With all the uncertainty regarding coronavirus, it might feel strange to start working on how to welcome visitors again and ensure those face-to-face meetings are as safe and seamless as possible.
But that’s exactly what we need to do, because going back to those meetings is a bigger adjustment than most think. And those who procrastinate risk wasting a lot of time and money in last-minute solutions.
Take a moment to imagine re-opening the offices exactly as they were before: you’re sitting in a full open space, sharing a row of desks. Visitors and contractors scribble illegible names in a logbook. Meetings kick off with a handshake. You eat from communal snack bowls.
Sounds terrifying, right?
Getting back into the swing of things with the “new norm” is going to be a rollercoaster. The good news is that you’ll get insight into the approaches most leaders are taking – it’s not just temperature scanners.
1. Let’s not reopen without thinking through the end-to-end workplace experience.
Many offices are going to realize that they can’t fit everyone into the same space as before without respecting safe distancing.
Imagine your staff’s frustration at coming in and discovering that they don’t have a place to sit. Or, your contractors’ frustration at realizing there isn’t enough space for them to work safely. Or, your visitors’ frustration when they have to wait outside or when they are denied access due to the onsite limit reaching full capacity.
Companies will need tools to display expected occupancy rates and triggers to avoid such frustrations. ATG Digital assists with solutions around space management as well as capacity management.
2. The importance of flexibility and data.
Flexibility is important because whatever you put in place today will be changed tomorrow. You need tools that you control, not tools that require training or are coded in HTML. Systems that you can edit from your home at 10pm when you see the rules have changed...yet again.
The second thing you want is data. You want to make sure that you can export and own all of the data so you can use it at a later stage
3. Protect your front desk staff by creating a touchless check-in experience.
As the world returns to work, we’ll be helping top global brands manage the risk of allowing people on their premises, before, during, and after the time they are onsite. (If you'd like to learn more, get in touch with us.)
We recommend creating a contactless zone where contractors, visitors, and anyone not habitually on your premises prove their risk level on a device.
This zone could include:
- Putting the kiosks and the badge printers a few meters from the receptionists at a minimum.
- Allow them to scan their drivers licence/ID for visitor authenticity
- Send them an invitation with questions and a QR code to be scanned and allowed entry only if criteria is passed.
At ATG, we work directly with people who are managing or manning front desks and access control. If you’d like to informally benchmark yourself against others in your industry, or just talk about solutions to strengthen workplace security, our team is on standby to help you out.
For more information on combating COVID-19 in the workplace now and in the future, visit our COVID Assist Resource Center.