Phase One Reopening: Our Plans & Policies for Staying Safe

Phase One of Louisiana’s reopening plan is in full effect and details regarding Phase Two details will be released in the coming weeks. Similar to most states across the country, businesses can resume operations with certain safety limits and restrictions in place. If you’re a business owner or company leader and you don’t have a solid plan for this reopening – now is the time to seriously think about your plan for returning to work.

At ITinspired, we’ve put together a guide for ourselves and any other businesses who may be a little unsure as we enter into this new normal. Things are going to be different than before and things will change, but we have to prepare as best we can to protect ourselves and our community. 

• Assess Your Business
  • If you’ve determined that reopening works for your business, employees, and clients, you need to consider every aspect of your business and how it will be impacted. Can clients still visit your office? Do you have enough PPE to adequately distribute across your team? Businesses are extremely complex structures, and COVID-19 just took everything up a notch. But, the sooner you can start to address these challenges, the smoother the Phase One transition will be. 
• Workplace Alterations
  • Whether you have one employee or 100 employees, your workplace will have to shift in multiple aspects. From desk layouts to employee lounges, distancing and safety guidelines should be in effect as best they can. Workplace cleanliness will become an extremely important component every single day, and all surfaces should be disinfected on a regular basis.
• Implement Employee Guidelines
  • A lot of things have changed, and your employees deserve to know exactly what is expected of them. Before anyone returns to work, we recommend that you have in-depth conversations with everybody to discuss these new changes and procedures. It’s everyone’s duty to make sure team members are taking these precautions seriously and following the guidelines you lay out. You have the authority to decide what your employees do, but they have the right to know your thought process and reasoning. 
• Provide the Proper Materials 
  • Personal protective equipment is absolutely essential across a variety of different industries. For the protection of your workforce and clients, adequate amounts of PPE should be available in the workplace. These supplies are our first line of defense and should be used constantly by your team until further notice. At ITinspired, we’re using a combination of different items including, face masks, face shields, hand sanitizer, gloves and eyewear. (Visit the link below to learn more about ordering PPE in the Baton Rouge area!)
•  Inform Your Following 
  • People don’t know what you don’t tell them. You need to educate clients and customers on how their relationships with your business will change. It can be a phone call, social media post, email blast – whatever gets your plan across accurately and quickly. 

We hope these points help you and your business throughout this first phase! This may not be the easiest thing we’ve faced, but we’re starting the road to recovery and encourage everyone to plan ahead as much as possible to lessen any unforeseen impacts.