COVID has caused chaos, 6 months in and globally it is still a major issue, the norm as we knew it we may not see for several years or longer. The new norm is going to be workforce bubbles.
What is the workforce bubble? A workforce bubble is a place in the working environment where employees are separated from other employees in the business on purpose to keep bubbles of employees together and away from other bubbles of employees.
How does a workforce bubble work? A workforce bubble will separate groups of employees into groups, level 22, level 23 for example. Administration, Sales, Warehouse in manufacturing. The idea is that a person in the sales bubble does not interact with a person in the warehouse bubble and vice versa. This way if something happens COVID related to the sales bubble the warehouse bubble may not be impacted. Keeping the contractors on day shift away from the afternoon shift and night shift are further examples of employee/contractor bubbles.
Why do we need a workforce bubble? Workforce bubbles will assist to reduce the transmission of COVID, it’s as simple as that. A workforce bubble does not come without challenges, what if you have a husband and wife on day and afternoon shift who live in the same hours every night. It is complicated.
What else can a company do? Other ideas to help with larger groups of employees together include turn off the airconditioning and open windows where you can, move meetings outside the boardroom into the open air outside.
Setting up a simple static QR code will assist you to electronically track who has entered each bubble in your business. This information alone could assist you in contact tracing in the future.
