When it became apparent that COVID-19 had entered the global population back in March, like most companies we had to adapt to the world we found ourselves in. Effectively within one week the majority of our client’s projects where halted whilst they themselves tired to navigate how to manage their work during a pandemic. We too were not immune to the pandemics effects however as Arteak is a certified ISO 9001, 14001 & 45001 company we already had a robust management system in place meaning that we had strong contingency plans for any disruption to our work.
Therefore, for the safety of Arteak’s staff members and the wider community we instructed our workers to work from home until further notice. Whilst we had already prepared this eventuality from a technical perspective by ensuring our file system was cloud based and our team had access to laptops and technology to allow them to work remotely, we found that working remotely for such an extended period of time brought its own challenges to which we had to adapt.
Like many people the idea of working from the comfort of your own home seemed quite ideal, the reality was that we found ourselves with was very different. Without the routine of travelling to the office or to site or having the appropriate working environment it was apparent that there were challenges that we did not anticipate.
However, because of our ISO certifications we have systems in place to allow our staff to communicate their concerns to the management in an open and supportive environment to allow us to react to them, ensuring that our colleagues are able to continue doing their work in a safe environment. So in response, Arteak management adopted the Healthy Working at Home Policy detailing how to work more effectively and healthily when away from the office.
Some of the advice includes
- Be sure to wake up and at a regular time, take some exercise before starting your days activities.
- Get dressed as if you were going to the office in order to psychologically prepare for work activities
- Create a dedicated work station away from any distractions.
- Take regular breaks from the workspace, taking a few minutes to stretch.
- Ensure you eat healthy meals
- Socialise, don’t always rely on email to communicate, it is important to maintain contact with your colleagues by phone or video call.
Working in the HSE industry it is important that we lead by example in all areas and our Healthy Working at Home policy is just one example of Arteak always striving to ensure the Health and Safety not only within Arteak but to also demonstrate good practices to any of our partners.
If you wish to understand more on how to implement your own Healthy Working at Home policy, please feel free to contact us.
