It turns out that working from home was the easy part! What are the challenges to be faced when back to the office we go?

When we first closed our offices and de-camped to the dining room table, lots of challenges – like bad broadband connections – were encountered. But we generally got on with work and made the best of a difficult situation.

We have worked hard over the last months but, for many solicitors, it was not work in any kind of traditional sense. New clients and new work enquiries slowed to a trickle, and they will not return in force until we are back in (rather than at) work and society has started to normalise.

Now, it turns out, returning to work is not going to be simple or easy. Even determining a return date is fraught, and employers are also being instructed to phase people returning to work over several months and to continue as much remote working as possible until the middle of August. 

On the one road

The Government has produced a Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business. This document revolves around five phases. Businesses have been instructed to plan their return to on-site working according to these phases:

• Phase 1 (from 18 May) involves outdoor workers returning to their workplaces on a phased basis,
• Phase 2 (from 8 June) will see solitary workers and others, who due to the nature of their work can maintain a two-metre distance constantly, return to work on a phased basis,
• Phase 3 (from 29 June) will be relevant to organisations where employees have low levels of daily interaction with people and where social distancing can be maintained,
• Phase 4 (from 20 July) is when all forms of on-site work can start and will involve those employees who are selected to be the first people to return to on-site working on a generalised basis,
• Phase 5 begins on 10 August, and it will progress to full on-site working arrangements that are likely to happen on a phased basis.

There is always the possibility that progress could end up being slower than this. If the rate of COVID-19 infection flares up again within the community, more lockdown measures will be put in place. So this roadmap really amounts to the best possible scenario.

The Government’s roadmap advises businesses to develop plans for a return to on-site work that takes COVID-19 risks into consideration.

Pressure to prepare for and to accommodate workplaces in order to minimise risk is likely to come from several directions over the next short while. For example, expect insurance companies to make searching enquiries about risk-minimising strategies and to require you to take even more measures on matters that they consider to be critical.

Walk this way

The Law Society’s Support Services have produced guidelines on how to return to on-site work. A 12-step approach is proposed that law firms can follow to organise return to the office effectively. Let us quickly walk through the 12 steps:

1. Risk assessment: firms should carry out an appropriate COVID-19 risk assessment, and this should be done in consultation with staff. Firms should share the results of the risk assessment with their staff, and the risk assessment should be regularly reviewed and updated thereafter.
2. Internal communications: the firm will need to provide clear, consistent and regular communication to improve understanding of new ways of working. Employers should engage with staff to understand unforeseen impacts of cha-nges to the working environment.
3. Working arrangements:for the time being, staff should work remotely if possible. Consider who is required on-site and plan the minimum number of people required on-site to operate safely and effectively. Keep in touch with off-site workers on their working arrangements, including their welfare, mental and physical health, and personal security. Provide facilities for people to work at home effectively – for example, remote access to work systems.
4. Vulnerable staff: staff members who are vulnerable to COVID-19 threats should be advised not to work outside the home. Employers should enable workers to work from home while self-isolating, if appropriate. Make adjustments to avoid workers with disabilities being put at a disadvantage and assess the health-and-safety risks for new or expectant mothers.
5. Risk management: where remote working from home is not possible, firms need to make every reasonable effort to comply with Government social-distancing guidelines. Where the guidelines cannot be followed in full in relation to an activity, firms need to consider whether that activity needs to continue for the business to operate.
6. Social distancing: firms should stagger arrival and departure times at work to reduce crowding into and out of the workplace. Handwashing facilities, or hand sanitiser where not possible, need to be provided at entry and exit points. Do not use touch-based security devices such as keypads. Introduce more one-way flow through buildings. Reduce maximum occupancy for lifts, provide hand sanitiser in lifts, and encourage the use of stairs.
7. Workstations:review layouts and processes to allow people to work further apart from each other. Use floor tape or paint to mark areas to help workers keep to a two-metre distance. Where it is not possible to move workstations further apart, use screens and arrange people to work side-by-side or facing away from each other.
8. Meetings:use remote working tools to avoid in-person meetings. Only necessary participants should attend meetings and should maintain two-metre separation throughout.
9. Common areas: work collaboratively with landlords and other tenants in multi-tenant sites/buildings to ensure proper social distancing across common areas. Install screens to protect staff. Reconfigure seating and tables to maintain spacing and reduce face-to-face interactions.
10. Visitors: encourage visits via remote connection/working where this is an option. Where site visits are required, site guidance on social distancing and hygiene should be explained to visitors on or before arrival. Limit the number of visitors at any one time.
11. Teamwork: consider how teamwork is organised and whether existing arrangements compromise social distancing in the workplace.
12. Work-related travel: minimise non-essential travel and encourage remote options. Minimise the number of people travelling together in one vehicle. Clean shared vehicles between shifts or on handover.