Setting the rules in the new world of work: Keep checking your temperature, don’t stand too close, eat alone and wear your mask — or else

Chinese companies are beta-testing a return to their offices as new coronavirus cases in the country dwindle, coming up with innovative strategies to resume work without setting off another wave of infections.

Their baby steps back into the office offer a road map for peers around the world — many of which, like Facebook, Google and Amazon, have asked some of their employees to work from home in recent days.

The prevailing mood in China has been one of caution as officials try to restart the world’s second-largest economy. Employees have reported having their temperatures taken multiple times a day, while being required to wear face masks all day and being discouraged from taking public transport. Most companies are allowing only half of their employees, or fewer, into the office each day.

At Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, elevator floors have been divided into taped squares containing images of shoes to keep employees from standing too close to one another. Meanwhile, office seating is arranged in grids such that each worker is separated by at least a metre.

Non-tech companies have instituted similar protocols. Petrochemical group Sinochem told some teams to work from home if they could and said it would rotate employees through the office. At its headquarters in Beijing, management arranged for food to be delivered to employees at their desks so that they could “eat alone”.

Wen Tianwu, of Beijing’s urban management department, last week called the workplace an “important arena for epidemic prevention”. His bureau — better known for hassling street hawkers — has started building checks to make sure companies are following the rules, he said.

The guidelines for many workplaces include not having more than 50 per cent of staff in the office at one time, while maintaining at least one metre of space between employees.

At food delivery giant Meituan, employees have been split into A, B and C shifts, with only one team allowed into the office each day. Every employee is required to wear a face mask. Traffic to the cafe is regulated, and programmers sit one person to a table for meals, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Today the company will provide “contactless shields” to employees in its Beijing office to prevent the virus from spreading while they eat.

Employees also fill out a daily health questionnaire in an internal app that asks about their travel history, their room mates’ travel history, their health and mood. The app spits out a colour — green or red — and security guards at the building door will check for green codes, along with an employee’s temperature, the person said.

Alibaba has taken similar measures. One employee said that one afternoon he accidentally marked that he had symptoms including a cough in a daily health questionnaire.

The next morning, his phone rang as he was getting ready for work. “It was HR asking me if I was OK and if I was still experiencing symptoms,” he said. “I redid the survey.”

Last month, Beijing city authorities reprimanded the head of Dangdang Internet, an online bookseller, after one of its employees was diagnosed with the virus. At least 66 employees and their family members were put under 14-day quarantine. Local Chinese media gave considerable coverage to the management failure.

At Oppo, the Shenzhen-based smartphone maker, management have tied employees’ face mask usage to their KPIs, the key performance indicators on which they are evaluated.

“Every day, all day long, I have to wear a mask, at least 10 hours a day. It’s killing me,” said one 27-year-old employee. “If I take it off for a bit, I will not only get docked points but will also have my name put into a public circular for criticism,” she said.

Social media giant Tencent produced a sleek video explaining the return to work process: 14 days of home quarantine, a course on coronavirus, and a green-red health code system. Inperson meetings and the use of public transport were also discouraged, and employees say only half of the office can go in each day.

“Let me into the office,” said Owen, a 28-year-old employee. “I know the company wants to prevent the extinction of my team, but I get more done in one day of work there than three days at home.”

Search giant Baidu has required employees to make appointments before they enter the office. One programmer in Beijing estimated only 20 per cent of employees had returned.

Another employee in Baidu’s Shenzhen office said he had grown used to the work-from-home lifestyle. “I can sleep in until 9am or 10am every day — it’s amazing. I don’t need to change clothes or crowd on to a bus,” said the 26-year-old.