How coronavirus will change workplaces post lockdown

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted normal worklife severely. The global economy came to a halt because of the pandemic and now every business and economist is waiting for it to be over as soon as possible. The decision of imposing nationwide lockdown by the government has now started to take a toll on the GDP.

While healthcare authorities are trying their best to contain the virus, the union government is fighting a two-edged battle against it. On one hand it is trying to prevent the community transmission and on the other hand saving the economy is becoming a huge task. Taking cognizance of the economic downfall, the government has now started to allow the opening of select businesses and manufacturing facilities since April 20. Other businesses are now also expecting the opening of their campuses and welcoming their employees back in the offices.

But once the world begins to get normal after the pandemic subsides, it would have taught a lot of lessons to India Inc. From social distancing to remote working, the virus would surely change the dynamics of workplaces. A lot of offices will be making changes to their setup to ensure a pandemic like this has little chance of spreading in the future.

Although the government has mandated certain guidelines to act upon before the opening of workplaces, there’s a lot that needs to be done for ensuring the safety of employees at the workplace. Let’s look at how the virus will change things at workplaces after the lockdown gets over.

Daily sanitization and disinfection of workplace

While the workplaces used to get cleaned everyday before the employees came in for their shifts, post the lockdown cleaning and mopping won’t be the only thing employers will have to take care of. Now hygiene is not just limited to the office looking clean and shiny, employers will now have to step up their sanitization game.

All areas in the premises will have to be disinfected completely using a user-friendly disinfectant medium. Most frequently used places like entrance gates of buildings, cafeteria and canteens, equipment and lifts, or washroom, toilet, sink, water points, etc, will have to be disinfected more than once a day.

Surely it would increase the cost of the employer, but on the other hand the company will save a lot of money when its employees are safe and healthy.

Get rid of the “touch”

Prior to the pandemic, no one really cared about who was the last person to touch the biometric machine or who handled the doorknob. But when things get up and running, employees will hesitate to touch or handle the things which are frequently operated by other employees. Employers will now have to keep this employee’s fear in mind while managing the workplace.

It’s time when employers get rid of the biometrics entry and switch back to the old RFID-based cards for punch in/out. Employers will now have to hire additional staff purely dedicated to handle the photocopy or printing machine and for operating the lift.

Even the old doors and gates will now have to find a corner in some scrap store. Offices and campuses will either have to switch to a doorless environment or put up automatic functioning doors. Hiring a good-old doorman can also be an alternative.

Also, the old washroom infrastructure needs to be phased out. There can no longer be the old rotating taps. Instead of them, contactless taps with infrared sensors have to be put in place. Such taps will save employees from catching any kind of flu/virus and will help the employers conserve water.

Thermal scanning at entrances

Every individual walking into an office building will soon be subject to thermal scanning. Forget about going to work or a meeting if you are running a fever. Most offices will have thermal scanners or at the very least an infrared thermometer at the reception to gauge your temperature before granting access.

Many times, employees walk into the office even when they’re sick or catch the flu because either they’re out of paid leaves, or they don’t want to use their leaves. But this shall not be the case anymore. The coronavirus has changed a lot in the way people perceive such things. Now it has to be a compulsion for such employees to remain at home and get themselves cured first.

And even if somebody tries to walk in with fever or something, thermal scanning is the solution to your problem. A cheaper device is an infrared thermometer or thermal gun, which costs about Rs 8,000. It emits an infrared ray that at close proximity, but without contact, can read the body temperature of an individual.

Remote Working

From being an occasional practice before the pandemic, remote working has now become a hot topic for discussion. The coronavirus outbreak has led to the world’s largest work-from-home experiment. With many companies now advocating work-from-home amid the coronavirus pandemic, crowded meeting rooms may just become a thing of the past. Meetings can now be easily held virtually, through the plethora of video-conferencing apps.

This will not only help maintain a hygienic social distance among employees or even clients, but it could also help save thousands of rupees on travel and commuting costs, not to mention the travel time as well. The way we see it, work-from-home or meeting virtually will soon become increasingly commonplace, which could be a good thing for the environment in the long run.

Not only is the practice being tested for its efficiency, but it is also saving employers a lot of money that was earlier spent on housing the employees.