KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With businesses planning to reopen in the coming weeks, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, along with several other civic agencies, put together a guidebook for them to follow.
The three-phase approach is meant to help businesses integrate more employees inside the workplace while also managing customers who come inside.
The phases begin with a minimal reopening, then transition to opening with social distancing guidelines in effect and finally to a return to normal operations.
"The rules and the guidelines that we set forth in this plan are really not intended to be hard and fast rules that everyone must adhere to by the letter of the law, but instead guideposts they can use as they craft their own return to the workplace plan,” said Scott Hall, senior vice president of civic and community initiatives for the KC Chamber.
In the first phase of the plan, businesses are encouraged to have employees work remotely whenever possible. The plan also suggests that businesses consider alternating schedules and shifts for employees.
It also urges businesses to limit the access of non-employees into the work space and to try to control entry and exit doors.
In phase two, the plan urges people to maintain social distancing, keeping a six-foot clearance around all front desk or reception areas.
Businesses should provide masks or encourage visitors to use their own, according to the plan.
The final phase of the plan is a return to normal, when vulnerable people can return to work as well as customers. The plan encourages businesses to resume normal schedules for employees in this phase.
It’s a plan that Angela Braun, owner of hair salon and yoga studio Hagoyah, was planning to follow as she prepares her opening next month.
"I feel like there’s definitely going to be some extra steps to sanitization and protocol on the salon side as well as the yoga studio," Braun said. "We’re trying to put some things together, being proactive."
Since her business deals with a lot of close interactions with her clients, Braun is excited to reopen.
"We just can’t wait to get back and share our gifts with the world and make people feel better about themselves,” Braun said.
