I’ve been working remotely for more than half a year already. This means I either worked from my home office or went to a local café. I find I can be very productive in this manner. This said, I haven’t had my own office for about a year as operated from a coworking space for 6 months before switching to 100% remote. However, I can relate to business owners who are in a difficult position right now with their teams temporarily working remotely due to Covid. I think many teams will convert permanently to remote environments and some will go in to an office occasionally, maybe weekly or monthly, as needed. However, I think its unlikely that everyone who was working in an office back in March is going to go back, short or long term.
For those business owners and teams who NEED to be physically together, be it daily or once a month, ensuring the health and wellbeing of all employees and staff, as well as customers, partners, etc. should be of paramount importance. I cant imagine anyone disagreeing with this! If I needed to bring my team back together I’d want to take steps to ensure risks were as low as possible AND ensure everyone felt good about returning.
Air purification and surface disinfection is proven to work. Setting up a system to address daily goes a long way to reduce risks. However, beyond just implementing a system, the team needs to be fully informed and educated on the science, engineering, and practical implications of the technologies involved. Of course, one reason for educating a team is to highlight any safety concerns. Of this it should definitely me mentioned that UVC light is harmful on skin and eyes if directly exposed. Everyone needs to know that no UVC lights should ever be turned on when a room is occupied.
By educating a team on the benefits and potential risks of a purification and disinfection system, the goal would be to alieve any fears or hesitance about returning to a shared office setting. Its not just meant to give the employee peace of mind, but to allow him or her to bring a similar comfort to their families at home.
So, setting up a world class sanitizing solution is only the first step to a successful return to normalcy of our teams. As our human resources are undoubtedly our most valuable, the next step is educating them so that all involved have a high degree of confidence in their return to an office setting. Only such confidence can lead to peace of mind for all our team members.