Social distancing in the workplace

Event Information

The British Chambers of Commerce suggests that 1 in 10 businesses will struggle to implement social distancing, and fewer than 2 in 5 businesses agree they can implement social distancing and fully restart operations in the process. Despite the challenge ahead, FM / workplace / HR / real estate leaders across the country will be called upon to design a social distancing plan, whether it's one or two metres, that not only keeps people safe but can also aid business continuity.

In this webinar, Raj Krishnamurthy, CEO of workplace technology company Freespace, will:

- explain how businesses are leveraging technology to support social distancing, occupancy    based cleaning with compliance and planning in mind

- offer an overview of the key considerations of a social distancing plan

- reveal how insight gleaned from sensor data, coupled with positive behavioural reinforcement, will help organisations learn and adapt in line with the challenges ahead.

Organisations are already exploring ways to minimise cross contamination and reduce the impact on business operations. To this end, two strategies are proving popular to reduce the spread of the virus:

- the ‘split group’ strategy involves separating employees into different weekly groups to support business continuity in the event that one group becomes infected

- the ‘split desk’ strategy enables the alternating usage of desks between days, creating maximum usage of the space overall and more time for cleaning teams to react to the demand.

As offices begin to reopen over the coming weeks, new and sophisticated approaches will be needed to ensure employers minimise the risk of infection between colleagues. Honouring social distancing practices will require clear communication, particularly when it comes to wayfinding and maintaining appropriate occupancy levels.

“Ensuring employees adhere to the government sanctioned social distancing guidelines will be vital in achieving a safe back-to-work programme”, argues Raj. “This is a critical time and we’ve put a lot of thinking into how we can support organisations to ensure their workplaces are as safe as they can be.”

More about the speaker

Raj is one of the co-founding partners and CEO of Freespace (Workplace Fabric). He is very experienced in delivering solutions for the workplace with previous roles as Innovations Director for a $1b FM company and GM of a $100m global service organisation. He balances his passion for technology with creating value-based solutions that sustain for the long term. He is an expert in user centric thinking solutions and systems. Raj is deeply committed to customers success and is passionate about cultivating selective, deep and global relationships. www.afreespace.com

BT Skills For Tomorrow

With the spread of the coronavirus, having the right digital skills to do business online is more important than ever. That’s why BT developed new learning content and is working with a range of brilliant partners, such as Google Digital Garage, Small Business Britain and Great British Entrepreneur Awards to run a host of free webinars with experts to help SMEs cope.

These online courses will help SME owners and their employees improve their digital skills through new online tools, social media advice and new digital tips and tricks, empowering them with the skills they need today during these challenging times.

Our Skills for Tomorrow website also brings together a series of free business-focused courses.