Social distancing in a small business

Room for manoeuvre?

Applying social distancing in a small business

The phrase “social distancing” wasn’t in the common vernacular just a couple of months ago. Now it’s become the current way of life. Many of us are probably thinking this would soon all come to an end. Life would return to normal and it’ll all be business as usual. Maybe not yet.

The updates from the government are making it clear that even when lockdown is over, social distancing measures will need to remain in place. Rightly so if it means keeping people safe and well.  Still, there are many unknowns. We don’t have visibility of what the rules will be. What we do know is the way our businesses operated at the beginning 2020 is not how they are going to operate moving forward.  

If you’re a small business owner thinking about how you are going to re-open your business, whilst still complying with social distancing measures, here are a few questions to consider which have helped our clients:

o  Do you have the physical space to allow people to work and maintain a two-metre distance from each other?  

o  Would altering start/finish times help the commute to keep your team safe?

o  Would altering shift patterns and job roles make it easier to comply with social distancing in the workplace?

o  Do you need to provide staff with PPE?

o  What problems have you encountered with home working? 

o  What adjustments could you make to improve the effectiveness of home working? 

o  Can you implement a no visitor policy?

If you are thinking about how you are going to return to work, check out our getting back to work post covid-19 checklist here.