An Introduction to Health Preparedness Partners’ Return to Workplace Framework

Oct 15

As a business leader, you may be tasked with making complex reopening decisions in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With the health of both your business and employees at stake, this is not a simple undertaking, and the choices you make now will have far-reaching—and potentially future-defining—consequences. Before committing to any one course of action, you and your team will need to answer many fundamental questions, such as:

When, and how, can we return to the workplace?
What are the most effective ways to protect our team and customers?
How should we interpret and apply emerging evidence and public health guidance?
How does vaccination and the emergence of the new virus variants impact our reopening decisons?
How can we best prepare for subsequent pandemic waves and threats?

To help office-based organizations navigate these challenges, Health Preparedness Partners (HPP) developed a RTW (Return-to-Workplace) Framework.

Below, we provide a brief introduction to each of the six pillars in the Framework:

Public Health Policies

Although the daily case rates are fairly low in most areas of the US, business leaders must maintain a keen awareness of any new state and local governmental policies that could affect a return to the workplace. Since the pandemic started in 2020, there have been multiple waves of disease, with cases waxing and waning more than five times. Most experts do not believe that this virus will disappear in the near future, so employers must be prepared for another wave. Upticks in the number of cases and impacts on local hospitals may cause rapid changes in local policies governing business openings and protective measures such as mask use in indoor settings. Since state and local jurisdictions are managing the pandemic differently, it is important to be aware of the policies in each jurisdiction where an organization is physically located.

Organizations can designate a member of their reopening task force who is responsible for conducting ongoing policy assessments in the communities where the organization operates since these policies are dynamic and subject to change without notice.

Pandemic Trend

In addition to monitoring public health policies, organizations should keep a close eye on the CDC COVID-19 Community Level as well as whether cases are increasing, decreasing, or stable, not just in the counties where their business operates, but also in the counties where most of their employees reside.

Organizations will likely not fully return to the worksite during a widespread and growing outbreak because the probability of sick persons entering the workplace will be high. Daily monitoring will inform these decisions and will empower the organization to determine an optimal time for re-entry to the workplace.

Some key factors organizations should keep in mind include:

In cases where active acceleration does appear to be underway after reopening, the organization should roll back reopening efforts according to state and local policies.
Because the status of the pandemic can change quickly, it is essential that organizations monitor these trends daily, and are prepared to make adjustments as necessary.
Monitoring vaccination status in the community where the business is located (and where most employees reside) is another parameter to track. Decreased numbers of new cases of disease will likely result when there are high levels of vaccination among the population.

In cases where active acceleration does appear to be underway after reopening, the organization should roll back reopening efforts according to state and local policies. Because the status of the pandemic can change quickly, it is essential that organizations monitor these trends, and are prepared to make adjustments as necessary.

Employee Readiness

A successful reopening cannot happen if employees do not feel safe or are unwilling to return to the worksite. In order to gauge employee readiness, the organization should maintain an open line of communication through which employees are encouraged to share their feelings toward a return to the worksite.

One way to establish this dialogue is through the implementation of serial anonymous surveys, sent to the workforce on a periodic basis, which can help leaders assess the genuine sentiments of their staff. Through this process, the organization can more easily identify and address concerns, questions, or challenges they may face in a reopening process.

We also encourage employers to provide frequent communication to employees about the current status of reopening plans, including:

Education around the current state of the pandemic

Detailed information about what the business is doing to prepare the workplace for reopening
Specific steps and actions business leaders are taking to protect employees
Expectations of staff after reopening

Business leaders can also monitor the level of vaccination in the employee population to inform the timing for return to the workplace. Asking about vaccination status through periodic anonymous surveys can indicate when vaccination levels are increasing—this can factor into decisions for return to work.

Business Realities

The dynamic nature of the ongoing pandemic provides business leaders with a unique opportunity to revisit and refine their business continuity efforts. As a first step in this process, the organization should determine and document which specific factors (or confluence of factors) would create a compelling reason to return to the office. Additionally, leaders will need to identify the business realities that may impede—or alternatively, expedite—moving forward with return-to-work plans.

Because the pandemic is likely to ebb and flow for a long period of time, organizations would be wise to rethink the role of the physical worksite in their organization. For example, it may make sense for certain companies to treat the office as a resource center, where employees can gather in smaller teams on an as-needed basis, while continuing to encourage remote work as standard practice for the foreseeable future. In organizations where a large portion of employees must be physically present at the worksite in order to carry out their duties, reopening may need to take place sooner, but configured to allow for distancing and other protective measures.

Physical Site Readiness

Although the current rate of new cases of COVID-19 is low in most jurisdictions, alterations in the worksite will continue to play an important role in keeping the workforce safe, and protective measures can be increased if there is an increase in cases or if a new variant causes a resurgence of illnesses. This process will require some combination of modifications to the building (or systems within it); the establishment of new protective policies and cleaning and disinfection procedures; and a host of other advanced planning measures, including procedures for:

Establishing and promoting best practices for limiting contact between individuals in elevators and stairwells
Ensuring proper ventilation in the building (HVAC systems)
Building an adequate supply of face coverings, cleaning supplies, and other PPE
Creating and staffing a plan for frequent cleaning & disinfection
Encouraging a continued emphasis on strict hand hygiene and providing easy access to hand washing stations or sanitizers

Community Status

Just as leaders must keep an eye on the current status of the pandemic trend in their counties of operation, they will also need to stay up-to-date with other external factors impacting their communities, as these may have implications on their return to work plans.

Transportation, for instance, might be a continued concern for organizations based in large cities, where the majority of employees depend on public transit options to commute to work.

Other external factors that can influence workplace reopening decisions include the status of evolving virus variants. This includes emergence of new variants that cause increased levels of severe illness or if current vaccines have lower efficacy against these new strains.

Looking for expert reopening guidance?

As outlined above, preparing to reopen your workplace is a lengthy and involved process. We have just touched on a few items for each element of this Return to Workplace Framework. Due to the amount of work that must go into preparing a worksite for re-entry, and the dynamic nature of a pandemic, business leaders are encouraged to include a generous amount of ramp up time in their reopening plans.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we might be able to assist your reopening efforts, we’d love to learn more about your organization’s needs. You can schedule a free consultation with Dr. Lisa Koonin, the founder of HPP, by filling out the contact form here on our website.

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Samantha Lamph