Phased Return to Non-Essential Offices - Draft Guidance

Key Points

Employers should support employees to work from home where possible in levels 1-4 of the COVID-19 Strategic Framework.
Phased and limited return to offices can begin from level 0, however home working will continue to be the default and business should still support employees to do this.
Businesses to consider a number of principles as part of their preparation for a return to offices to ensure the health and safety of employees and customers is central to decision making.
The most recent timetable for easing restrictions sets out indicative dates for progressing through the various protection levels. This timetable currently indicates that Scotland will move to level 0 on 28th June, subject to the data.
Planning must be based around risk assessments and safe systems of work, emphasising physical distancing, hand washing, face coverings and ensuring adequate ventilation.
Refresher training on mitigation measures may be required in preparation for re-opening and businesses should consider staggered start times to addresses travel and childcare needs of workers.
Businesses must exercise caution as re-opening could result in an increase in cases which may result in outbreak management measures taking hold and a movement back up the levels for some areas.

Background

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic many office workers have worked at home where they can to support efforts to prevent the spread of COVID. Guidance on working at home is available to support employees and employers.

On 16th March the First Minister announced plans for a phased reopening of the economy. The “Covid-19: Strategic Framework update”, published on 23 February 2021, made it clear that employees should work from home where possible in levels 1-4. In level 0, which the country is expected to move into in late June, working at home should be the default but a phased and limited return to offices can begin at this time.

This document sets out the plan around this phased and limited reopening.

It is recognised the impact that sustained working at home has had on local economies and on the mental health of employees. However working at home where possible has been extremely important in reducing the spread of the virus and continues to help suppress the spread, allowing for further reopening of the economy and reducing restrictions on our daily lives.

Principles

As part of the work preparing for a return to offices, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce led on work to set out principles we should use for returning to offices. This work was done in conjunction with unions and other business organisations.

The principles agreed through this work were:

The health and safety of employees and customers remains a priority for businesses throughout and after the crisis.
A non-mandatory approach will be applied to all employees if opting to return to re-opened offices.
A phased and co-ordinated approach should be considered to support the re-opening of offices to support employee wellbeing and economic recovery.
The wide variety of models of working should continue to be promoted e.g. hybrid blended models of office based and home working, which meet the needs of the business

Phasing

The most recent timetable for easing restrictions sets out indicative dates for progressing through the various protection levels. This timetable currently indicates that Scotland will move to level 0 in late June, subject to the data.

The Phasing below is based on the work led by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the latest indicative timetable The direction and speed of phasing will be dictated by the data and continued progress in suppressing the virus.

Phase	Timeline	Details
CURRENT PHASE	MARCH 2020 - PRESENT	This phase is currently live where only essential offices are open. Remaining offices are currently closed and staff have all been working from home since March 2020. Businesses have been engaging with employees and carrying out surveys and providing employee support. Undertake COVID-19 risk assessments in preparation for eventual re-opening. Businesses have revised working from home policies and procedures.
PHASE 1: RESTRICTED CAPACITY	WHEN AREAS MOVE TO LEVEL 0 – EXPECTED LATE JUNE	Work from home where possible, remains the norm, unless there are justifiable wellbeing or business reasons. Allowing remaining offices to re-open with limited attendance, taking into account the physical distancing maximum capacity guidance (see link below). Managers to work closely with employees to agree arrangements to return to office focussing on staff who would benefit most from return and business need Employees and employers to use the Individual Occupational Risk Assessment guidance and consult relevant guidance on protecting higher risk groups (links below). Consider training requirements for staff returning to offices to ensure adherence with health and safety requirements and changes to procedures. Relevant and at least minimum physical distancing rules remain in place across all offices and office spaces. Enhanced ventilation in indoor spaces in line with guidance. Strict hygiene measures as per guidelines including commonly touched areas such as individual desks, screens etc. in line with guidance. Guidance on face coverings use in the workplace is followed. Relevant guidance on communal areas such as canteens or break rooms is followed. Non-mandatory approach for employees to return and continued consideration of employee health circumstances and protected characteristics to mitigate exposure. No un-necessary business travel. Staggered arrival & departure / shift patterns. Review working from home policies and procedures regularly.
PHASE 2:	AT LEAST 3 WEEKS AFTER PHASE 1 – SUBJECT TO DATA	Increase attendance while still staying within maximum capacity limits based on physical distancing. Work from home remains the default. Relevant and at least minimum physical distancing rules remain in place across all offices and internal spaces. Enhanced ventilation in indoor spaces in line with guidance. Strict hygiene measures as per guidelines including commonly touched areas such as individual desks, screens etc. in line with guidance. Guidance on face coverings use in the workplace is followed. Relevant guidance on communal areas such as canteens or break rooms is followed. Non-mandatory approach for employees to return Work from home continues to apply for majority of employees No non-essential business travel. (reference high risk employees health checklist) Staggered arrival & departure / shift patterns.
PHASE 3:	AS WE MOVE BEYOND LEVEL 0 AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME BASED ON DATA	Capacity of offices adjusts in line with wider advice and guidance on physical distancing. Relevant guidance on hygiene and other measures should continue to be followed. Employers should continue to work with employees, and unions where appropriate, to consider the wider needs and health and safety of staff and customers. Review working from home policies and procedures regularly. Reduced restrictions on office capacity, moving closer to full re-opening.

