Now that businesses can at last open again, the big challenge now if you run a call centre or busy office is how to reorganise your desks and other spaces. How many protective screens you use depends on several factors, including how your office furniture is currently organised.
Making sure that you have high quality screens in place is essential. If you opt for low-quality, it can mean that your staff don’t feel safe and that can, in the short and long-term, cost you in productivity and reputation.
Of course, businesses will want to keep their reopening costs down to a minimum. So how many screens will you need? Here are just a few things to consider.
Assess your workspace
According to current guidelines, it’s better if people can either work side by side or back to back rather than face to face. If your office or call centre design allows you to move furniture around so that staff are not directly facing each other, then it can help reduce the number of screens that you need once you reopen.
If you are unable to rearrange work stations, you may want to consider how many people you can safely have seated in a particular area. You may want to stagger the number of staff in a particular area. This might also mean that you have some staff working from home and others coming into the office if you want to keep everyone employed.
While it’s not always possible, try to avoid hot-desking where several staff members can use one particular station. Again, if this isn’t possible then you will need to ensure that keeping the area hygienically clean for the next user has some strict procedures to follow that staff understand clearly.
Choosing your protective screens
Lightweight, desktop screens are ideal for office and call centre environments and can be moved around as and where they are needed. Investing in quality for your workforce shows that you take their safety seriously and are doing everything to protect them.
While for many businesses cost is going to be an issue, buying the right protective screens can save money in the long term. Look for durability and ease of storage as well as ease of cleaning.
How many screens?
Ideally, each desk space will have one screen to each of its sides and one in front for complete protection. If you have organised your areas so that staff are not facing each other or have managed to increase the distance between desks, then this will help determine how many screens you definitively need.
With staff sitting side by side, some desks will share screens so that will also reduce the total number that you require.
There may be other areas in your business such as kitchens that will require standing screens to help keep people separated. You may also want to use screens in facilities such as toilets.
If you have a member of staff in a customer-facing role such as at a reception desk, you will need to consider what type of screen you put in place so that visibility and communication are not hampered. You may also need to think about areas such as boardrooms and whether these can be made safe using portable screens.
Again, the number of screens comes down to how many staff you have, where they are going to be seated and how close they are to each other.
Where can I find protective screens for the office?
At WeddingMart, we’ve invested in the procurement of high-quality aluminium frame and acrylic screens that are lightweight and perfect for the office environment or a call centre. With different size screens that are easy to clean available, your office can be up and running in next to no time.