In early 2020, many offices sent their employees home for a short-term, temporary work-from-home stint thinking they would return to the office after a week, or two once the COVID-19 virus was under control. Well, with only a couple months away from 2022, many office buildings remain unoccupied as remote work has become the ‘new normal’ due to the global pandemic.
Today, many companies are starting to entertain the idea of staff returning to the office to boost company culture and return to the collaboration and professional comradery that comes with face-to-face team interactions. As companies prepare to receive their workforce back into the office, the question of workplace cleanliness and sanitation are among the first of items of discussion between executive management and its staff. There is also the issue of navigating newly implemented federal mask mandates and how that affects the workplace. Regardless of what the rules are in your district, county, or state, Anago would like to offer what we’ve been doing to help businesses prepare for welcoming staff back to the office setting. Rest assured, this is something we’ve been doing non-stop throughout the pandemic with frontline businesses including hospitals, medical offices and most recently, schools across the nation.
It is understandable to feel apprehensive about in-person interactions with co-workers during an average eight-hour workday. After all, spending all day at the office increases the chance of bringing illnesses home to families when compared to working from home. One of the easiest and most effective methods of protecting yourself—and by extension, your family—from bringing home germs is to practice good hygiene throughout the day, including a healthy regimen of hand washing and maintaining social distancing measures when possible.
For companies welcoming staff back to the office building, having a proper cleaning and janitorial program in place is essential. As we all continue to monitor guidelines from governing agencies, we strongly encourage building managers and company officers to prioritize and promote dedicated, upgraded cleaning regimens. Though the CDC eased back recommendations for buildings and public facilities several months ago, it is wise to take extra precautions, especially given the day-to-day uncertainty and the rise of COVID-19 variants.
At our corporate offices in South Florida, we’ve taken extra precautions to safely welcome our staff back into the office setting, while setting the gold standard that other offices can trust. In fact, our corporate office has achieved recognition from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC). As a GBAC Star accredited facility, we are recognized for maintaining the highest standards in biorisk cleaning protocols. The GBAC STAR™ award is the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response, and recovery accreditation. As the gold standard in facility cleaning services, GBAC bases its accreditation program on three main areas: an established and maintained cleaning, disinfection, and infectious disease prevention program to minimize risks associated with infectious agents like the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2); having proper cleaning protocols, disinfection techniques, and work practices in place to combat biohazards and infectious disease; and the use of highly informed cleaning professionals who are trained for an outbreak and infectious disease preparation and response.
We at Anago are proud of our franchisees’ work in guiding businesses throughout last year’s pandemic, and we remain focused and vigilant to continue wearing that badge of honor for being a trusted and essential frontline business. Take a moment to check out our Protection+ Disinfection program for specific advice on the level of cleaning your local businesses and schools should have in place as employees and schoolchildren return to in-person interactions and the ‘new normal.’
