Navigating a return to the office has been a complex task for so many businesses, made only more difficult by the ever-changing governmental rules and advice on how to do so safely. Risk consulting director at Gallagher Bassett, Ashley Easen (pictured) and her team have been leading several projects for clients returning to physical premises, which has offered her a first-person view of the risks businesses need to assess before re-opening.
Working with a broad range of clients has come with its challenges, she noted, as some had to close their doors completely when COVID struck, while others, particularly in the public sector, had to continue delivering a service and thus required significant and ongoing advice. Every business is different, she said, which meant the support and assistance they require to carry on in a time of crisis also differed. One constant, however, was that businesses displayed genuine willingness and eagerness to keep up to date with safety requirements and to do things the right way.
“Of course, some of our clients have had some office activity throughout the COVID lockdowns, but we’re getting increased requests to go and carry out a risk analysis of workplaces to make sure they’ve got the right safety measures in place,” she said. “And I think there’s almost a sense of fear with restrictions lifting, as people have to ask what to do next. People have put so many measures in place – they’ve put dividers up between desks, installed hand sanitisers, and put up one-way walkthroughs in their buildings or offices. And now they need to ask, how much of that should they keep and how much should they take away?”
Efforts go beyond just planning for a return, she noted, and extend to planning for a ‘re-exit’. If companies open their doors and let people back in and then a positive COVID case is reported, they need to know what to do next, whether they need to shut down that area, that building or that floor.
“They’re trying to avoid that see-saw of having opened then closed premises all the time,” she said, “or at least find out how to deal with that fluid movement. It is difficult – there is a recognition that we need to move towards this position where we build some level of herd immunity. My view is that the vaccination programme has broken the back, not of the number of cases, but of the link between cases and the hospitalisation rate.”
However, for the working world, COVID is inevitably going to continue to result in a lot more people being off work. Self-isolation is still in place, she noted, and this is having a significant impact on businesses. These firms are now looking for structured advice on how best to handle their people being pinged on the track and trace system and to implement a best practice policy around that. If somebody has been pinged but they’ve done a lateral flow test that has come back negative, should they go back into the office? These are the kinds of questions Gallagher Bassett is encouraging their clients to be thinking about now.
Having a concrete plan and strategy in place is the key to moving forward, she said. The wider working world is currently fearful that claims may arise at a later date from people who may have felt forced back into the office before they were comfortable, which is why these plans need a solid health and safety structure inbuilt into them. The safety and welfare of employees in the workplace is high on the agenda of businesses, which is resulting in a more cautious and measured return to traditional working practices.
“We’re not seeing a lot of clients saying ‘Yay, freedom’ and throwing their doors fully open so everyone can come back in at once,” she said. “There seems to be more of a phased return and step-by-step programmes, which I think is probably the wisest way to do it – both in terms of protecting people from the virus transmission but also in terms of the mental health and wellbeing of workforces.”
