Managing an office renovation is typically a demanding project. In fact, it can get particularly challenging when you have to worry about protecting your staff’s health during the process. Sometimes companies decide not to halt their operations during the remodel. As much as you might be profiting from this decision, you will soon find that you are obliged to create a safe work environment during office renovation. Hence, we will discuss how to have a successful office renovation without risking your employees’ health and well-being.
Go remote. If your workforce hadn’t already gone remote due to the pandemic and your business is able to accommodate it, you might consider doing that now. If you transfer most of your staff to the working from home regime, you will be able to wrap up the construction work much more quickly.
Having a lot of employees using the offices during the renovation can also endanger their health. For instance, organizing bug extermination or a whole-office paint job requires you to evacuate all workers for the time being. In these cases, you need to be prepared to coordinate your workers from a workforce management platform that can be either built or bought for the occasion.
Sometimes your budget makes it impossible to put all of your workers on the work-from-home regime. You should then pace the construction work to renovate your office space room by room. In this way, you will always have a team of employees in the office. However, you should prepare yourself for potential delays in construction work.
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Devise a clear renovation strategy. Following a clear renovation strategy is crucial for getting the best results as well as ensuring safety. Firstly, be mindful of your budget. You should oversee all construction costs like pricing of materials and hourly rates of contractors. A clear renovation strategy should allow some budgetary leeway if you have to send some of your workers home for a few days because of safety considerations.
Next, your HR department should consult with the contractors. As a result, you will be able to draft a renovation timeline and a working schedule. This way, your workers will always know when it is safe for them to come to the office. Developing a clear renovation strategy allows you to maximize your worker’s safety by keeping them in the know.
Sometimes you might have no other choice but to rent office space while your office renovation is taking place. This renovation strategy is usually used when the remodel involves complex repairs such as interventions on your wiring, sewage, or heating and cooling systems.
If you assess that a temporary move to new offices makes more sense for your situation, local commercial movers can help you have the transfer of the inventory done in no time so that you can continue your business operations without delays. Although this remodeling strategy involves more money (and even more planning), your staff’s well-being is at stake here. It is better to be on the safe side than compromise someone’s safety, even for a minute.
Be crystal clear about safety measures and protocols. Surprisingly, most accidents that occur during office renovations actually do not result from the contractor’s neglect. On the contrary, it is the staff’s lack of information about protective measures and protocols that is usually the problem.
Since you are compromising your employees’ safety, you need to keep them briefed and updated at all costs. You should organize workshops or office meetings where you can discuss what safety measures they need to follow. As an example, you should teach and drill an evacuation plan in case of fire to create a safe work environment during office renovation.