Episode #364: The Great Safe Return To The Workplace Caper in Japan

Congratulations on escaping the Covid-19 virus by staying safe and working from home. We all want to see our businesses succeed and we all want to stay healthy. If it is time now to go back to the workplace, understand that there will be members of the team, who are concerned about their continued safety. As the boss, you have a responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for the team.

Here are some things for everyone to think about.

We all have to learn how to co-exist with Covid-19, so why try and replicate the old work style?

Avoiding crowded transport and elevators are smart ideas.

Try working from home in the morning, go in a bit later to the office to avoid the crowds and do the same thing by leaving earlier than normal. When you get back home continue working. Yes, it may mean continuing to work after 5.00pm or 6.00pm, but this is the trade off, for coexisting with the virus. You will get the same amount of work done in a day spread out over more extended hours. We all need to be more flexible about developing a new work rhythm.

Why not check your own temperature at home before you leave, to be certain you are no risk to colleagues at the office. This takes about two minutes, so it is manageable, even for busy people. Avoid all surfaces when you are outside like stair or escalator handrails, subways straps and posts, elevator and vending machine buttons, etc. Wearing gloves outside makes a lot of sense, in addition to a face mask and maybe a face shield where appropriate.

Directly touching others through handshakes, fist bumps, hands on the shoulder, pats on the back, high fives etc., are obviously now out, so bowing will be a much better alternative.

We need to rethink how we work in the office.

Does everyone really have to be there every day?

Why not have teams permanently rotate. On certain days, some staff will go to the office while the others work from home. The so-called A Team and B Team interchange. Maybe Fridays is the day for everyone to work from home?

Hold stand up meetings at the office to make them shorter and allow proper social distancing rules to apply. Do we actually need to meet together in person. Could we be in the office at our desks and still meet online?

Certainly have coffee breaks together to catch up on what has been happening in our lives, but always use social distancing. Everyone can have their own cup, so there is no need to share any crockery any more.

Masks and face shields are good ideas when we are gathered together and by making it a common rule, no one feels weird or out of place. Clear plexiglass barriers between seats makes sense. If reintroducing individual cubicles and offices makes more sense than open plan arrangements, then we are all going back to the future!

Reduce the amount of paper which needs to be circulated by hand. What about “handing over meishi”? Is this now a thing of the past? Can we connect electronically? Anyone remember “Bump”, a discontinued app which electronically exchanged our business contact details on the spot at a networking event? There are several apps such as iCheck, Camcard, PiQy, Eight, and Shoot which may get a new lease of life now. Anyway, let’s make greater use of electronic document sharing and do all of our approvals on-line.

Enforce best practice hygiene standards.

We are continuously reminded to avoid touching our faces, eyes, noses and mouths, because this is how we get absorb the virus. Easy to proclaim, but not so easy to do.

Regularly washing our hands with soap throughout the day, for twenty seconds, including the areas under the fingernails, between the fingers and up to the wrist are best practice. Soap breaks apart the container that holds the virus and then the virus is then washed away. Use a paper towel to dry your hands and turn the water faucet off with that paper towel as well. Also we should use hand sanitiser.

With your colleagues, allocate teams throughout the day to regularly clean door knobs and surfaces like coffee pots, elevator buttons, tabletops, photocopiers, mobile phones, whiteboards and marker pens.

Bringing your own bento reduces your exposure to outsiders at lunch time. You can still eat lunch with your colleagues and at a safe distance.

Let’s all keep well and stay safe.