Before the viral outbreak, people, teams, and workplace operations professionals made sure things ran smoothly: stocking kitchens, handling catered meals, dealing with third-party vendors, hosting events, and everything else that happens in the office. During the outbreak, they scrambled to ensure a smooth transition to remote work while sustaining the team culture, morale, as well as the wellbeing of individual team members. With curves flattening, they are now faced with the task of bringing the team back to the office safely and healthily at some point in the future.

This is no small project. There are potentially hundreds of boxes that need to be checked and rechecked before the first team member sets foot into the workplace. As with the previous Future Workplace blog post, we will dive into several major line items on the return checklist for the workplace operations team.

Cleaning

Sanitation and overall cleanliness of the workplace will certainly be the number one concern for everyone. Even if the office cleaning standard operating procedures (SOPs) before COVID might have been sufficient and well-accepted, the SOPs will need to be strengthened moving forward.

Aside from the obvious attention to personal hygiene and being respectful to others and the workplace, how do we tackle this ginormous challenge of maintaining cleanliness in the workplace? How can we ensure that our team feels safe to be physically back in the workplace? It’s all about the perception of clean and the transparency of the cleaning.

First and foremost, discuss with your cleaning service vendor to map out what needs to be changed, improved, and done. Figure out what cleaning products they are using for your space. We all know that not every area gets cleaned every night. Increase the cleaning service frequency, depth, and coverage. Be willing to pay more for stronger products that kill more bacteria and germs.

In addition, keep some disinfecting products such as hand sanitizers, wipes, and sprays within reach and accessible throughout the office. By doing so, every team member will be able to do their part and clean before and after use wherever they are.

Make sure that you communicate this to the team and inform them that you are stepping up the cleaning game for the health and safety of everyone in the workplace. Memos to your team about the intention, process, and desired outcomes of this will help ease the team’s concern about cleanliness in the workplace.

Signage around the office is also important. Sometimes, we all need reminders for keeping the office clean, for locating the cleaning products, or for directions on how to properly wash our hands. They may seem silly, but there is no harm in overdoing this. It shows that you care about your people.

Human Traffic

Another red flag for returning to the workplace is the number of humans present in the office. Fewer people mean fewer germs. Whether you return to the office before or after restrictions are lifted, it would still be thoughtful and reasonable to keep a distance from your teammates and cap the maximum number of people in the office and in a meeting too.

There are several ways to control traffic and density in your workplace. Workstations could be reassigned or replanned to maintain that 6-feet rule. There could be big X’s on seats to manually put them off limits, or digitally if your team uses workplace experience solution software like Robin. There could be arrows around the office to direct traffic and eliminate head-on collisions. There could even be complete shut-offs of certain areas.

On a more macro look, some organizations are looking into rotations where certain people come in only on certain days of the week. Some are looking into opening in phases, by determining who must be in the office to do their work and who can do everything remotely just as well. Some are giving the option and decision power to their team members to work from home permanently.

Regardless of the nature of your organization, the beginning stage of your return will take headcount into serious consideration. A full team in-person town hall meeting may still be months away from us: TBD.

Shared Space

All work areas should be clean and well-maintained. The workplace operations team would likely be helping to wipe down all workstations, countertops, and tables multiple times during the workday. Workstations should be kept tidy with a minimum of stationary and items for easy cleaning.

Kitchens and pantries will be crucial in preventing any viral spread. Let’s face it, people congregate around food and drinks in every office around the globe. We do that multiple times a day, whether it’s quick breakfast bites, coffee runs, catered lunch, random snack breaks, or happy hour after work. If you do not plan on reducing the amount of refreshments offered in the office, then be ready for constant wiping and cleaning.

The same goes for areas like conference rooms, huddle corners, and recreational facilities if you have them. You may even need to control or limit the use of the recreational facilities in the first stages of the return.

Bathrooms

There is no denying that bathrooms can be the favorite place for germs. There is also no avoiding the bathrooms while you are in the office, unless you are only dropping by quickly to pick things up or you have some supernatural self-control power. Revamping the cleaning procedures and decluttering toiletries or storing them in closed boxes or shelves is a must.

Food & Beverage

In the past, food was rarely served in individually wrapped packages all the time. We have gotten accustomed to buffet-style meals because that is frankly the most efficient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective method. However, this will change.

Food

To minimize risks and contamination opportunities, single-served, one-portion snacks and meals will likely become the norm. No more family-style, all-you-can-eat buffet-style lunches. We have seen this trend begin its momentum earlier this year prior to the official day one of quarantine. People operations have already started inquiring about and requesting food to be portioned to one-serving size. By doing so, every team member will only get their own food that has been prepared and sealed in a box at the restaurant or food preparation facility.

Coffee

Coffee service will likely move towards higher-end coffee machines where coffee beans are inside the machine and users select their beverage on the touchscreen. No more individual pods because those require users to touch the machine at multiple points from start to finish of the brew. Imagine this: Maybe more coffee companies will launch new machine products and services where users can select their beverages via Bluetooth technology on their very own phones. That would be amazing!

For workplaces that have baristas on-site to serve the drinks, they may also go back to the coffee machines to minimize exposure to humans.

Beverages on-tap

Beer kegs, coffee kegs, and tea kegs have infiltrated our workplaces and become some of the more welcomed perks across all industries. How will these change? Kegs will most likely stay, with more frequent and deeper cleaning for the handles and nozzles. Water, both still and sparkling, machines will experience the same too. Considering the necessity of clean water and the craze about having unlimited bubbles in the workplace, these machines will also likely stay.

Nonetheless, all of these operational adjustments will need to be aligned with and outlined by new workplace strategies. More on this in the next blog post. Stay tuned!