Emerging Trend in Commercial Spaces: Alternate Attendance

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Corona pandemic has definitely made mankind witness one of the strangest dilemmas that they ever have to go through. The illness comes with no cure/vaccine developed until now, with social distancing being the only prevention. Indian Government took no time in proactively fighting against it by introducing a 21-day nationwide lockdown as a first measure to control, lockdown was extended further (second phase) till May 3, 2020 to trace and cure the affected ones, along with reducing the chances for our country entering into the community transmission stage.

Now, the lockdown has no doubt proven to be an essential and effective practice for controlling the transmission; but at the same time it has led to flattening of the economy curve. The working professionals and corporations are constantly requesting the government to come up with a working model for citizens, which will help them in resuming their work up to some extent to keep the cash flow stable. There is no doubt about the fact that unlocking India has to be a carefully calculated process for the good health and safety of everyone. Commercial spaces too are struggling due to the complete lockdown, and halted sales.

Some of the popular trends for commercial spaces and offices, that have immense potential in becoming compulsory policy measures from government over a period of 3-6 months till the disease gets completed cured are following alternate attendance, strict Social Distancing norms after opening of public spaces, mandatory wearing of masks, special Services for elderly, sanitizing and disinfecting spaces at regular intervals, temperature screening etc

Out of all this alternate attendance has to be of prime importance, due to many reasons as it has never been carried out before so seriously in all the workplaces. The operations and functioning of business will solely depend on it. Apart from being a thorough calibrated process, it will also be having benefits to revive the economy and get the work started from null to low-frequency basis for myriad businesses around. The crucial things that must be taken care of by these organisations who will be opting for the working model of alternate attendance are:

Make revised seating arrangement

The employees are ready to come to the office, but at the same time as a responsible organisation the job of HR professionals and team managers will be to follow adequate social distancing. This will lead to a change in the seating arrangement. Anyway, if comparably less employees are going to come to the offices there must be a distance of 2 metres at least. The same applies for retail and service stores, the billing counters must mark the spots for people to stand in queues at an appropriate distance.

Crucial Role of Managers and Team Leads

The team leads and managers have to carefully plan the attendance and working cycles of each member in order to get maximum output, and establish structured coordination. The assessments have to be fair and just, keeping in consideration the personal needs of employees as well in the difficult times. As there might be some with elderly people at their home, some kind of relaxation from attending the office can be given to them. Even the migrant working professionals, who wouldn’t be able to travel unless transportation, railways and flights resume should be assigned work as per work from a home pattern.

Strict standards of cleaning and sanitizing

The organization and stores must ensure that the cleaning/housekeeping staff is equipped with all the relevant tools and items required for cleaning and disinfecting a public space. Entry should only be allowed on a temperature screening basis. Cafeterias must opt for delivering to the desks system and can switch to a contactless food delivery. Conference rooms should be minimally used. Gloves and masks should be made mandatory for all.

Bandwidth to carry remote work

These commercial spaces apart from ensuring cleaning standards must also look into the ease of data services that they can provide their employees for smooth functioning. Stores must also promote digital payments to keep their business running at a smooth pace.