Covid-19 and Workplace Changes at LumenSoft-Phase one

Covid-19 workplace changes are now being introudced all over the world to deal with the changing times.  Work is being re-defined. We at LumenSoft introduced many changes at our workplace when this pandemic started and want to share with you how we went about it.

But first let’s get to know the thing that we are fighting and get our facts right. Getting your facts right may not be the first thing on your mind in these crazy times but we can keep our sanity intact by focusing on one little thing at a time.

First thing first. Covid-19 is the name of the disease and it’s not the name of the virus. The virus belongs to the corona family of viruses. And the name of this particular virus is Sars-Cov-2.

In Pakistan, the first covid-19 patient was diagnosed on February 26, the spike here hasn’t been as sharp as seen in other countries. But the cases have been increasing; however, many people have also managed to fight off the virus and are healthy again. May the number of survivors continue to rise all over the world.

The one thing that is becoming increasingly clear is that the calamity of this magnitude is disrupting, and will disrupt further, our lifestyle at a mega scale. The way we work, the way we interact with each other, and with our customers, has to change. It is already changing at an increasing pace.

When the Covid-19 pandemic began spreading, LumenSoft started taking a number of steps to ensure continued safety of our employees and customers. We began with the following steps:

Covid-19 Workplace Changes: Safe Greetings

As now we all know, there is mounting evidence that handshake is one of the major ways to spread germs and Covid-19. We are in the habit of unconsciously touching our faces many times in a day, and when you touch your face after shaking hands with an infected person you can easily catch the virus.

To protect our customers and employees, we displayed no hand-shake posters at the entrance. The purpose of the poster was to serve as a reminder and also to politely convey the message about the no-handshake policy.

It was a difficult decision for us, since hand-shaking is part of our culture and societal norms, but we implemented the no-handshake rule to follow the guidelines given by the World Health Organisation and our primary health and secondary health care department. The policy was implemented for the LumenSoft employees as well as all our customers.

Hand Sanitizer Dispenser at the Entrance

While the entire LumenSoft team was instructed to wash their hands for 20 seconds after entering the office, a hand sanitizer dispenser was also installed at the entrance for customers. Remember, the 20 second rule is a must if you want to wash off the virus. And hand washing is the most potent weapons that you can use as a preventive measure against covid-19.

Hand sanitization is the next best option when you can’t wash your hand with soap and water, but of course it is not the subsitute for washing your hands with soap and water.

Social distancing in the office for Employees and Customers

We started with reducing the number of employees present in the office. Most of the team members were allowed to work from home so that social distancing could be maintained in the office. Only two to three people were allowed in each room to maintain the maximum space among them.

We also took special precautions in our training halls. All training computers were wiped daily with detergent wipes, and separate computers were allocated to customers who came for trainings. Moreover, all keyboard were kept covered so that there was no direct contact with the keyboard and the covering were daily changed.

Leave with Pay to Support Staff

The support staff of LumenSoft lives in different areas and most of them also used public transport to visit the office. We didn’t want to expose them or the other team members to the virus. So the support staff was given leave with pay.

However, all the steps mentioned above were implemented in the first phase.  As the governement issued the stay-at-home directive, we directed the entire LumenSoft team to work from home. In the next article, we will share how the work-from-home atmosphere was created, what difficulties we faced, and how we are dealing with the situation. Till then, stay safe.

Maintain  social distancing. Follow hand-washing guidelines.