Returning to work: preparing your business

Following the Government’s outlined roadmap for the additional COVID-19 lockdown, non-essential retail can finally reopen their doors for the first time in 2021.

This marks a momentous moment and hopefully a much-needed upswing for the UK economy.

However, with businesses reopening comes a lot of added responsibility to make the workplace safe and adaptable.

To help you ensure a COVID-secure working environment, we’ve compiled a few areas that you need to consider.

So, whether your business has had to shut, you have furloughed employees returning, or remote working has become the new norm – this blog will help you ensure best practice for your workplace moving forward.

Create a safe space

Those offices reopening must create a COVID-secure environment that people feel comfortable returning to.

This is especially important as experts are recommending that even those who have had the vaccine continue to operate in a safe and socially distanced manner.

A few measures you should consider implementing include:

• One-way systems
• Reduced capacity in your workplace
• Sanitation stations
• Staggered shift times

You can find more information on creating a COVID-secure workplace in this blog.

Updating company policies

As so much has changed regarding employment and our day-to-day, you mustn’t let your policies stagnate.

To keep in line with current circumstances, be sure to revisit your policies regarding remote working, bringing equipment home, sickness/absences and office procedures.

Managing remote working

Research recently found that 25% of UK employees will be working from home permanently after the COVID-19 pandemic.

How are you going to be managing remote working going forward?

We recommend that you use handy HR software such as IRIS HR Pro to send employees a survey asking them what they want.

Once you’ve heard what your people want, you can confidently take the next steps, whether that’s allowing permanent home working, part-time, or full-time in the office.

Sickness and absences

With there still being a risk for people returning to work, you must ensure that your sickness and absence processes are not only correct but also clearly visible.

Managers must be able to easily check whether someone is off sick and for how long so they can accommodate.

Vaccine logs

Keeping track of which employees have been vaccinated will be incredibly useful when conducting a safe return to work.

Using this information will enable you to gauge which employees are least at risk when returning as well as enabling you to make data-driven decisions.

However, please note that your employees can refuse to answer whether they’ve been vaccinated, and a range of factors will determine whether you can take action. 

How IRIS HR Pro can help

When it comes to creating a safe working environment, ultimately it all links back to HR.

By investing in a modern HR solution, your business can streamline all the tasks associated with returning to the office, saving you time and money.

Our cloud-based HR software, IRIS HR Pro, could be exactly what you need to support your ever-changing people processes, and what’s more, prices start at just £1.50 per employees.

For more information and to request a demo, click here.