As an Austin IT support provider, Gravity Systems qualifies as one of those essential businesses that stays open even as other organizations must close their doors during the COVID-19 epidemic. If you belong to the essential critical infrastructure workforce as well, then your work site may still accommodate a significant number of employees. If some of your team simply can’t do their jobs from home, you need to think about how to maintain a hygienic, virus-free facility, including ways of using your technology as safely as possible.

First and foremost, remember (and enforce) the rules of social distancing, such as washing hands frequently, not shaking hands, and trying to maintain six feet of distance between individuals. You can use the same kinds of remote conferencing technology to maintain your regular meetings and project collaborations that many home workers are currently implementing. Even if you’re all in the same building, it still makes sense to conduct virtual interactions when you can.

No matter how many of your team members have their own dedicated workstations or other devices, there will inevitably be times when multiple employees have to handle the same hardware. Make sure that everyone knows to wipe down these devices with disinfectant. If you can’t find disinfectant wipes, use isopropyl alcohol of at least 70-percent strength. (Just don’t let any alcohol make contact with any parts other than surfaces such as keys, mice, etc.)

In addition to educating your employees on how to keep things safe and clean, institute a daily, facility-wide disinfectant routine. Wipe down all IT devices as well as desks, doorknobs, and other frequently-handled objects. You might even have options for changing your employee schedules so that workers rotate in and out of the facility, leaving workstations free for disinfecting at various points throughout the day.

Stay healthy, everybody!