It was just recently when the world took a pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses closed, mass transportation was halted, and people were forced to stay at home. People became more aware of the health, importance of proper sanitation and disinfection, as well as the guidelines to prevent being infected. 

Now, months after the beginning of the pandemic, people are slowly getting back outside to do essential tasks like grocery shopping and exercising. This signaled the businesses to slowly start opening their physical stores. Workplaces slowly started to function again, the new normal way.

Workplaces looked for different ways on how they could keep their employees working, without having the fear of getting infected. It was a challenging task to ensure the safety of everyone in the workplace, especially against a virus. But, with the right preventive measures, it is possible. 

Here we will be discussing the different impacts of a disease outbreak in the workplace as well as ways on how you can reduce its impact on your employees.

The Impact of Disease Outbreak in the Workplace 

Increased Number of Absences

An outbreak can cause absenteeism in a workplace. Employees may take their leave if they are sick, their parents or relatives are sick, or have someone near them who is sick. They could also ask not to go to the office due to the fear of getting sick when going outside. These instances, these absences, and lack of employees may cause the delay of service and the lowering of productivity in a workplace. These may affect the overall production as well as your profit.

Change in Commerce

Now that the outbreak could be anywhere – in or around the workplace, people are getting more aware of what they should do to prevent it from affecting them. The consumer demand now leans to objects that could help prevent and lessen the spread of infection. Examples of these goods are alcohol, face masks, and disinfectants. Not only that, but it will also affect how people shop. Aside from the change of demand, people are now more comfortable shopping online rather than being around public places.    

So, how does this affect the workplace? It depends on the business. Businesses that are focused on the new essentials will be on the rise, while those that are non-essential may experience difficulty in keeping up the sales. It also changes the movement of sales, more and more are now leaning to online shops and workplaces need to adapt to this change. 

Delay or Cancel in Supplies or Deliveries

If your business requires shipment of supplies, a disease outbreak will greatly affect your workplace. Due to the pandemic, a lot of places are having lockdowns, and a pause to travel. This has a massive impact on the shipping industry, especially those that carry business goods. Due to these lockdowns, a lot of shipments are getting postponed, some are even canceled, with or without notice.

What can be Done to Prevent or Reduce the Impact of a Disease Outbreak 

Businesses could prevent an office outbreak by setting and following the guidelines provided by safety and health administration. But there will be times that the disease will be so spread out that stopping the outbreak would seem impossible. This would pose a real challenge to you and your employees. Good thing there are ways to reduce its impact. 

Consistent and Effective Communication

Issue: Having an outbreak is a major issue for companies and workplaces. Thinking of a strategy on how the company can work during an outbreak with much impact on the employees could be a real challenge. It is difficult to think things through, but with careful planning, it is possible. 

What could be done: One of the first things that businesses should ensure is effective communication with the employees. Effective and consistent communication with the employees could help strengthen the business bond amidst the outbreak. Keep each other updated on the status of each other as well as the outbreak situation and how it could affect the business.

Effective communication will help disseminate information needed by the workforce during the time of the outbreak. Use it to update travel and meeting policies. Sudden changes are inevitable during these times, thus having constant communication will help in updating the employees. 

Prevent High Traffic

Issue: A highly trafficked area could be equated to a germ-filled area. High traffic places are places where there is a lot of foot traffic. Meaning, there are a lot of people in that area. These people may come from different places, may have touched different places, and may have different diseases that could be spread in that high trafficked area.

A single touch from unclean hands could spread infection or even a disease. A single touch on a doorknob from a person with colds or cough could be a source of disease. If someone touches that knob, then unknowingly touches their face, they could get colds or cough – just through that single touch. Just imagine how fast contamination and spread of disease would be if it were in a high trafficked area.  

What can be done: You can limit the number of people who go in and out of your workplace. Make a schedule to when and who among employees can physically go to the office or work from home. 

If going to the workplace is a must, ensure that all the areas are clean and disinfected, especially the highly touched areas like knobs and elevator buttons. Place alcohol or disinfectants in easy to reach places and places of entry. Set office guidelines in accordance with the regulations set by the safety and health administration. 

Deep Cleaning

Issue: There are times that having your employees work from home is not enough. Meeting people physically might be unavoidable. Doing this at a time of an outbreak may be a cause of fear, thus posing a challenge to business owners. 

What can be done: Ease your mind and hire a professional cleaner. Hiring commercial cleaning services is one of your best choices during this pandemic. They are well trained and updated with the latest equipment and techniques on how you could keep your workplace safe and deep cleaned during the time of a disease outbreak. 

Takeaways

A disease outbreak could make or break the operations of a business. But, having the proper information about the outbreak – prevention, reducing impact, and situation status, businesses could cope and survive. 

Lessen the load on your shoulders and hire a cleaning company for your cleaning needs. These cleaning companies follow an extensive and thorough process of cleaning to ensure that your place is safe, clean, and properly disinfected. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us for your cleaning needs and tips.