check and the facility has been deep cleaned.
• Ensure COVID-19-level disinfection prior to every shift.
• If you haven’t already, hire cleaning staff.
• Common areas should be cleaned at least once per day.
• High-touch surfaces (such as doorknobs) should be cleaned even more frequently.

Randstad prepared these resources to share best practices to get back to work safely. The information in this document is intended as a guideline only. Please do additional research and consult with experts before making decisions for your business.