How To Protect Your Employees From The Covid Delta Variant

Written By Meredith Davis / Reviewed By Ray Spotts

The COVID-19 pandemic happened more than 18 months ago. By this time, businesses are slowly opening their doors to accept customers. Together with it are employees who are getting used to traveling from home to office while being wary of the pandemic.

As such, our role as employers is to ensure that our people are well-protected. More so now that there is a Delta variant, which is known to be the most contagious.

That said, we have listed the seven ways to protect your employees from the COVID Delta variant:

Health checks and protocols

Health checks and protocols can help your business get back safely and without compromising your employees' wellbeing.

Before you start welcoming employees back to work, you should ensure that you have all the health protocols in place. This is to ensure that you are equipped to work safely and healthily in the office.

Don't hesitate to reach out to your employees to go through the workplace changes related to health checks and protocols. Ask them for their opinions or other ideas that they may have so that they feel as safe as possible before coming back to work in the office.

Also, it would be good to get testing for the virus for your employees before they start to go back to work. Please encourage your employees to go on a 14-day quarantine before returning to work. This is for added safety measures and to prevent the spread of the virus in your office.

Remote-work setup

Not everyone will be comfortable with working back in the office. Some people might be immuno-compromised, while others might be living with immuno-compromised people. Other people might not want to be back because they still don't feel safe.

That's why you should continue to offer remote-work arrangements for people. After all, some of the office-related tasks can be done without having to be in the workplace.

Give your employees a choice to stay at home when they want. What's important is that they can finish their tasks. Having many of your employees in a remote work setup will also help make it easier for you to modify your office to accommodate social distancing.

Social distancing

If you start welcoming your employees back into the office, you should ensure that the desks are socially distanced.

If there will be group meetings, it should ideally still be virtual. That's because going inside a room with a group of people is not the best thing to do given the circumstances. Consider installing plexiglass partitions to prevent large droplets from getting into other spaces.

Still, the best way to prevent passing on droplets and fomites is to practice social distancing.

Proper handwashing and hygiene

A frequent and thorough hand washing routine and a hygienic way of living is a great way to prevent a possible affliction of the COVID Delta variant. That's why you should encourage your employees to sanitize their hands often when contacting other people.

There are different ways you can promote excellent hand washing routines in your employees.

Adding sanitation stations throughout the workplace ensures that it's easy to access anywhere in the office. It would be best to consider putting up signs in critical areas, like near doors and the office pantry, where handwashing is a good idea.

Remind people of the proper handwashing techniques and how long they should be washing their hands (TIP: Sing Happy Birthday twice). You should also remind people to wash in between the fingers and even the wrist.

The frequent handwashing and hand sanitizing in the workplace can make your skin dry out quickly, which is unpleasant at best. That's why it would be ideal to have some things in place that help you care for dry hands after washing them constantly.

Cleaning and disinfection

It's vital for the safety of your employees that you remember to regularly clean and sanitize the workplace as much as possible. Aside from keeping things clean, sanitizing them is a different matter that you need to keep in mind.

Another helpful thing you can do is monitor high-traffic areas. That's because these are the places that require frequent sanitation.

As mentioned before, you should have sanitation stations sprinkled throughout the workplace. You should also provide sanitation tools in your employee's individual workplaces for their use.

For better and more thorough sanitation and cleaning, it might be good to hire professional cleaners that will do the job for you. Don't forget to clarify with them what their sanitation procedures are going to be as well. Otherwise, you might just be getting a regular cleaning session for your office.

Face mask and care kit

Your office should be as well-ventilated as possible because closed-off areas are problematic. After all, the smaller droplets in the air are what will spread the disease everywhere. With that said, if you aren't 100 percent confident with the ventilation in your office, you shouldn't let people come back to work.

However, even if you are, you should still encourage everyone to bring their face masks with them to prevent them from spreading droplets.

Vaccination

Many people all over the world have already been vaccinated against COVID-19, which is a huge help. However, some of your employees might not have had the vaccine yet, or they can’t have one due to their unique medical condition.

Nonetheless, you can provide a vaccination drive to your employees. What you can do is connect with vaccine distributors, who accumulate bulk orders so you can acquire your shots at an affordable price. That way, your employees have direct access to the vaccines if they haven't had them yet.

It's also worth noting that getting a booster shot can help increase effectiveness against the Delta variant of the disease.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that your employees are the backbone of your company. Hence, it only makes sense that you do your part in protecting them from the COVID Delta variant.

You can start by ensuring that the workplace is clean and sanitized. Next is to set up protocols when an employee is suspected of having the virus. Lastly, ensure that your employees are fully vaccinated if possible.

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Written By:

Meredith Davis has years of experience as a content writer helping businesses promote their products and services through storytelling. She is also a certified Mindful-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) practitioner, a mindfulness practice that helps manage stress.

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.