Is It Safe To Work On-Site? Are You At Risk Or Good To Go?
Who could have predicted a year ago that employers would soon be requiring its staff to report body temperatures in order to come into work. It’s a bizarre reality, but it’s the difference between keeping a company running or grinding to a screeching halt. The Hayday health screening for work application is a branded, friendly experience for the challenges of a new normal, and provides employers, managers and HR teams with clear, real-time details about their employees’ health with a series of screening questions and three clear outcomes: On Track to work, At Risk, and Out Sick. If any staff member’s work health assessment answers raise red flags that represent risk or illness, management and HR is immediately alerted, ensuring the safety and health of colleagues, clients and visitors. But how does it all work?
Checking In
Hayday’s health screening for work Check In options allow for an employee to clock in as On Site, Remote, Off Work or Out Sick. (Companies can edit or customize the work health assessment options for specificity and language as well as for employee types, locations and more.) Once an employee has reported whether and how they plan to work that day, they see the first screen of the Check In, which asks the most important question: Have you tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days? Those who answer yes are redirected into a flow specific to the recovery period with information about returning to work in due course. If the employee answers no, the assessment continues with the intention of classifying each employee as On Track, At Risk or Out Sick.
Check In Result: On Track
If the employee passes their health screening at work, and they have stated that they are working “On Site” for that day, the On Site screen becomes a boarding pass, which they can be required to flash at a manager, security or receptionist once they arrive at the workplace. The boarding pass’s color changes daily to ensure the gatekeeper needs to only glance quickly to allow entry. As remote-working staffers won’t need a boarding pass, companies can choose to have this stage of the health screening for work application include an announcement, survey, funny meme or similar important or irreverent messaging.
Check In Result: At Risk
But what happens when someone’s answers to the health screening at work raise concerns? When an employee reports being sick and showing signs of COVID-19, they are moved into a category that requires them to work from home (or not work at all) for a certain amount of programmed time. This so-called “cool-down period” is built into the employee health screening requirements, and its details, including the required number of days the staffer must be away from the workplace, are determined by the employer. Until the “cool-down period” is over, the On Site option would be disabled when employees are prompted to complete their health screening for work. As a reminder, your company can determine and customize its risk index based on the sum of individual questions and the weighting assigned to each.
If and when a staff member reports certain symptoms on their health screening at work, employers can share health resources and protocols such as reporting in to a specific manager; provide information on how to seek care that's consistent with your company’s insurance coverage; or even include a list of local restaurants that make and deliver chicken noodle soup.
Check In Result: Out Sick
Worst-case scenario: an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19. What then? Their answers automatically place them into a category where they do not qualify for a boarding pass until HR manually approves them. When the employee is ready and healthy, they Request a Return from HR and must be approved in order to return to work. Unfortunately, just because we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, we’re not immune to the flu, breaking a leg, getting food poisoning (*cough hangover cough*), or coming down with any non-COVID-related illnesses. When an employee reports being Out Sick with no inherent COVID-19 risk, they are met with a screen that says, ‘We wish you a speedy recovery,’ and can return to work On Site whenever they have recovered.
In this time of high anxiety and unknowns, it is hugely important that we remain honest with ourselves and those around us, which is why there is space at the start of Hayday’s health screening for work application for businesses to include a note to employees requesting full honesty, transparency and trust. And a reminder that we’re all in this together.