Safely manage workplace visitors during COVID-19 with these 5 helpful tips for employers and administrators.
Adaptation is the keyword for everyone this year, both at home and at work. And like every aspect of life, the ways we manage visitors at the office must adapt to the need for greater clarity regarding the health of those we come into contact with.
Implementing protocol to mitigate the risk of infection, in addition to clearly communicating such protocol to on-site visitors is the first step to safely managing workplace guests like contractors, clients, partners, and more. Best practices like secure and detailed record-keeping will only support a more seamless return to the workplace amid COVID-19.
All of these efforts help to maintain confidence in management’s ability to mitigate the risk of on-site infection.
Here are five tips for safely managing workplace visitors during COVID-19:
1. Communicate protocol to visitors before their visit
Communication is key when enforcing new processes both inside and outside of your organization. Letting visitors know they are encouraged or required to wear a mask on the premises will ensure they are equipped with the proper protective wear. In addition, strictly enforcing that all individuals feeling unwell stay home will also be important to communicate in a pre-visit notification. And lastly, stating any new on-site protocol such as social distancing and mandatory temperature checks will help to avoid any surprises for guests.
Helpful tech tip: Some visitor management software offers the ability to pre-register guests and send out an automated email notification that can include your COVID-19 visitor guidelines. Automated notification like this creates a more efficient, streamlined process for your team and your front desk administrator.
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2. Record check-in date and time for all visitors
While most offices have some form of visitor management, many still operate with manual sign-in sheets. The benefit of logging the details of everyone who visits your facility in a digital database is that it can serve as non-invasive contact tracing should anyone at your place of work fall ill with COVID-19.
Helpful tech tip: Secure visitor management software can rapidly generate a report of all on-site persons, when they checked in, and who they were on-site to see. Also, logging check-in details in a secure database protect the privacy of guests and keep their data safe.
3. Enforce a self-assessment from all who enter your place of work
Upon check-in visitors can complete a self-health assessment, agreeing to several parameters that decrease the likelihood of COVID spread. An effective assessment will include questions like the following examples:
- Have you been around anyone known to have COVID-19 or other flu-like symptoms?
- Have you experienced flu-like symptoms, fever, cough, or shortness of breath in the past week?
Helpful tech tip: In order to check in visitors efficiently, it helps to have this visitor self-assessment completed electronically. This minimizes the need for personnel to assess a visitor in person, allowing them to maintain social distancing requirements. It also stores the completed assessment in a secure database, reducing paper trails, and maintaining organization with all visitor data.
Check-in kiosks can serve as a beneficial tool for fast, easy check-in and self-assessment.
4. Implement a temperature screening kiosk for fast, contactless screening
Temperature screening kiosks are becoming more common in workplace entry points across the world, as they reveal a primary tell-tail symptom for COVID and create a sense of safety among employees. More hygienic than other temperature screening methods, advanced temperature screening kiosks can detect fever from up to three feet away in less than one second.
[Want to learn more about safe back-to-work protocols? Call us today at 310-531-8505.]
5. Make the visitor check-in as contactless as possible
In this frictionless technological age, it is easier than ever to avoid touching a single surface in shared spaces. Safely manage workplace visitors by planning ahead and utilizing software and hardware developed to reduce contact. Reducing contact and the number of surfaces commonly touched can foster greater hygiene in your lobby or check-in area, minimizing the spread of germs in the workplace.
Printing visitor badges in advance and having them complete any needed forms digitally prior to their arrival will create a more seamless and contactless check-in process.
Helpful tech tip: Implementing ID scanning at a self-service check-in kiosk can safely manage workplace visitors by populating data into a visitor management system without having to type or write a single word. Registration, badge printing, host notification, and health assessment –– in addition to watching list screening –– can all be done with one contactless scan of your visitor’s driver’s license or other official ID.
If your team is not able to manage a contactless check-in process for visitors, make sure to wipe down all frequently touched surfaces multiple times per day.
