If you run a business out of an office space, you have probably found this year to be a stressful one. With the COVID-19 pandemic sending workers home to their couches and leaving your office space standing empty, there’s been much to grapple with in the recent months. Although the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing, with news of a vaccine on the horizon  many business owners are looking to the future - and for some, that means returning to the office. 

Making your office space a covid safe environment which is clean enough to invite workers into is a task that you should not take lightly. Here are three ways to make your office covid safe, so that you can once again welcome employees into their place of work with confidence. 

Increasing the cleaning processes in your space

Your office likely has a contract with a cleaning company or similar enterprise that provides you with daily cleaners who keep the office sanitary. While this is perfectly fine under normal circumstances, an office during the pandemic needs to step up its cleaning game. You should employ at least one cleaner who is present throughout the day, regularly cleaning common areas like toilets and staff kitchens. 

In addition, you should make each employee responsible for cleaning up their own desk space multiple times per day. Providing them with the resources with which to do so allows everyone to evenly contribute to the task of keeping the office covid-free.

Enforcing a mask rule

In a perfect world, we could all go back to normal without any sign of coronavirus following us. Despite our dreams of a perfect world, this is simply not going to happen. When you return to the office, even after the vaccination has been announced but not yet administered, it is important to keep wearing masks. Enforcing a mask rule when an employee is anywhere in the office except at their own desk will reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus from person to person. While wearing a mask is inconvenient, keeping people safe is of the utmost importance.

Rearranging your desks

Most offices utilise every single inch of space as best they can. During the pandemic, however, keeping desks at least two metres apart is essential in order to keep employees safe. This might mean needing to extend your office space in order to accommodate people’s social distancing needs. 

If you can’t extend your space, then it may be a question of splitting your employees’ time between the office and home-working. This would allow each employee to spend some time in their work environment, benefitting from all the office has to offer, while also being able to socially distance. Rotating employees in this way takes careful planning and lots of cleaning, but it is worth it in order to maintain good working relationships, productivity and camaraderie between colleagues.

In conclusion: coronavirus is still among us, and cannot simply be ignored. If you are thinking of going back to the office, use this guide to ensure your safe return.