Guidance

There is a range of existing guidance to support the reopening of offices. Many businesses have already been working to this guidance and continue to do so. Businesses which have not previously opened should consider this guidance prior to the phased reopening.

General safer workplaces guidance

Call centre guidance which contains a range of relevant information for all offices

Physical Distance Based Capacity guidance

Guidance on safe travel which contains advice on how to be safe when travelling to work

Advice and guidance on shielding

COVID-19: ventilation guidance

Individual occupational risk assessment guidance

Advice and guidance on protecting vulnerable workers

Advice and guidance on protecting pregnant employees

Test and protect employers guidance

Prioritising Groups to Return

Through discussions with unions and business organisations it has become clear that there are a range of reasons why employers and employees would like to see a return to offices. Each business will have its own unique circumstances but some of the issues that they may want to consider when prioritising staff to return include:

Those who are on the shielding list and members of their household
Those who would benefit from a return to work on mental health or disability grounds
Those who have less appropriate settings for working at home
Those who are new to the organisation and require training/mentoring (and those required to support this)
Those who most benefit from collaborative working in person
Where business demands require physical participation

These issues will not be the only elements taken into account of when prioritising staff to return to offices but may be helpful in considerations. We would encourage all employers to work closely with staff to understand any issues and concerns around both continuing to work from home and returning to an office environment in line with regular risk assessment.

Travel

The return to offices will potentially have a significant impact on our transport system, including public transport. Public transport has been adjusting throughout the pandemic taking account of both demand and the most up to date guidance. Public Transport continues to follow appropriate physical distancing guidelines which limits capacity.

To ensure that public transport is not overwhelmed and staff are not impacted too severely by the constraints on public transport we would encourage all employers to consider staggered start and finishing times for all staff to help deal with peak periods of travel.

Outbreak management and other levels

While the hope would be that cases remain low and continue to decrease there is always the possibility that the reopening process results in an increase in cases. This may result in outbreak management measures taking hold and a movement back up the levels for some areas.

If an area moves back up the protection levels we would expect that working at home would become the default again in these areas. To help control the outbreaks we would advise that offices in these areas should close where possible and staff who live in these areas should work at home where possible.

Advice for employers and employees on what to do should an individual(s) need to self-isolate can be accessed from the Test and Protect employers guidance.

Employers and employees have worked in collaboration throughout the lockdown restrictions period. Moving forward, we need more clarity as to how employees will be supported to return and businesses supported to resume operations at greater capacity. In particular, in the long-term, compliance issues on working from home need to be better understood eg display screen equipment, assessing work-stations etc.

We believe Level 0 should be treated distinctly from Levels 1-4, as Level 0 is designed to provide more normality. Therefore, the “default home-working” requirement” should be removed as a requirement under Level 0. In addition, will guidance be provided as to when, within Level 0, “work from home” will no longer be part of any Scottish Government guidance?

In addition, SCC Network supported limited, phased re-opening at the time of the submission of the initial report in August 2020. We now believe we are in a very different situation in Scotland given the success of the vaccination roll-out, low hospitalisation rates & low death rates. Therefore, we do not support a severely limited re-opening in May 2021. We believe we need to accelerate the re-opening of offices, with fewer restrictions and increased capacity. Further detail is provided in comments below.

If an employer has a legitimate business reason for an employee to attend the workplace, how is this factored into the guidance? At the moment, it appears not to be included and it should be included in final guidance.

