Return to work!

Navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath will be one of the toughest business challenges of our time. To keep operations moving while minimizing the risk to employees, most companies have adapted new ways of working that have left their offices, factories, stores and other facilities relatively empty. Now that activities have resumed to a semblance of normality, health and safety of the workforce should be management’s top priority. This is, of course, a moral, ethical and legal concern for all companies. From a business perspective, safeguarding employees’ well-being is paramount because no plan to resume normal operations can succeed without them.

The Luxembourg government has introduced several measures in response to COVID-19 in order to safeguard the health and wellbeing of its population. As highlighted by the CSSF in July, organizations should still play a significant role in the fight against the spread of the virus, whilst ensuring the operational continuity of their activities.

Returning to work: what challenges will you face?

• Most management teams face a challenge in determining exactly when and how to organize the return to the office of their employees - if not already done - whilst ensuring that health and safety measures as recommended by the Luxembourg government are appropriately adopted.
• Now it’s possible to reopen offices, factories and distribution centers, management teams face the challenge of keeping their employees safe. New protocols for deep cleaning and sanitization may be needed. It could also mean changes to the layout of the workspace, such as moving work stations further apart or changing employee schedules to reduce the number of people in the buildings at one time.
• Re-acclimating an onsite workforce will present an enormous management challenge for executives, who will need a communication strategy that can help employees who are returning to the workplace—and those who continue to work remotely— to embrace a shared vision of what comes next. The employees will need time to adapt to the post-pandemic ways of working and while all of them have experienced this crisis, they haven’t all experienced it the same way. For those who’ve adjusted to working remotely, returning to a workplace may require a mindset shift and the level of stress caused by those changes has to remain under control.

How can we help you?

We are leveraging on our audit skillsets to simplify and accelerate the return to work as well as ensuring the entity's compliance with the local requirements. Thanks to our expansive network, we can offer you a dedicated and coordinated service with the assistance of our partner SSTL – Sécurité & Santé au Travail Luxembourg. According to the ad-hoc legal framework, their health & safety at work experts can advise, support and assist companies and institutions in public and private sectors.

Our combined approach will include the following:

• You will have access to SSTL consultants to assist you in designing and implementing or improving policies and procedures to ensure compliance with local requirements in terms of health and safety at work and responding to your specific business environment and constraints.
• Deloitte Luxembourg will perform procedures that verify the measures you have taken are in compliance with the actual regulations in relation to COVID-19. Based on the outcome of our procedures, we will issue a certificate that helps you to assess the compliance of your office with the health and safety measures developed in accordance with the local requirements. It will give confidence to your customers, business partners and employees that your office space is a safe environment to work and exchange.

Read more

• https://www.cssf.lu/en/2020/07/coronavirus-covid-19-the-cssf-reiterates-precautionary-instructions-amid-resurgence-in-covid-19-cases/
  
• https://sante.public.lu/fr/espace-professionnel/recommandations/direction-sante/000-covid-19/recommandations-sanitaires-temporaires/index.html
• https://gouvernement.lu/fr/dossiers.gouv_msan+fr+dossiers+2020+corona-virus.html