Business Info - issue 146

01732 759725 magazine 27 BUSINESS BRIEFING n Fresh air supply –Workplaces should maximise ventilation to boost employee focus and energy, while also reducing the risk of viral transmission. Employees should take breaks outside of the office, and organisations can help facilitate this by providing sheltered seating areas, or green open spaces. Indoor plants within an office can also improve health, wellbeing and productivity. The power of parcel locker solutions As working from home is now a familiar concept for a huge amount of people, there may be some concern around physical interactions with other individuals or objects in the workplace. For example, there is a high number of items handled throughout an office, such as paperwork, equipment and mail. To eliminate the risks of person-to- person contact during the handover of these goods, businesses can install solutions that enable them to manage parcel deliveries with no physical contact required, such as intelligent parcel lockers. Parcel lockers can be used by organisations within all industries and, ultimately, streamline the handling processes for both incoming and outgoing items within an office. Instead of a staff member having to manually collect each delivery, and enhance the risk of catching anything contagious, they can now be delivered to a secure locker hub. If employees can securely store items in lockers until they are ready to collect, they may feel more comfortable in returning to the workplace. Mental health at the forefront According to a study by Perkbox 4 from last year, 79 percent of working adults throughout the UK commonly experience work- related stress. This is a huge concern for employers and should be considered a priority, whether or not employees return to the workplace. Additional research from the Mental Health Foundation 5 has found the pressure of an increasingly demanding work culture is one of the biggest challenges to the mental health of the general population. To put it into perspective, more than 11 million days 6 are lost because of stress at work yearly. To support the wellbeing of employees, organisations should promote a ‘work smart, not long’ culture, which actively encourages staff member to take time for themselves, and balance work and life in a safe way. Whether it is through sanitary measures, contact free automated parcel lockers, or more focus around mental health, businesses will need to follow a roadmap to ensure employees feel best supported. The past year has been an incredibly challenging year for almost everyone and, as we look to 2021 and beyond, it will be interesting to see how employees will adapt to another ‘new normal’ within an office environment, and how employers will proceed to facilitate this. www.quadient.com 1. http://d1c25a6gwz7q5e.cloudfront.net/ reports/2020-11-09-workplace-whitepa per- FINAL.pdf 2. https://meavo.com/post/back-to-the- watercooler-survey/ 3. https://www.personio.com/hr-lexicon/remote- work/ 4. https://www.perkbox.com/uk/resources/ library/2020-workplace-stress-survey 5. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/w/ work-life-balance 6. https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/