Back to Work - Business Enabler (THE ADMIN).

What Workers Need To Know about COVID-19 Protections in the Workplace

COVID-19 spreads mainly among unvaccinated people who are in?close contact?with one another especially in?poorly ventilated spaces.

Vaccination?is the key in a multi-layered approach to protect workers. Learn about and take advantage of opportunities that your employer may provide to take time off to get vaccinated. Vaccines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are highly effective at protecting vaccinated people against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 illness.According to the CDC, a growing body of evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have symptomatic infection or transmit the virus to others. See CDC's?Guidance for Fully Vaccinated People.

If you are unvaccinated or otherwise at-risk (e.g., because of a prior transplant or other medical condition), you should follow recommended precautions and policies at your workplace. Many employers have established COVID-19 prevention programs that include a number of important steps to keep unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers safe. These COVID-19 prevention programs include measures such as telework and flexible schedules, enhanced cleaning programs with a focus on high-touch surfaces, engineering controls (e.g., ventilation), administrative policies (e.g., vaccination policies), personal protective equipment (PPE), face coverings, and physical distancing. Ask your employer about plans in your workplace. In addition, employees with disabilities who are at-risk may request reasonable accommodation under the ADA.

Even if your employer does not have a COVID-19 prevention program, if you are unvaccinated or otherwise at-risk, you can help protect yourself by following the steps listed below:

• Identify opportunities to get vaccinated. Ask your employer about opportunities for paid leave, if necessary, to get vaccinated and recover from any side effects.
• Properly wear a face covering over your nose and mouth.?Face coverings?are simple barriers worn over the face, nose and chin. They work to help prevent your respiratory droplets or large particles from reaching others. If they are of high enough quality, they also provide a measure of protection to the people wearing them. CDC provides?general guidance on masks. If you are working outdoors you may opt not to wear face coverings in many circumstances; however, you should be supported in safely continuing face covering use if you choose, especially if you work closely with other people.
• Stay far enough away from other people so that you are not breathing in particles produced by them – generally at least 6 feet (about 2 arm lengths), although this approach by itself is not a guarantee that you will avoid infection, especially in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces. Ask your employer about possible telework and flexible schedule options at your workplace, and take advantage of such policies if possible. Perform work tasks, hold meetings, and take breaks outdoors when possible.
• Participate in any training offered by your employer/building manager to learn how rooms are ventilated effectively and notify the building manager if you see vents that are clogged, dirty, or blocked by furniture or equipment.
• Practice good personal hygiene and wash your hands often. Always cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, or the inside of your elbow, when you cough or sneeze, and do not spit. Monitor your health daily and be alert for COVID-19 symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, or shortness of breath). See CDC's?Personal & Social Activities Guidance for Unvaccinated People.

COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at keeping you from getting COVID-19. If you are not yet fully vaccinated, or are otherwise at risk, optimum protection is provided by using multiple layers of other interventions that prevent exposure and infection

Redesign the workplace to support organizational priorities

We all have ideas about what a typical office looks and feels like: a mixture of private offices and cubicles, with meeting rooms, pantries, and shared amenities. Few offices have been intentionally designed to support specific organizational priorities. Although offices have changed in some ways during the past decade, they may need to be entirely rethought and transformed for a post–COVID-19 world.

Organizations could create workspaces specifically designed to support the kinds of interactions that cannot happen remotely. If the primary purpose of an organization’s space is to accommodate specific moments of collaboration rather than individual work, for example, should 80 percent of the office be devoted to collaboration rooms? Should organizations ask all employees who work in cubicles, and rarely have to attend group meetings, to work from homes? If office space is needed only for those who cannot do so, are working spaces close to where employees live a better solution?

In the office of the future, technology will play a central role in enabling employees to return to office buildings and to work safely before a vaccine becomes widely available. Organizations will need to manage which employees can come to the office, when they can enter and take their places, how often the office is cleaned, whether the airflow is sufficient, and if they are remaining sufficiently far apart as they move through the space.

To maintain productivity, collaboration, and learning and to preserve the corporate culture, the boundaries between being physically in the office and out of the office must collapse. In-office videoconferencing can no longer involve a group of people staring at one another around a table while others watch from a screen on the side, without being able to participate effectively. Always-on videoconferencing, seamless in-person and remote collaboration spaces (such as virtual whiteboards), and asynchronous collaboration and working models will quickly shift from futuristic ideas to standard practice.