As many companies return to in-person working environments, Cisco said it hopes to accommodate a safe return to the office for those who do go back to a ‘more traditional’ work setting, i.e., the office. Returning to some semblance of normalcy has forced organizations of all sizes to rethink what is safe in today’s workplace, though. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although COVID-19 is less likely to spread through contact with contaminated surfaces, respiratory droplets can land on surfaces and objects. “It is possible that a person could get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes,” according to the CDC’s website.
As such, there are a few solutions that can help employees avoid transmission in the workplace. Employers can regularly disinfect surfaces and invest in touchless devices like desk phones, etc. John Reeder, Senior Director of Product Management, Cisco, gave insight into the changing office dynamic and talked about Cicso’s attempt at solving these new-found workplace safety issues and complexities in a blog post:
“There are many in-office experiences that are forcing companies to re-evaluate how to keep employees safe, elevator capacity, maintaining social distance requirements throughout the office, and the use of shared equipment like phones”
Cisco’s Unified Communications Manager, CUCM 12.5(1)SU3 enables employees in a shared workstation or at a hot desk to log-in and log-out to CUCM / UCM cloud registered phones using their Cisco headset without having to touch anything. “The whole experience is seamless when you connect your Cisco headset to the extension mobility-enabled Cisco IP Phone 7800 and 8800 series.” The experience eliminates the need for users to leverage the phone’s alphanumeric keypad to enter a username. This is because their identity’s automatically recognized by CUCM once they connect their headset – a feature available on both Cisco headset 500 and 700 series devices.
There’s also the option for a pinless login. “This means that when using a Cisco headset, users don’t need to enter a username or a PIN.” They can instead, sign-in and sign-out automatically when they connect/disconnect their headset to the phone. With the Cisco headset 560 DECT series, users do not have to plug in their headset to the phone, they have to place their ‘560’ headset into the dock at the workstation, and the registered phone ‘automatically’ signs the individual in through the extension mobility feature. IT admins can opt to enable a PIN for security reasons if they wish to but have the option to skip entering a PIN.
The CDC recommends using no-touch trash cans when possible and reminding employees to avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth. Most things that employees got used to pre-pandemic will likely look quite different in the COVID-19 era, which is why the CDC also recommends discouraging handshaking, hugs, and fist bumps. Meetings in the workplace should rely on the use of outdoor seating areas and social distancing for any small-group activities such as lunches, breaks, and any collaborative efforts.
