Companies show flexibility to bring staff back to the office
Companies have begun bringing staff back into the workplace after more than 10 weeks at home, tearing up rotas and rearranging offices to meet social distancing rules.
A legal requirement that only a certain percentage of staff work on site means some employees will juggle office days while others will continue to work from home for the foreseeable future.
The National spoke to a number of companies about the measures they brought in to ensure employees can return to their desks.
Nidal Abou Zaki, managing director of public relations agency Orient Planet, said their staff were working in shifts to meet the new regulations.
Mandatory measures include the wearing of face masks and colleagues remaining two metres apart at all times.
“People come to the office from time to time and we are happy with this,” Mr Zaki said.
“We are of course maintaining social distancing and other measures to make sure we are not taking risks.
“It was a bit challenging but we managed to do it. The current situation is much better, with 30 per cent of the workforce in the office.”
Late last month, the government announced staff would be allowed to return to work only as long as it was deemed “absolutely necessary”.
Any employee who is pregnant or over 60 must continue to work remotely. In Abu Dhabi, employers were also told to show flexibility to parents whose children are learning from home.
Imraan Khan, a manager at advertising and marketing company Zia Creative Network, with offices in Dubai and Abu
Dhabi, said his company had redesigned its office space.
Out of a team of 45, 14 people can work from the office on any given day.
“We have completely revamped our office set-up to make sure we comply,” he said.
“We were sitting very closely before.
“Now, all the tables are separated at a safe distance so we can be safe all together, more than two metres apart.
“We made sure to provide masks and hand sanitiser, free of cost, to all employees. When we came back we felt very safe.”
David Mackenzie, group managing director for recruitment company Mackenzie Jones, said he brought staff back because of welfare and not productivity concerns.
“One of the issues of this crisis is we’ve got some staff sitting in one-bedroom apartments with nobody around them,” he said.
“We are seriously worried about how they are mentally and how they are coping being stuck at home for 24 hours a day for three months.
“What we’ve said is anybody who’s in that situation has the opportunity to come in one or two days a week.”
Mr Mackenzie said that very few of his 20-strong workforce were currently going into the office at Jumeirah Lakes Towers, so social distancing measures were still easy to maintain.
“We only have about four at a time in the office,” he said.
“People are actually about eight metres apart and really spread out.
“They have got to wear masks at all times and if they go out they must wear gloves.”
Other companies have introduced further measures to ensure their offices are staffed only by those people who need to be there.
“We have exempted employees with kids who are two and under, as well as those suffering from respiratory or chronic diseases and anyone above the age of 55,” said Prakul Kumar, head of human resources at Dabur International, which produces healthcare products.
“Employees are also being provided with a safety kit that includes gloves, face masks, hand sanitisers and multipurpose sprays.”