How workspace management in our Belgian office contributes to employee well-being
Belgium, February 15th, 2021 – One year into this pandemic has left employers concerned about the mental health of their employees. Research has shown an increase in mental health issues that are the result of lockdowns, social distancing, and quarantining. Even though working from home has its advantages, the social distancing aspect affects people’s happiness.
Since we’re a company that puts employee happiness first, we are constantly looking for ways to get our employee spirits up in these extraordinary times. Despite numerous efforts to organize fun digital events, the feedback from employees stayed the same. They still missed the personal interaction at the office.
We took these signals very seriously because we already knew from research that confinement has adverse effects on mental health. So, we came up with a solution.
Letting people who struggle mentally come to the office
We decided to offer our employees the opportunity to go into the office when they feel the need to do so. With the help of the COVID-19 Industry Risk Scan from Agoria and the Safety at work during the coronavirus crisis: Generic Guide from the Belgian federal government, we drafted a Workplace Management Policy that complies with existing rules and regulations.
Although the advice is to work from home—which each one of us is able to—there are situations when working from home is simply impossible or highly stressful. For example, what if your house has no water, gas, electricity, internet or central heating? Or what about delivering a project while your kids are at home?
Feelings of anxiousness or depression are also good reasons to escape from your home and seek interaction at the workplace. Though working from home is necessary to ensure business continuity in a pandemic, we believe that granting exemptions related to mental health is a prerequisite for survival of the employee and business in the long run.
Built on ServiceNow, we developed a workflow to manage the requests for people that want to come to the office. We deliberately limited the capacity of our offices to 10% of its full capacity. Doing so, we can guarantee social distancing.
The workflow is easy and based on ServiceNow Safe Workplace. Our office manager can control the use of the space, perform audits and make coming into the office a great experience for our employees.
Passed inspection effortlessly
Last week, a government inspection took place at the office in Mechelen (Belgium) because two of our employees recently returned to Belgium from abroad. They filled out the Passenger Locator Form and that triggered the inspection to verify if the employees were not in their offices.
The inspectors were very positive about the workflow we use. It proves that we are compliant with all rules and regulations and that we care about the mental health of our employee in the long run. Mental health issues are a burden for every person it affects but also for companies when it leads to extended sick leaves, resulting in high costs for society.
Implementing a ServiceNow workflow to control limited occupation of your facilities will prove to be beneficial for many reasons and our story proves it’s completely safe. If you want us to show how it works, then do contact us!
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Contact person
Stef KnaepkensChief Strategy Officer (CSO) / Director BeLux
+32 15 27 27 34 Get in touch