Social Distancing in Public & Work Spaces

House Bill 6623 or the "New Normal for the Workplace and Public Spaces Act of 2020" states that, "Private companies and establishments shall be mandated to submit their “New Normal Workforce and Workplace Management Plans” to their respective LGUs."

Such plans must detail the total number of employees in the office, the overall strategy for the reporting workforce, the mechanisms for maintaining personal hygiene and cleanliness, physical changes in space management to protect employees and implement physical distancing, personal protective equipment to be provided, and measures for managing employees exhibiting symptoms and/or confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19.

You are reading an excerpt from our live podcast called The New Normal Business Show with Joey Gurango & Wilson Chua. Tune in to www.facebook.com/servioph every Wednesday at 5pm!

SOCIAL DISTANCING BASICS

One of the subjects that our speakers touched on in Episode 2 of The New Normal Business Show is the basis for implementing the social distancing globally by the World Health Organization or WHO and the Department of Health of the Philippines here.

According to a study from the Head of the Japanese association for infection diseases, the cough droplets can stay airborne for at least 20 minutes. This study shows that with social distancing, it can lessen the hazard of people getting infected immediately all at once if they are apart.

So imagine if the social distancing has not been implemented. The infection could spread like wildfire in public spaces, especially in the workplace. This scenario is what business owners and employers are preventing. Not only it is mandated by the government for compliance but rather a means of protecting one another in the community.

Some companies urgently need to acquire double space for their physical work to get the same amount of people in the office while practicing social distancing, which can be a hassle and not a good option during this time of the pandemic. The norm of office workers chatting with each other on proximity or colleagues tapping each other during work hours is no longer an everyday occurrence. Everything has completely changed with the pandemic sweeping over the globe.

Social distancing can be unnatural for some, but this preventive measure is the best thing to do in this new normal that we're all experiencing.

OFFICE PREVENTIVE MEASURES

With the new bill still waiting to be official, many organizations and businesses have made drastic changes and adjustments to cope up with the necessary measures that they have to comply with the government and for their employees.

Some preventive measures that are being implemented include regular office cleaning, thermal scanning, and pulse oximeter to filter and regulate the employee's welfare. Face shields are said to be effective protection against inhalation of airborne viral infection aside from face masks, and call centre employees are using those in the organization.

Other companies hopefully are also doing thorough preventive measures for their employees and the workplace. Some companies are still running their operations in their physical workplace.

At the same time, some have opted in for a work from home setup depending on the business industry and capability to implement flexible working arrangements.

USEFUL TOOLS

CURIOSITY.IO - Curiosity.IO is a mobile app that uses the image as data to tell the user that the place is swamp or too crowded. Applications like this that are AI-powered will remind us to snap out of our normal behaviors to be able to implement proper social distancing measures in and out of the workplace.

NOVID - Novid is a proximity-based mobile app contact tracing solution. This is great for reminding people to keep their distance from one another. It's normal for a person to forget to practice social distancing since it's out of our regular habits.

LARK from SERVIO - Lark is a communication and collaboration app, similar to Zoom or Google meet, which allows employees who are working remotely to conduct a meeting face-to-face and increase each other's productivity level at home. Lark is a part of level 1 of the digital maturity model of SERVIO Technologies which indicated whether a business is digitally mature.

WORK FROM HOME SETUP

Organizations are now using computer-mediated technologies which is a fancy term for communication tools like zoom, messenger, lark for communication for their work from home setup. There are many businesses in all sorts of industries, such as the telecommunication industry that are not prepared to do a remote design or structure immediately.

Since companies or businesses are now running on a remote setup and using digital technologies to function effectively despite the physical workplace. Businesses are now becoming digitally empowered in the process of social distancing.

Technologies can amplify positive effects for the company despite the pandemic occurring. It lifts heavy workloads and helps businesses run effectively.

More technologies are being developed - There's a rising urgency for digital tools or technologies that can aid businesses in every industry to run their business online or remotely.

Not only for the business sector but also other sectors as well that are in need. These include the medical, education, and government industry. Technology companies are now in demand to create products or services that are high-tech and essential nowadays.

Flexibility - With the work from home setup being implemented by businesses, the structure or processes of companies are now becoming streamlined with automated machines and becoming more flexible without being in the physical workplace itself.

CONS OF SOCIAL DISTANCING FOR EMPLOYEES

Productivity may be affected - The social distancing measures can take a toll on the productivity level of employees since there are no officemates or line managers to encourage them and see their work physically.

Mental impact - Social distancing can cause loneliness among the employees working from home, which is according to studies cause 29 percent of mortality.

Costly for employers - The social distancing measures can be expensive for employers or businesses since they need to acquire digital tools to help them run or allot a budget for preventive measures within the office like buyer thermal scanners and disinfectants for the workplace.

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If you would like to watch the FULL episode, you can now watch it on our official YouTube Channel!

Don't miss The New Normal Business Show with Joey Gurango and Wilson Chua! Catch us LIVE every Wednesday at 5pm only on www.facebook.com/servioph