COVID-19: Best Practices in the Office
At this time, many companies are beginning to return to the office. While some companies are allowing more flexibility between working remotely and working in the office, it’s important to handle foot traffic properly if anyone is back in the office. Having the proper procedures in place can set your office up for success and lower the risk for COVID-19 transmission. The CDC and OSHA have some guidelines for COVID-19 best practices in the office, and we’ve created some tips on how to handle visitors.
COVID Office Tips
After understanding how COVID spreads and how it could affect the office, the next step is to prepare for the office to reopen. This includes planning for employees, vendors, and visitors to move throughout the building again. Here are a few suggestions on best practices to follow in the office right now during COVID:
- Promote frequent hand washing and sanitizing of surfaces
- Encourage employees to stay home if they’re sick
- Discourage employees from sharing office equipment such as phones and computers
- Space out workstations, ideally 6ft apart
- Restrict the number of employees or visitors in a particular area
- Install high-quality air filters
- Install physical barriers such as plastic sneeze guards
- Alternate working days or shifts to minimize the number of employees in the office at one time
- Require everyone to wear a mask while in the building
How to Handle Visitors During COVID
If you’ve decided to open your doors back up and you’re ready to start bringing back visitors, what’s the best way to do that? We suggest pre-registering visitors, having visitors answer pre-screening questions, and set capacity limits for the office. Our visitor management software, BreezN, has been updated to add several features that assist with COVID visitor procedures.
Pre-Register Visitors:
You can now send all visitors a pre-registration link to fill out their contact information, complete a pre-screening questionnaire, and sign an NDA before their visit takes place. This will help expedite the check-in process and reduce the number of touches on the iPad kiosk when checking-in.
Pre-Screen Visitors:
One of the best ways to keep sick visitors out of the office is to pre-screen them before they enter the lobby. Our software offers custom pre-screening questions like: “Have you been in recent contact with a COVID-positive person?” and/or “Have you been feeling sick within the last two weeks?” If a visitor answers any of these unsatisfactorily their visit can be denied. This pre-screening process helps the office remain COVID free.
Visitor Count:
The BreezN dashboard will show all visitors for the day. Whether those currently check-in, pending approval, or scheduled for later in the day. The BreezN dashboard lets you keep track of the visitor count for any given day. Easily maintain capacity standards and avoid overcrowding the office by creating a maximum number of visitors per day.
Reopen the Office with Confidence
The best way to be confident about reopening is to have a plan and be prepared. Visitor management is a simple solution that solves these COVID specific challenges. Following COVID best practices in the office doesn’t have to be challenging or laborious. Our software assists with visitor procedures and lessens the burden. We’ve fully trained our staff to be ready to help companies reopen and be prepared to handle visitors again under these conditions. Contact Veristream today at 1-888-718-0807 or schedule a demo online to see how our visitor management software handles visitor traffic.
