Microsoft, Amazon, and Zillow have announced that regardless of when local governments lift stay-at-home directives, their employees can continue working from home through at least October 2020. That flexibility has been seemingly well received; however, many people are looking forward to being able to venture away from home for a change of scenery and in-person interactions.
Many business leaders are evaluating how and when they can safely re-open offices and what that will look like. Business leaders are facing decisions about monitoring employees’ temperatures, how to change office layouts to provide 6 feet of separation, or schedule changes to minimize the number of employees onsite at one time.
According to a recent Puget Sound Business Journal article, experts suggest that:
“Every employee entering the office each day should be screened, according to the recommendations. They should be asked if they’ve traveled in the last two weeks, their symptoms in the last two weeks, the symptoms of their household members, their current symptoms. And their temperature should be checked to ensure it’s less than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. All logs should be kept confidential and separate from employees’ personnel files.”
This is new territory for employers. For some businesses it will likely make sense to continue having employees work remotely for the foreseeable future after considering the risk of employees being infected, costs associated with effectively protecting workers onsite, and ability to comply with new regulations.
Fortunately, there are already several resources available to help guide employers:
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a website offering guidance for businesses, including a state-by-state reopening guide.
- Madrona Venture Group, in conjunction with a number of other companies, has developed a Back to Work Toolkit. The Toolkit guides business leaders through topics including how to prepare the office; tenant and landlord responsibilities and communications; workplace PPE, cleaning protocols; screening, tracking and tracing; and workplace design.
- JLL has developed a workplace re-entry checklist, as have other commercial real estate companies.
As companies evaluate their specific circumstances, it remains important to communicate. Transparency around the decision process and criteria can make it easier for employees to understand why a certain decision was made. There is a heightened sense of anxiety during this time. Employers that embrace frequent, clear communication can help minimize some anxiety for their teams.
We are continuing to monitor local direction from the city and state as we start evaluating when we believe it makes sense for the Communique PR team to return to the office. We are watching to see how other businesses re-open and learn from their experiences. Fortunately, our team has been able to seamlessly transition to working remotely – although as a social group, we definitely miss being together.