Returning to the workplace or campus in 2022 is anything but business as usual. Making sure hygiene, floor plans and your network are ready is an all-hands endeavor that’s going to take everyone from HR and technology to marketing and facilities management. Here’s a checklist to help you get it all right.

Safety and Security

• Establish a mobile access control system to easily manage occupancy with shift schedules. Provide a simple way to assign users to groups and grant access for different people on different days.

• Install security systems with touchless access points that staff, students, patients and visitors can operate via mobile devices.

• Institute automated daily check-ins that that include self-reported health status or waivers to authorize building entry.

• Revise visitor access on security systems to give visitors access based on your current wellness procedures.

• Install Elevated Body Temperature (or EBT) scanners at your point of entry, so staff, patients, students and visitors can pre-screen and provide a visual cue that you’re committed to keeping everyone safe.

• Automate your campus or workplace sanitization with contactless and affordable UVC (ultraviolet C) solutions to safely disinfect surfaces and spaces without supervision.

Seating, Space, and Collaboration

• Install desk sharing and hoteling software that provides remote access to reserve, monitor, and assign work spaces with minimal contact.

• Promote digital equity with advanced remote collaboration tools, so in-person and at-home workers or students can work together regardless of location. We recommend a campfire configuration in the workplace – one that provides all parties with a separate window for face-to-face contact.

• Test and evaluate all collaboration spaces to make sure your technology works ­­– and that each is preloaded with the collaboration platforms you need, including Zoom, Teams, WebEx, etc.

Network

• Test the outer limits of your network in advance of your return. Make sure it can support additional collaboration traffic and provide more than enough coverage to handle spikes.

• Establish a videoconferencing etiquette guide with organization-wide protocols. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

- Avoid calling from busy locations and mask your background or turn your camera off to minimize distractions.

- Mute your mic unless you are speaking.

- Ensure you have a fully charged, properly functioning headset at the start of each day.

- Optimize your network connection and troubleshoot connectivity before calls begin.

Conference and Training Rooms

• Make certain each type of meeting space is configured with the same advanced collaboration technology for hybrid teams and set occupancy limits to include plenty of social distancing space.

• Deploy user-friendly applications that let staff reserve spaces in advance.

• Install or update digital signage to make it easier for staff, students, patients and providers to find their destination and minimize foot traffic.

• Configure room systems with technology that lets you connect, command, and control the space any way you want.

• Make sure collaboration platforms are consistent and seamlessly support in house users as well users in remote and/or at home settings.

Returning to the workplace or campus planning can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’re here. We can help turn your workplace or campus vision into a manageable strategy with a complimentary consultation that can point you to affordable and easy-to-implement solutions.

Talk to a technology expert today.