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Reopening Preparations for Your Business Post Shelter-in-Place

Unlike other diseases that have developed in past years, COVID-19 became a reality for most Americans in late February and most likely changed our lives forever. This is the first time a new disease has drastically changed how we live our lives and operate our businesses.

In the beginning we were scrambling to figure out how our businesses would operate as long-reaching shelter-in-place orders were mandated for most states. We adapted by adjusting the daily operations of almost all aspects of our businesses. Just as quickly as these changes entered our lives, we now find ourselves at another precipice – to start preparing for what reopening may look like and how we can keep employees safe and customers reassured that doing business with our organizations is safe.

While no single standard will fit all businesses and organizations, we have organized a guideline with four key drivers to help you navigate your way to safely reopening your business.

By preparing properly, setting the right expectations, communicating your message and monitoring and evaluating results, you can feel confident that the decisions you make will help guide you to the smoothest and most effective transition into a more normalized business reopening.

Prepare

First and foremost, it’s important to realize that COVID-19 is still here. People are still being infected and transmitting the virus. It’s our job as businesses to keep our employees and customers safe.

Before reopening can begin, it is important to be prepared and have a plan. Unlike when this pandemic first began and we didn’t have the time to make well-informed decisions, we do have the time now and should make sure we are better prepared for the reopening of our economy.

First, make sure you have the most up-to-date information about state and local government executive orders, mandates, guidelines and recommendations. We are all assuming that the reopen will come with rules or suggestions in regards to crowd control, social distancing and disinfection.

You should be preparing to have a phone or online meeting with your key people to help develop a plan before your employees return to the work place.

Create a timeline of key steps, as these plans need to be distributed to your employees before they return to your place of business.

Failure to think ahead may cause a lot of unnecessary confusion and employees may feel that if you are unprepared you are only interested in the bottom line and not employee safety. So put the time in now and do it right.

Set Expectations

Your work teams (employees, staff, associates) are experiencing lots of emotions right now. Some are scared and probably still shocked at what has transpired over the last two months. Some may have been laid off or furloughed and have different financial worries than they did two months ago. Some have been home schooling children and are yearning to get back to their work life.

In your preparations it is important to consider what returning work looks like through the eyes of your employees (and customers). This may require you to set many different expectations for your team.

When you properly set expectations, you’re keeping your team focused on safety, mitigating frustration and allowing for constructive criticism. Again, there is no one-size-fits-all with expectations for reopening, but we have compiled a short list of safety-related ideas for limiting exposure and spread of COVID-19.

First, limiting crowds or gatherings in your work spaces is a key factor and, depending on your business, some or all of these may be helpful:

• Staffing Needs. Ask yourself, who needs to be in the office? Even after reopening, if some employees can effectively do their jobs at home, it’s probably best they continue to do so, at least in the short run.

• Facility Cleanliness. How clean is your work space and what’s it going to take to keep it clean? Hire a professional cleaning service. Employees find peace of mind in knowing that your building was properly disinfected before they’re asked to return to work. The reality is that you will have an employee that has COVID-19 or was exposed to the virus.

  A good relationship with your cleaning contractor will make it much easier to have your facility disinfected properly when the need arises. Three other areas to consider below should help:

  • Daily Cleaning. It’s also worth looking into your daily janitorial needs. Many businesses don’t incorporate disinfection measures in their cleaning or janitorial scope of work and the frequency of it may be serious lacking, especially in our current state of affairs. Make sure your evening janitorial team is disinfecting touchpoints and high traffic areas on a daily basis.
  • Supply Chain. Take a look at your supplies on hand at the office and if you have not done so already, you should be sourcing things like hand sanitizer, soap, disinfectants and paper products. Constraints in the pipeline are causing limited availability and much longer lead times for these orders.
  • A Team Effort. You should also have your employees performing ongoing disinfection of their personal spaces throughout the day. If conference rooms are used, they should be cleaned and disinfected before a new group uses that room. You should supply your employees with the materials and information to do this properly.

• Social Distancing Guidelines. Yep, we’re still doing this, even after reopening! For the foreseeable future, this is the new way of life!

  • Enter/Exit. From the moment employees or customers enter your business, you need to be able to limit people from congregating in spaces and lobby areas. Many doctors’ offices are having patients stay in their vehicle until the doctor is ready to see them, and then they head straight to the exam room. If someone has a meeting scheduled, it should probably follow this same protocol. As ironic as it sounds, your waiting room should not have people waiting in it.

  • Separate Shifts. If large groups of employees start work at the same time, it may be a good idea to stagger start times for employees. An example could be to have Group A clock-in at 8:45 am, followed by disinfection of door and clock-in area, followed by 9:00 am clock-in for Group B.

    You may also be able to split your team into smaller shifts or explore creative options with flextime. There may be employees willing to work in the evening, with the idea that they will be there with less people in the office.

  • Spaced Out. Do you have options to space employees out? Many offices have clusters of cubicles where one section can be completely full and the next section completely empty. If you have the option to keep work spaces at least 6 feet apart, it’s highly advisable to do so.

    Limit crowds in congregating areas like conference rooms or lunch rooms. You can also limit the number of employees in restrooms to one at a time by taking a look at the locks on the door.

  • Kitchens/Break Rooms. The coffee pot or Keurig machine is probably one of the most touched items in an office. These should not be used and employees can be encouraged to bring coffee from home.
    
    The refrigerator and microwave are other appliances that are touched by a lot of people, not to mention the sharing of condiment containers. Have sanitizing wipes nearby to use for opening and closing the doors.

• PPE. Source and offer personal protective equipment for your work teams. For your employees, going to work is the same as being out in public, so they may wear masks; or you may choose to have everyone wear masks.

  The supply chain for PPE is still stressed and most PPE is hard to acquire, probably more expensive than a month ago and shipping times are delayed. It’s crucial to vet sources for purchasing PPE, as you will find usage levels high and availability low.

  The most common PPE you should consider providing are gloves and masks. However, have a system in place to help ensure these items don’t disappear.

• Promote Healthy Personal Hygiene Habits. It’s so important for everyone to remember to properly wash their hands, stay home when someone is sick and use PPE correctly.

  Speaking of staying home if someone is sick, it’s a good idea to suggest employees check the CDC site often, as information on symptoms changes. Here’s the CDC COVID-19 site, with information on symptoms and what to do if you’re sick: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html