Going Back To The Office: 5 Things You Should Prepare For

We’ll soon be at the point where the UK returns to the office following the COVID-19 pandemic and the lifting of the coronavirus restrictions.

For many employees, this will be the first time they have been back since the pandemic began, and there’s no clear-cut way to know what will happen.

With that in mind, what should you prepare for going back to the office?

Be Clear About Office Hygiene

It’s important to be clear about hygiene at the office. This is a fundamental part of preventing the spread of COVID-19, and it’s what distinguishes the Coronavirus from a cold or flu.

If you need to brush up on your office cleanliness and hygiene protocols, there is a fantastic blog on best-clean-direct.co.uk that covers just this.

Open Office Spatial Awareness

If your office is open, make sure you practice your spatial awareness!

Often in offices, we’re surrounded by so much clutter it can be difficult to keep track of what’s happening around us — especially when that clutter starts filling up our desks and overcrowding our workspaces.

The best advice is to keep your office clean and tidy, with everything you need at arm’s length.

This will allow you to maintain vigilance of COVID-19 (and your colleagues’ health)! It will also help you to stay focused on work rather than trying to find all the things you need for a particular task or project.

Prepare For The Changes Ahead

Prepare yourself for a period of adjustment. With more people returning to work with some residual side effects, it’s likely that there will be a period of adjustment as people gradually return to their normal routines and duties, especially if your team has been working remotely for the last year or so.

Be clear with your employees about how you are going to handle the different return to work protocols.

It’s important that everyone in the office understands how they will be involved in any post-pandemic protocol discussions.

Plan Travel With Extra Precaution

It’s a very good idea for anyone heading out on a public trip – whether it’s abroad or otherwise – to inform their organisation of any potential exposure risk, recent travel history etc, so it can be discussed and acted upon.

If your employees are travelling, make sure they have the right information and access to it.

Your travel team should have a copy of all the organisation’s travel exclusions. Make sure these are up-to-date in case your employees are travelling while the restrictions are lifted.