2020 was hardly a walk in the park, for anyone.

From worry and fear, to sickness, the loss of loved ones, panic buying, isolation, working from home, not working from home, keyworkers, redundancy, loss of jobs and businesses and the inevitable toll on mental health.

What can we do to soften the impact of Covid-19 on our employees? To ease their fears at work and support them in their daily challenges in the workplace.

Being a cleaning service provider, we must talk about increasing hygiene in the workplace necessary to mitigate the threat of Covid-19. However, as an employer of 1600 people, we can also offer our experience and share the ideas currently helping our team.

Hygiene in the workplace

Your cleaning regime must be visible. Provide hand sanitiser and place visual reminders about hand hygiene and social distancing throughout your premises. Communicate the daily cleaning schedule to your team so they feel confident returning to the workplace. Provide additional cleaning throughout the day to high touch point areas like door handles, push plates, handrails, washrooms, and canteen areas. If your cleaning teams use virucidal chemicals, let your team know.

Managing remote working

How are you supporting your remote workers or those working from home?

In March 2020, the novelty of working from home was appealing for a short time. No commute to work. Extra time with the children and virtual meetings in jogging bottoms, perfectly acceptable, when the boss couldn’t see.

However, for some the novelty has worn off. The lack of a daily chat with colleagues in the canteen or catchup meeting over a coffee is impacting many people’s lives.

Many larger businesses in the office sector are not returning to their workplaces yet. Others, like us, have adopted a hybrid scenario to maintain their business function and culture, working part time in the office and part time from home.

Can your business provide practical support for those employees who can’t work from home and come into regular close contact with customers or the general public like our cleaning teams, retail assistants, transport or delivery drivers and essential service workers? How can they be protected from the immediate health risks? Provision of personal PPE including face coverings or visors, gloves, and personal hand sanitiser and regular communication about the latest company and government guidance are simple solutions.

Supporting health, mental health and day to day issues

This year has had an incredible impact on mental health and while there is growing awareness, what practical measures can be put in place to help your employees?

Employee Assistance Programmes - At this time a supportive chat with your line manager might not cut it. And let’s face it, as best as we might try, our expertise probably doesn’t lie in professional counselling. The NHS counselling services are overwhelmed and waiting lists are months long. However, for as little as £4.00 or £5.00 per employee per year, your business could provide an Employee Assistance Programme free to all staff.

All staff can access unlimited helpline support 24/7. Every call is answered by a fully trained mental health counsellor providing immediate support. Such a service enables employees to access the counselling they need, discreetly and confidentially at a time and place that fits around work and home.

For your line managers when day-to-day team management becomes challenging, whether it’s providing guidance on approaching difficult conversations, tackling performance issues or managing long-term absences, experts are on hand to provide first-hand support in complex situations.

Health Cash Plans – Starting from as little as a couple of pounds a week per employee, a health cash plan is a fantastic and affordable way for your employees to claim money back towards essential health costs such as dental check-ups and treatment, contact lenses, glasses, chiropody, therapy treatments, homeopathy and much more.

Wellbeing Training – As well as the above, we are working with our wellbeing training provider to deliver a series of live webinars to raise awareness and understanding of the principles of mental well-being in the workplace in order to reduce stress and burnout.

If these ideas are not currently an option for your business, create your own internal focus group and collect information for your team through numerous free online resources.

We hope you find out article and experience helpful. Any step, however small, is a step towards a happier healthier workforce.

Nina Wyers – Marketing and Brand Director of The Floorbrite Group

The Floorbrite Group is a leading commercial cleaning and soft FM services provider, delivering solutions across the UK. For more information, visit www.floorbrite.co.uk