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Summer is nearly over and office workers are going back to work. Make sure you are providing a clean, safe workplace to welcome them.

COVID-19 isn’t going away any time soon and the “new normal” continues. Despite this fact, however, and as summer winds down, many office workers are preparing to go back into the office. While happy to get back to work as they once knew it, and connect with colleagues in person once again, it isn’t without doubts and more than a little trepidation.

As a business owner, it will be up to you to alleviate the fears of your employees as best you can. Even given the current circumstances and continued uncertainty, if you take the appropriate measures to follow all of the recommended protocols, your workforce can come back with the security of knowing you’ve got their best interests and safety at heart.

Prevention for a healthy workplace

How can you fully prepare for a busy office environment – a clean, safe workplace – where your staff feels secure in their health and welfare? Ensure that you have employed an expert commercial janitorial service to properly provide the necessary prevention: cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting your facilities before they return, but also ongoing, for optimum health and safety.

Back-to-work protocols have been established and business owners and managers are becoming more and more familiar as they prepare to more widely open their offices to their employees. Whether yours is a business bringing back the team en masse or staggered in shifts, the same cleaning and disinfecting protocols apply to ensure the safety of your staff. Every corner of your facilities, throughout all of your spaces and not just your heavily trafficked areas, must be thoroughly deep-cleaned, sanitized, and disinfected daily to maintain a clean, safe, and healthy workplace.

Consider this guideline as you make your plans to welcome your teams back to work:

• If you haven’t already, review and update your company health policies to include direct references to COVID-19.
• Reinforce the importance to employees at risk of exposure, or who have been exposed, or who are symptomatic, not to come into the office and continue their work remotely.
• Thoughtfully consider the layout of your office(s) and adapt to accommodate appropriate physical distancing.
• Provide consistent reminders about hygiene and handwashing – still the BEST way to prevent the spread of infection.
• Install hand sanitizing stations at all critical locations throughout your offices or facilities – entryways, bathrooms, and kitchens for instance.
• Provide necessary PPE masks and other equipment to those who need or desire it.
• Encourage an office policy of decluttering desks and surfaces to aid janitors in their efforts to clean effectively.
• Use professional janitorial services more frequently – ideally, daily – for thorough deep-cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting of your facilities. This includes increasing the frequency of commercial vacuuming and carpet cleaning to improve indoor air quality.