Office Reopening Guide

Synopsis

Your company needs to deliver a concise yet reliable plan to reopen the office after Covid. Use our Office Reopening Guide to communicate your priorities, strategy, timeline, and safety protocols. Set your employee's anxiety at ease and walk them through the preventative measures and additional resources that will be provided to them during this sensitive time.

Outcome

Covid-19 has forever changed the social contract between employers and employees. The emotional wellbeing of employees is a greater priority than ever before, and expectations for physical, emotional, financial, and digital safety in your workplace are higher than ever before. How do you meet this moment?

With a solid plan, backed up by easy-to-read metrics, timelines, and guidelines, you can meet realistic goals to reopen that makes sense for your business. Use the Office Reopening Guide to set measured expectations with a structured plan that demonstrates what criteria need to be met to reopen according to calculated considerations.

Slide highlights

Our priorities

Begin with an overview of the organization's priorities and the key steps it will take. This helps take stock of where the organization is now and defines the phases of implementation. It's important to establish that the organization's primary concern during this entire process is the safety and well-being of the employees.

While each organization's priorities may differ, some common ones focus on how the workplace will change in accordance with the reopening, how the workflow will shift as reopening occurs, and how risk will be managed with contingency plans and build better processes for future readiness in case of further outbreaks. (Slide 3)

Reporting time

Visually demonstrate to company management and employees what each phase of reopening will look like and when it will occur. The goal is to set expectations and provide every stakeholder with the same understanding of what each phase will entail.

This calendar visualization helps demonstrate the expected timeline of each phase over a six-month period. Because timelines can change rapidly due to local vaccination and infection rates, it's vital to have a flexible timetable that isn't hard-set around exact dates but can be pushed back according to specific milestones as needed. (Slide 6)

Additional visualizations demonstrate what percentage of each department will be phased back into the workplace across the multiple phases. (Slide 7)

Tools and additional resources

To reopen properly, an organization will need a handful of tools that they can then share with key stakeholders to clarify how each decision is determined:

• A hazard assessment quantifies the level of exposure risk each department faces from low to high, with percentage breakdowns on the associated risk of exposure across teams, clients, or business travel (Slide 10)
• An organization will need to track which resources and supplies to keep on-site, provide for remote employees, have on-hand for hybrid office settings (Slide 14)
• Communicate screening and testing protocols to set employee expectations and update them frequently so employee actions don't become too relaxed. (Slide 15)
• Provide planned response for how to handle a positive test in the workplace, which will act as a systematic guideline that all managers and employees can follow (Slide 17)
• You may also want to provide additional resources through their HR department to help employees cope with all the changes, protocols, and stress during this time (Slide 19)

Sick days and PTO

Quarantine and recovery times have changed the way HR calculates sick time. Communicate how sick days and PTO will work going forward to help managers and employees track time off and account for the difference between regular sick days, holidays, PTO days, and covid-related quarantine days. (Slide 18)

Frequently asked questions

Even with all of these resources, employees will still have questions. Include a frequently asked questions slide to address any other specifics to your office. Each individual will have their own concerns with safety protocols, whether it's over vaccinations, inter-personal concerns, or any other workplace reopening questions not covered in the example. (Slide 20)