Hi Team
Welcome back to the office in 2022. I hope that you have had a good Christmas and New Year break. Time has flown and it seems crazy that we are back so soon.
A lot has happened since we closed for the holidays, and I wanted to take this opportunity to bring everyone up to speed on where things lie with the Covid situation.
Mask Mandate
Public Health Face Mask Requirements Direction (No. 4) sets out the requirements for mandatory masks effective from 2 January 2022.
In terms of section 5 – “Unless an exemption applies to them, a person must wear a face mask covering the person’s nose and mouth at all times when the person is in an indoor space;”. This applies to our office, which makes wearing of masks mandatory at work.
However, an exemption exists in terms of section 7t, where it states that a person is exempt from whearing a mask where they are, “…sitting at a workplace or standing at a workstation and can maintain physical distance from other persons.
Examples – a person who works alone in an office does not need to wear a mask. Workers who move around the workplace or who have frequent contact with people (such as at a reception or sales desk) must wear a face mask.”
To meet the requirements of the mandate we will need to ensure that we wear a mask when walking around the office. It is extremely important that we are not only meeting the requirements but seen to be meeting them. So masks must be worn when in the reception or when meeting clients.
If anyone has any concerns regarding the use of masks in the office, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Working from home
For the safety of your team mates and our clients, please do not come to work if you are unwell and follow the medical guidance regarding obtaining a Covid test where relevant.
In the next week we will introduce a working from home policy to formalise the arrangements for people working from home due to quarantining or greater lock down situations.
In the meantime please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
XPM implementation
During the break I have done extensive work on our XPM implementation to address some of the issues we have found with tracking tasks and work in progress.
I have most recently engaged consultants to assist with the process and it appears that they have solutions which will work.
As they have also been closed over the year end break the process is still in progress and I ask for everyone’s patience in the meantime.
I understand the frustration the roll out has caused, however, I’m confident that it will be a positive implementation in the long term.
In the meantime please see me for assistance with any part of the practice management that you are currently struggling with.
I look forward to seeing everyone in the office for 2022. It is going to be an exciting year and I look forward to seeing the team, including our new members, back at work.
Greg Jewell
