The Christmas period can be an odd time for office workers. Offices that are usually a bustling hive of activity become quasi-ghostlands as people take their Christmas breaks.
For those workers who are in the office at this time, and particularly between Christmas and New Year, the office can have a very different feel all of a sudden. With fewer people around, your people may be working alone for the first time, feeling more uncertain and vulnerable than they would during ‘normal’ working days.
Let’s not forget that Christmas can be an emotive time for many people. Perhaps some of your employees choose to come into the office to escape difficult domestic situations. Or they choose to work to take their mind off a poignant occasion. The season can often provoke feelings of being unsettled, and that in itself can make the workplace seem different, and strange somehow.
As an employer, how can you help your people to feel safe and protected during this time?
Install an app for peace of mind
One simple, non-intrusive solution is to give your employees access to an app like MiSentinelSOS on their phone.
There’s no pressure for people to use it, but an app can act as a comfort blanket for those people who are in the office alone. They can simply press ‘monitor me’ on the app and if they start to feel uncertain or threatened in any way, there’s a team at the end of the phone.
For example, with fewer security staff around, your employees may feel encumbered to approach a person who has wandered in. It may be an innocent mistake, but it can be unsettling for a lone worker. When they press the app, the communication is recorded, everything is live and there’s an instant report of what’s happening.
If they need assistance, the control room can step in immediately with reassurance, recommended actions and informing the next escalation level (like the person’s line manager, or even the police).
Equally, if they feel like they don’t want to be monitored at all, then there’s no obligation to use it. It’s not about peering over their shoulder to crack the whip. It’s about helping people feel safe during an unusual time.
Help everybody enjoy the Christmas period
In most cases, it’s unlikely that anything untoward will happen. But during the Christmas break, offices feel like stranger places.
For some of your workers, it will be a quiet haven, and for others it will feel stressful and unnerving. By giving your employees access to an app for lone workers, you can keep everybody feeling safe and thought about, even when there are fewer people and managerial people present physically.
