Considerations for reopening offices checklist

With the UK currently on track to lift all Covid-19 restrictions on 21 June, many offices will be properly reopening for the first time since the pandemic began.

With our ways of working having changed fundamentally over the past 18 months, the requirement to be Covid-secure and, for some, an increasing pressure to review costs, employers have many things to consider.

Our checklist sets out the key considerations for businesses relating to their premises, their employees and their data along with links to our guides providing further information.

Short term considerations

Rent concessions

Have you benefited from any form of rent concession to date and would you like it to continue? Have you approached your landlord to renegotiate?
Do you have an upcoming break option or is your lease soon to expire?

Re-sizing the workplace and outside space

Do you need to resize? This could be to reduce your floor space as a result of a reduced workforce, or it could be to reflect home or hybrid working.
Do you need to increase your floor space if your business has grown during the pandemic?
Are you looking to reconfigure to accommodate social distancing?
Have you approached you landlord to discuss what can be agreed regarding resizing and reconfiguration
Have you considered a sublease of part to generate additional income to pay your rent without
relinquishing the space entirely? Have you checked the terms of your lease to see if a sublease
of part will require the consent of your landlord?
Can you make better use of any outside space, perhaps to create outdoor meeting areas or communal
space for use in the summer months? Is there any additional outdoor space in or around your building
which you could use or repurpose? Have you discussed options with your landlord?

For more information, see our FAQs for Tenants during Covid-19.

Re-configuring the workplace and signage

Have you reconfigured your space to allow for socially distanced desks, one-way systems and other
Covid-secure measures?
Have you familiarised yourself with the relevant sector-specific guidance on how to work safely
during coronavirus?
Do you need to rearrange existing partitions or install new ones and need the landlord’s consent to do so?
Will you need to make alterations (involving anything beyond partitioning) which are likely to
require consent?
Have you installed additional signage e.g. in connection with new one-way systems? Will any signage be
outside of your space (for example, in common parts – corridors, lifts etc.) and will require the
landlord’s consent?

For more information, see our FAQs on managing a safe return to work.

Common and shared areas in the workplace building

Will areas such as reception areas, meeting rooms and lifts in your building be used by other occupiers?
Has the landlord introduced new rules as to how these common areas are used to keep the
building Covid-secure? Have these new rules been communicated to all staff and users
of the building?
Has your landlord sought to recover additional costs via the service charge regime in your lease for any
new services they need to provide (for example, costs of regular deep cleaning of common parts or new
signage)? Have you reviewed your lease to check that such additional costs can be charged and
updated your budgets?

Fire safety

If you have altered your space in any of the ways detailed above, have you updated your fire risk
assessment to reflect the new layout?
Do you need to update your fire evacuation routes and assembly points too?

Water quality

Have you checked that the relevant legionella assessments for the water system have been carried out
before your staff return, even if this is the responsibility of your landlord?

Ventilation

Have you reviewed the adequacy of your ventilation systems in the light of the Health & Safety Executive’s
latest guidance and taken steps to maximise fresh air and improve ventilation?

Health data

Have you familiarised yourself with and implemented the ICO’s “Data Protection and employee data
during coronavirus – six data protection steps for organisations” guidance?
What employee data have you decided it is necessary to collect, e.g. temperature checks, self-isolation,
shielding, confirmed positive Covid-19 cases, vaccination data, workplace testing etc.?
Have you considered the NHS Covid-19 QR code poster? If it is appropriate will you require employees to
download the NHS Covid-19 app and scan the QR code upon entry? If so, how will you address the issue
of employees who do not wish to do so?
If you are planning temperature checks before employees can access the office what is the process should
an employee have a temperature that raises a concern? How have you communicated this process to
the employees? What data, if any, will you collect, process, store etc.? What support will you provide for
the employee in these circumstances? How will you notify any other employees who have been in close
proximity and what data do you hold that would allow you to do so?
Will you be running an onsite lateral flow testing programme or encouraging employees to take lateral
flow tests at home?
What policies and procedures do you have in place if an employee should be contacted by NHS Test &
Trace while at work and notified that they have tested positive or have been identified as a close contact
of someone who has Covid-19? Do they know that they should they leave the office immediately and
report this to you? What support will you provide for the employee in these circumstances? How will
you notify any other employees who have been in close proximity and what data do you hold that would
allow you to do so?
If you are mandating the vaccine, implementing a “no jab, no job” policy for new employees or collecting
details of vaccination status, have you undertaken a Data Privacy Impact Assessment, considered how
you will hold this data, how long you will store it, how you will record any refusals, whether on medical
grounds or not?
What will you do if you receive confirmation about an employee’s positive test for Covid-19? How have
you balanced their confidentiality and right to privacy against your duty of care and health and safety
responsibilities? Will you inform employees without revealing the identity of the employee concerned?
What if other employees raise concerns and worry they may have been in close contact with the employee
concerned? What data will you hold, process and store – and for how long?
What processes do you have in place to deal with a report of unsafe practices at work? How will you keep
the data safe and secure, in particular to ensure confidentiality for the whistleblower?
Have you challenged yourself to ensure the data you plan to collect is actually needed to implement your
measures appropriately and effectively? How will you keep this data secure? What is your retention policy
for such data? Do you need to update any existing policies? Have you thought about the need to review,
delete or anonymise this data?
How have you and how will you communicate your plans to hold such data to your employees? Have
you been clear and transparent about who you will share this information with, how long you intend to
keep it etc.? Do you need to update your privacy notice? What i f an employee opposes your plans? What
process have you put in place to resolve such a situation?

