Making a safe return to office working
On Wednesday 11th March, Incremental acted ahead of government advice and closed all offices, stopped face-to-face meetings and cancelled all business travel in order to protect all Incrementalists, their families and customers as well as ensure continuity of service during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Whist we appreciate the additional pressures at home for some Incrementalists has been tough, as a team we have come together remarkably well and have continued to deliver for our customers over the last five months.
With engagement high and operations working effectively, there is no rush to get back to the way things were before – if ever. However Incremental has developed a cautious strategy, phased approach, and range of measures to enable Incrementalists to start making a safe return to office working and customer meetings during Covid-19.
Our policies have been developed for the health and wellbeing of Incrementalists, their families and our customers. We support Incrementalists who require to work from home due to their personal circumstances throughout the pandemic, for as long as required. Our policies apply equally and will come into effect on the same date, regardless of UK geography. These are reviewed on a weekly basis by a leadership working group and communicated to all Incrementalists.
The first phase of our return involves preparing – engaging with Incrementalists to understand their personal circumstances and preferences, developing and communicating our policies and measures, and making the supporting changes to our processes and environments. This phase commenced in July.
The second phase involves accommodating a small group of employees in our offices who have expressed that they wish to operate from the office. A date has still to be set, however this is unlikely to commence before autumn. We have developed a range of extra measures to keep Incrementalists well during phase 2. These include using an app for track and trace, significantly reducing the capacity of our offices, ensuring social distancing, ensuring regular hand washing and sanitising, increased cleaning as well as the removal of non-essential and shared items from the office.
The third phase of return involves us enabling all Incrementalists to work from our offices on a part time basis, have face to face meetings, undertake local (less than 40 miles) business travel and visit local customer sites. A date has still to be set, however this is unlikely to commence before the end of the year. Ahead of entering phase 3 additional safety measures will be communicated.
The fourth and final phase is where office working, and all travel will resume. This is unlikely to commence until well into 2021.
Should your organisation require any support from us in making a safe return to the workplace a reality then please get in touch. We can also assist you with remote working. Alternatively, visit our Covid-19 business continuity hub to access a range of resources.