Yesterday, 8th December 2021, the Prime Minister announced measures to help limit the spread of, in particular, the new Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The measures announced yesterday included:
- Face masks to be worn in all indoor public settings, this comes into effect from Friday 10th December 2021.
What should you do?- Talk to your employees about what they want to do, some will feel more comfortable wearing a mask and that’s fine, you should engender a culture where it feels safe to make your own decision provided it meets guidance on protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of colleagues; mutual respect is vital (no bullying, teasing, Micky taking etc.)
- Offices and workplaces have not been specifically mentioned and are not, at this time, required to comply with this rule unless they fall within the designation of an indoor public venue e.g., shops, hairdressers, beauticians, theatres, cinemas and so on. Hospitality venues are specifically not included, although some venues may choose to ask their employees to wear a mask at work.
The measures announced yesterday included:
- Face masks to be worn in all indoor public settings, this comes into effect from Friday 10th December 2021.
What should you do?- Talk to your employees about what they want to do, some will feel more comfortable wearing a mask and that’s fine, you should engender a culture where it feels safe to make your own decision provided it meets guidance on protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of colleagues; mutual respect is vital (no bullying, teasing, Micky taking etc.)
- Offices and workplaces have not been specifically mentioned and are not, at this time, required to comply with this rule unless they fall within the designation of an indoor public venue e.g., shops, hairdressers, beauticians, theatres, cinemas and so on. Hospitality venues are specifically not included, although some venues may choose to ask their employees to wear a mask at work.
- Work from home if you can.
What should you do? - If your employees are able to work from home, they should do so. You would [probably] reimplement the processes you put in place in the previous lockdowns. Our Home Working and Welfare Guide is available for clients via our Advice Line Service here.
- Of course, hopefully, you will have taken some learnings from the previous lockdowns and will be able to apply those this time ‘round.
What have we learned and noticed;
- Communication is absolutely key.
- Set up your communications processes, ensure that you keep everyone in touch, be that team meetings or just online coffee/tea breaks
- Talk to employees about their home working environment and any challenges they may face
- Some fun stuff helps, and we’ve seen……
- Online team tea/coffee; maybe send out a pack containing everything you need for that break (fruit, muffins/cake/biscuits, tea/coffee, etc)
- Podcast of the day. Employees posting a podcast that caught their attention and is positive to share with colleagues – no vaccine scare mongering!
- Pictures of pets. Fun, or even just cute, photos of pets during the working day – for some people their pets will be their “co-workers” during periods of home working
- Online chat during breaks, maybe set up a chat forum
- WhatsApp groups
- Online [Friday] drinks
- You can still do the Christmas jumper event too
- Performance management should continue
- Ensure everyone knows what’s expected of them, put in place clear and measurable goals/targets
- Regular review conversations, scheduled in advance so no surprises, to keep in touch and pick up on any issues (stress, overworking, connectivity, working environment, taking breaks, how employees are coping generally, any support you can provide)
- Safe and secure working – review, update and redistribute:
- Home working policy; available for clients via our Advice Line Service here https://enlightenhr.com/our-expertise/advice_line/
- GDPR & data protection policies; available for clients via our Advice Line Service here https://enlightenhr.com/our-expertise/advice_line/
- Home working risk assessment – employee to complete and return
- Display screen assessment – employee to complete and return
- Workstation assessment – employee to complete and return
- The Health and Safety Executive website has lots of useful guidance and templates on homeworking https://www.hse.gov.uk/home-working/index.htm?utm_source=hse.gov.uk&utm_medium=refferal&utm_campaign=guidance-push&utm_content=home-page-popular
- Testing
- Encourage employees to take regular lateral flow tests (they can order them online) and if they get a positive result to immediately self-isolate and get a PCR test.
- Keep you informed if they become unwell and are unable to work, using the usual sickness absence reporting procedures.
- Self-isolation
- Employees must self-isolate if their have a positive lateral flow test result whilst they await a PCR test result.
- Employees who have been double vaccinated do not have to self-isolate if they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive unless that positive result relates to the Omicron variant.
- Contacts of suspected or confirmed Omicron cases are required to self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of their age or vaccination status
- Employees who are self-isolating are entitled to up to 2 weeks Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and you can claim that back via HMRC. Employees need to provide you with proof of the requirement to self-isolate which they will receive when reporting a positive LFT and/or PCR test.
- Travel into the UK
- You will be aware that the Government is keeping international travel under constant review and the requirements are changing regularly.
- If employees are returning to the UK from abroad, at the moment, the minimum requirement is to have a PCR or LFT within 48-hours of departure and a PCR test within 48 hours of their return.
- They must self-isolate until they have received a negative test result – so expect some late returners!
- They may be subject to additional restrictions depending on where there are returning from, and you should expect that they may be delayed returning to work for up to 2 weeks.
- You may wish to send out a reminder regarding foreign holidays and our template policy is available for clients via our Advice Line Service here https://enlightenhr.com/our-expertise/advice_line/
- Vaccination
- Our advice to clients remains the same as previously
- Unless you are in the care sector you cannot comply employees to take the vaccine
- We suggest encouraging employees to get vaccinated and then to get the booster jab. Make it as easy as possible for them to do so e.g., time off (possibly paid) work to attend a vaccination appointment
- You can find our template letters and vaccine policy via our Advice Line Service here https://enlightenhr.com/our-expertise/advice_line/
- Our advice to clients remains the same as previously
Our Support and Advice
We are always happy to debate the pros/cons, dos/don’ts with you so please do talk to us if we can help in any way; we are here to support you.
Please note, this briefing is accurate at the time of writing, it is not intended to replace advice so please do call us if you have any queries.
