How employers can create safe, smart, and people-centric spaces in the age of COVID-19

3 mn read

Safe and smart spaces that keep employees safe from infection and maintaining the privacy of employees is the need of the hour. HR tech can help employers achieve this goal.

COVID-19 is one of the most transformative factors for the industry. It has brought several unexpected changes for employers. what we’re witnessing now is the new normal and employers must comply with the status quo to thrive and even sustain their workforce. Keeping employees safe while maintaining their privacy is among the topmost concerns. How employers achieve this conveniently will be a critical factor in the success of employers going forward.

How can employers achieve this goal in a way that doesn’t negatively impact our ways of life, hamper economic recovery, and impinge our rights as private citizens?

One of the best ways to do so is to use technologies that mitigate threats with minimal disruptions. For instance, the technologies can encourage healthy behavior, optimize the way public and commercial spaces are used and optimize safety services. HR tech offers potential solutions for employers to achieve this. A real–world example is crowded spaces where the risk of infection is high, especially when people stand in close proximity with each other. Ideal technology in this case would provide intelligence to managers of publicly and privately owned spaces by signaling high-risk situations and providing feedback on how to reduce risk effectively. Further, in a world where excessive surveillance is becoming a matter of concern for the people, the solution would be sensitive to privacy concerns. Such technology already exists in the market, called Smart Lidar.

Smart LIDAR over traditional technologies

An easy way to get actionable information about spaces is to use visual devices that capture data related to moving objects and their environment. Using such devices, employers, service providers, and local authorities can gather valuable intelligence to make their spaces better. For instance, in shopping malls, they can identify the most frequented places, time periods when the footfall is high, so employers can plan the need for staff and cleaning times. Such data will effectively help in ensuring privacy. However, it may not be as simple as it sounds. HR technology plays a significant role in achieving this goal.

Cameras and radars have been used for a long time to capture such data. However, LIDAR is proving itself a much better technology to do such tasks. Smart LIDARs can accurately track and classify a range of objects including vehicles, people, and animals. When it comes to managing spaces, LIDAR’s can identify individuals and groups of people, track distances, the crowd flows, and flag unethical or suspicious behavior. Lidar takes a low amount of data compared to cameras, which makes the process faster.

Further, LIDAR doesn’t capture biometric data like cameras do, which makes it suitable for public and private spaces. This maximizes protection and ensures everyone’s privacy while managing crowd behavior in a given space. Lidar is an ideal HR tech which employers need to combat COVID-19.

Lidar can further inform employers when the capacity of space has reached, ensuring safe space. Employers can utilize the information to designate spaces and provide alerts when a space exceeds safe levels. Lidar can also calculate wait time for individuals standing in a queue. Using this information, employers can avoid congestion due to longer wait times and inform staff about the measures required to avoid congestion. Queues at airports, restaurants, retail counters, cafeterias, etc. are some spaces where LIDAR can be most effective. There are some spaces where hygiene and safety are more critical than others. Lidar can monitor these spaces and inform employers of unauthorized intrusion or administering timely sanitization.

Summing up!

COVID-19 has brought unimaginable changes in the workplaces. The new normal demands technology that can create safe and non-invasive places to work. Even after the pandemic fades, the need for safe space will continue. Lidar and similar HR technology would still be needed