Health data (continued)

What are your plans to keep the situation under review as employees return to the office What if it
becomes apparent you need to collect additional data, or even stop collecting some data, alter a policy or
process? How will you ensure transparent communications with employees so they can exercise
their information rights should they wish to do so?

For more information, see our FAQs on workplace testing and our FAQs on vaccination.

HR policies and procedures

Have you reviewed and updated your risk assessment? How are you communicating the outcome of your
assessment to employees? Are you consulting employees on your reopening plans?
Do employees know what they should do if they have concerns about potentially unsafe practices at
work? Have you been clear that you welcome employees raising these issues via your channels? How
will you investigate any concerns and inform employees about any action you’ve taken? Do you have the
relevant resource available to do this if you are still in the return to work phase? Have you been clear that
employees should remove themselves from any obvious dangers, e.g. people not observing
safe distancing?
Have you reviewed pay and absence policies? Are employees clear about their entitlements and
obligations if they are unwell with Covid-19, test positive for Covid-19 or need to self-isolate?
Do you need to introduce a vaccination policy, covering time off to get the vaccine, what happens about
short-term side effects and your policy stance on vaccination? Are you considering mandating the vaccine
and, if so, what exemptions will you make (e.g. for medical or belief reasons) and how will you enforce
this requirement and manage the risks of claims?

For more information, see our FAQs on workplace testing, our FAQs on vaccination and
our table of steps to mitigate the risk of employment claims on return to work.

Staffing and occupancy

Do you have a process for deciding which employees can return ahead of general restrictions lifting as
expected on 21 June? Will you require any kind of manager approval for employees to come back now if
they are struggling with homeworking because of their health or homeworking environment?
What steps are you taking to restrict in-person gatherings and other meetings and to keep them within
current regulations and guidance?
Have you calculated your maximum occupancy level? How will desk allocation work?
Will employees need to book in advance?
Are you keeping a record of all staff working on your premises and their working times and
contact details, to assist NHS Test & Trace?
Even once restrictions lift, not all employees will be willing to return immediately. Have you considered
clinically vulnerable employees who may be reluctant to come to the office as they do not feel safe
using public transport?

For more information, see our FAQs on staffing decisions when reopening workplaces.

Flexible working

At the moment, probably any changes in work location and hours needs to be applied for, with a set
process that takes into account the legal and practical issues. On location, are you prepared to say as a
standard approach that employees can work at home/remotely for a certain proportion of their agreed
working days/hours – e.g. 20/40/60% without the need to apply – i.e. employees can just inform their
manager of their intentions? Or with a shortened, likely to be agreed, process? And a more involved
process if they ask for more than the default?
What minimum level of time in the office will be the default position? Have you considered your
unique roles and the benefits of in-person contact for those?
What roles will routinely have a requirement of more or less time in the office than the default?
Will a change to the default position of in-office working apply to everyone? If not, who would it not
apply to, and how will they react if all their colleagues receive a perceived benefit of greater flexibility?
As part of this process, how will you deal with employees who want to work remotely far away
domestically (e.g. Cornwall) or from a different jurisdiction (on a temporary or permanent basis)?
Will the current process and thinking remain for requests to change normal working days/hours?
You may want to consider a future focus to be on output, rather than work hours. If so, what metrics will
be key generally (and separately in role specific terms) to determining the output achieved? Will this vary
from role to role? What is in place now in terms of output measurement? Are there any benchmarks in
place? Are there any roles where objective figures alone could determine this (e.g. sales?)

Looking further ahead

Office plans

What is the plan for your office in the future? Is it roughly as now, but perhaps more focus on face to face
collaboration when people are in the office?
Will you consult about this? Formally or informally?
Would you consider suburban office hubs as well as HQ offices?
If the idea is to majority home-work, will you help fit tout a home office What will you pay for and not
pay for? What about heating and consumables?
Are there any plans to change the layout/use of the office space if less people will be working from it
full time?
Can employees choose to work from any different office?
For employees working from home longer term, how will you carry out risk assessments? Will there be
any measuring of working hours, controls on overwork or any other measures to help ensure
that employees disconnect?
Will you require a certain number of days in the office each week/month?
Will the costs of attending the office be reimbursed?
Will you consider exceptions to any rules about minimum office presence?
Will you be able to require employee presence in the office eat any time?
What notice will be given?

For more information, see our FAQs on working from home.

Premises exit strategy: stay or go?

If your lease is going to expire in the next few years, have you considered whether you are likely to want
to stay where you are and seek to negotiate a new deal with your current landlord?
Have you considered whether you are likely to want to move to new premises, perhaps because your
current offices are no longer suitable. If this is the case, have you considered what the “must-haves” are
on your office shopping list and consulted with local agents as early as possible?
Are you unclear on how much office space your business will need in the medium-to-long-term future?
Have you considered the use of “third spaces” to bridge any gaps between formal office working and
homeworking for the time being e.g. local hotels converting redundant space into serviced offices sand
memberships being available to regional office portfolios?