Clarity of additional assessments should be stated here. For example, it is not just COVID risk assessments that are needed. If people have been away from the workplace for considerable periods, all H&S workplace risk assessments need to be revisited and refreshed as part of the planned return to work.

“Work from home where possible, remains the norm” we believe this sends mixed messages and “remains the norm” should be removed. This guidance should be facilitating and supporting a return to normality but the language and current format appears to apply a restrictive and prescriptive approach. This needs to be adapted for businesses to be able to apply this effectively.

We believe this bullet point should be removed for the following reasons:
1. The word “justifiable” is open to challenge and interpretation. We suggest this is removed as it should be left up to the employer/employee to discuss and agree.
2. In addition, this bullet point, in practice, represents no change from present guidance where there is the ability for staff to return for wellbeing reasons, providing effective/safe working from home is not possible. Therefore, if published in its current format, businesses will be asking the question as to what has really changed for their business and their employees.

We understand the inclusion of the physical distancing maximum capacity guidance. However, from our data, this would result in a return of around 20% on average based on 2m distance for some larger office premises. For smaller offices, it may not be viable to re-open at all which could exclude small businesses from re-opening under Level 0. This should be further reviewed and discussed by Scottish Government and business groups. In addition, what are the plans to reduce physical distancing requirements? Will this be included as part of the physical distancing review undertaken by Scot Gov and will it be aligned with UK Gov?

There are some practical matters that impact numbers, including the need to have first aiders, fire wardens etc. This becomes very difficult to plan for if returning numbers are low due to distancing restrictions. This could disadvantage small / medium sized office premises.

As this is Covid-focused guidance, what considerations are given to the interface with other workplace hazards/assessments.

How will this be monitored / assessed eg Councils? Are there enforcement powers?

Further clarity needed on the definition of “enhanced ventilation?” This needs to be defined and links provided both to the SG guidance on ventilation and CIBSE Covid ventilation guidance document.

Current guidance doesn’t adequately cover air cleaning or sterilising systems that would allow recirculating air systems to be used. It simply says do not use them which is not always possible.

Will this enhancement be subject to all indoor spaces, retailers, public sector buildings, schools, colleges, universities? Will a cost-analysis be undertaken and will there be reliefs from SG to support any additional cost burdens for businesses, particularly SMEs?

Business travel forms an important part of day-to-day interactions and we believe this should be removed. If travel for other purposes is allowed eg international travel, staycations etc, business travel should not be discouraged in this manner. As of 26th April, travel in mainland Scotland has been permitted, notwithstanding specific local authority restrictions, therefore business travel should not be singled out in Phase 1 or 2 of this guidance. If SG believes it has to be included, we would need to understand the data behind this decision and the definition of “unnecessary.” Our view is this restriction should be removed entirely as it appears illogical, unfair and wrongly targets businesses.

This bullet point requires further detail and clarification. For example, how will an increase in numbers of staff returning be achieved if the physical distancing maximum capacity must be maintained? One cannot increase if the other stays the same or doesn’t flex alongside the increase.

SCC believes Level 0 should be treated distinctly from Levels 1-4, as Level 0 is designed to provide more normality. Therefore, the “default home-working” requirement” should be removed.

As above, we would not expect to see business travel targeted or deterred. See comment above. What’s the difference between “unnecessary” in Phase 1 and “non-essential” in Phase 2? These restrictions appear unreasonable in the current environment where travel is allowed across Scotland.

See comment above on capacity. As an example, at 1m distancing, one of our members with multiple office locations throughout Scotland, would be able to operate at 39% capacity, which is far below effective levels. In Phase 3, we would expect to see a more open-approach but it is hard to see a path to 100% return. Companies are, and will be reviewing hybrid work patterns as a positive opportunity but these should be matters for companies in consultation with their staff to consider, rather than there being any implied regulation in this direction. This should be revisited and consulted on further.

Full re-opening of offices is necessary for Phase 3 to avoid a sense of permanent restrictions and for businesses to be able to plan more, particularly supply chain/city centre businesses that rely on office workers footfall. We need to understand the Government’s timetable intentions as to when we can expect restrictions on office capacity to be reduced.

It is our view, that Level 0 should see the removal of working from home default position unless there is a clear business benefit or is part of specific Covid-control measures backed up by evidence.

Phased Return to Non-Essential Offices - Draft Guidance

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