The IT industry has, for many years, embraced the potential of remote working and many of our own clients have experienced support from a member of our team logging into their computer station virtually.
With the COVID-19 lockdown, many more people than ever before have been working from home, utilising these kinds of technology to communicate with their team, monitor the progress of projects and maintain team morale.
As the Government begin changing their guidelines and offices begin to bring more people back into the workplace after several weeks, how can you manage the process?
Maintaining Social Distancing
The priority for any business is ensuring the safety of their team including maintaining the advised social distancing guideline of 2 metres between people. As employees begin to return, decisions must be made about who can work from home and who must return to the office.
Once this is established, creating safe shared workspaces by ensuring that each team member is at a safe distance from others needs to be achieved. This may mean dedicated workspaces to avoid cross contamination. If people will be working in shifts or alternating days in the office and at home. Options like hot desking and hoteling mean greater care must be taken to avoid leaving any items on the surfaces, and all equipment in shared workspaces is cleaned between users.
One excellent method for managing this process is to map out the office and the available workstations. The map may then be used to manage the team and which workstations can be used simultaneously.
There are many resources such as TableAir that your organisation can use to create ‘maps’ and to monitor who is working where. The programme allows you not only to map and manage the space within your office, but also to track who is working from home, therefore, the management of workloads for your entire team can be maintained in one location.
Organisations Responsibility
If your workforce continues to work from home, you are still responsible for ensuring that their workspace is safe and that your team have access to the equipment and technology they need to perform their work well. Reflective IT Operations Director Mark Grafton is leading our support for home office workers, enabling our clients to continue achieving their usual level of productivity and success whether their team are in the office or home. Please contact him for any equipment or product needs, and we will be happy to accommodate.
Equipment Needed:
- A laptop or
- A computer and monitor
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- Dedicated phone line or mobile phone
- Internet access
- A network log-in for the organisation (either accessed via a website or a VPN)
- Tablet
- Charging station
- Power bank
- Suitable workspace (desk or table and supportive, comfortable seat)
Other options could include:
- A matt for the chair to go on
- A chair that has arms that can be adjusted left and right as well as up and down
- A monitor where you can adjust the height, tilt and swivel
- Chair that you can adjust the height
Though not everyone has a desk in their home, efforts should be made to ensure that their set-up is as close to the office as possible. The employee should be able to work comfortably, and have all the tools they need, with access to the network for any programmes, documents and files required to complete their work. Please see our blog on DSE for more details.
We Can Help
Our expertise is in the efficient and successful use of IT to support businesses to thrive. Whether your team are returning to your offices or working at a distance, we can help you to ensure that your business runs efficiently with the necessary setup/products. Contact us to set up your social-distance safe workspaces today on 0207 317 4535.
