Returning to Work

You must complete a return to work risk assessment (as above), which will help highlight what needs to be done to ensure a smooth return to the workplace. It will differ depending on many factors including your industry, size of premises, whether employers want to continue to let staff work from home. In order to get your workplace up and running, it may be that you consider a staggered return, agreeing who should return and when. This will allow for procedures to be tweaked and amended, as it is extremely difficult to take into account every eventuality, while social distancing is no longer required, it is something that some workplaces feel like they want to continue to implement. Ensuring managers and supervisors are clear on the new policies and procedures is vital and it will help establish new practices as more of the workforce return. Check out our Returning to work and preparing for the future blog for more information on how you can plan a safe and gradual return to the workplace. After agreeing and implementing practical steps these need to be communicated to your workforce. This is a key part of the return to work process, as if you can establish trust with your employees it will give them the confidence to return. You must also communicate any changes to business operations or their job role as a result of Covid-19 before their return. As employees return after an extended time away from work employers will also need to consider bringing employees back up to speed with Health & Safety and other areas of compliance through refresher training.

The government have provided guidance for employers to make workplaces ‘Covid-Secure’ which can be accessed here. Advice is for specific industry sectors including social distancing measures that could be put in place to protect employees and customers from Covid-19 and general infection prevention and control methods. Workplaces can download a certificate to display in the workplace to confirm they have followed government guidance on managing the risk of Covid-19.

As of the 19th of July, legal restrictions have been lifted and any business can open as they are no longer being told to work from home. Gov.uk report that: “From Step 4, social distancing guidance will no longer apply. This means that you do not need to implement social distancing in your business, workplace or venue, and customers and workers do not need to keep apart from people they don’t live with. The government is no longer instructing people to work from home if they can, so employers can start to plan a return to workplaces. During this period of high prevalence, the government expects and recommends a gradual return over the summer. You should discuss the timing and phasing of a return with your workers.”

People are now no longer being advised to work from home, but employers should give extra consideration to people at higher risk and those facing mental/physical health problems. While people who previously needed too are no longer being told to shield, employers should talk to the individuals about their needs and provide them with the support they need. As part of your risk assessment, you should have identified employees that are more at risk of Covid-19. It is of utmost importance that you have open lines of communication with your employees and discuss any concerns they may have. It may be possible to redeploy them into another area in the business which will result in less human contact or allow them to work from home. It may be that they can still be furloughed, as the initial shielding period was set as 12 weeks. Continue to follow the current government advice on shielding.