We are all recovering from the ill effect of COVID 19. The offices are opening, and in many countries, many malls and public spaces are open to the public. Countries like New Zealand, Montenegro, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and more countries have declared themselves corona free. On the other hand countries like the USA and India are still struggling with COVID 19 situations.
Life will get back to normal, but what will be defined as “normal”? Especially when it comes to rejoining the workplace, will it be easy to manage or pose a big challenge. How will employees react, and how will you receive the visitors? How will you screen them?
Too many questions, right, we do have some tips that you can incorporate in your workplace. At CoReceptionist, we have always stressed that the first line of defense, and together with a modern visitor management system you can streamline visitors and employees and it can put in place new functionalities.
We will have to keep taking precautions like wearing masks, gloves, and sanitizing hands. We will also have to normalize social distancing, keeping ourselves and others safe.
Setting the new normal at the reception will make it easier to be adopted throughout the organization, and here is what you can implement.
1. Monitoring Temperature
To improve and keep the office premise safe, checking the temperature of each employee before they enter the building will be an important measure (especially those who have been exposed to COVID 19)
In the fields section in the CoReceptionist, where visitors enter their details, you can add an extra field to note each visitor’s and employee’s body temperatures.
Although monitoring and checking temperature provides you a better sense of safety, yet it has some shortcomings. As per the CDC, an organization should allow those with under a 100.4 degree Fahrenheit body temperature. Given that, the normal body temperature varies from person to person. And test results have shown many people infected with Corona Virus doesn’t have a fever at all.
The CDC also advises that the person monitoring temperature checks, or the screen should take more precautions, for example, wear PPE and always be behind a certain barrier and use a contactless thermometer.
Executing temperature-checking protocols correctly takes time, and temperature checks might not be necessary for the coming six months. It will become necessary for smaller businesses to weigh the costs vs. the benefits of implementing those temperature checks.
2. Contact Tracing
As the name suggests, knowing who enters your office location at what time and check-out helps you know the origin of any person who might have exposed others to the virus. It one of the strategies recommended by the CDC, and it is a part of the “multi-pronged” method to fight COVID 19.
If you want to reinforce contact tracing efficiently, it may require your organization to station more tablet-based kiosks at different entry points in your office. Make sure that employees, visitors, and any other staff members check-in and check-out, consistently.
CDC details that contact tracing is part of the means of supporting patients and alerting contacts of exposure to stop chains of transmission. It is also important to treat people with respect and be compassionate.
3. Contactless Check-in (Keep surfaces clean)
COVID-19 transmits from person to person and it is likely to stay active within proximity of people where the air is still.
So, maintain a distance of 6 feet when standing next to the person and wear a mask to prevent the virus droplets from spraying in the air, while talking, sneezing, coughing, or even laughing.
Through surface cleaning and sanitizing high touch platforms like check-in kiosks, table counters, mouse, keywords, laptops should be disinfected.
In fact, you buy styluses and pens for the check-in tablets and make sure they are disinfected continually. You can put in two containers and label them as ‘used’ and ‘unused’ so that visitors and employees and use them accordingly.
Demonstrating Safety
To ensure that everyone feels safe to take precautions and communicate it in a better & efficient way.
Approach your employees, contractors, partners, and visitors personally and confer the problem and answer their queries if they have any regarding the safety in your company. For example, you can encourage half our employees to work from home and conduct virtual meetings with partners and contractors.
Some Other Precautions
- Keep your office clean and hygienic
- Implement thorough and regular hand washing.
- Advise anybody working in your office, who is sick to stay at home.
- Again, be it your workstation, laptops, desktops, disinfect them daily.
- Practice respiratory hygiene, i.e, wear a mask and use a tissue whenever you need to sneeze.
The COVID 19 Pandemic has changed the day to day lives of many in ways unimaginable. Now, all the sections of society, i.e, employees, employers should lay an important role in preventing the further spread of the disease. Please adhere to precaution listed by your area’s local health bodies.
We at CoReceptionist will do our best to assist your organization in handling COVID 19 situation in your office premises. Furthermore, our round the clock customer service is at your disposal. If you have any suggestions or would like to customize the visitors and employee experience feel free to contact us and we will do our best.
