Without a comprehensive plan, your company’s way of working is at risk. Learn what improvements you can make to keep your office safe and secure.

1. Track and manage who’s on-site and why with visitor logs
Anticipate, track, and report not only who comes into the workplace but why. Start by implementing visitor screening as this will ensure all of your on-site visitors meet the criteria for entering your office. It’ll also give front desk staff a daily look at who to expect and an enforceable way to turn away unscreened visitors. Include questions about the purpose of the visit, the time of the visit, and visitor contact information.

You can also use this information to keep a comprehensive visitor log. This helps paint the full picture of who’s coming and going from your office. It’s also helpful for reporting purposes if there is an incident. A visitor log can also help identify any suspicious visitor trends that rotating front desk staff might not catch.

2. Maintain a safe and secure office with an access control system
Different visitors come to your workplace for different reasons. It could be an executive visiting for a meeting or a maintenance worker fixing the elevator. It could also be a job candidate coming in for an interview. Not every guest needs the same type of access to your office.

With the right system, your visitors will have already completed the screening questionnaire so that your front desk staff will know each guests’ reason for visiting and can grant them the correct level of access. For example, executives will more than likely need full access to your workplace while the interviewee may only be given access to your lobby and a single meeting room. Through an access control system, you can better customize visitor access levels and grant the appropriate level of entry for each guest when they check in.

3. Invest in physical alarms and smart camera systems to keep your office safe
Physical security systems, like alarms and smart cameras, are an important line of defense. While alarms draw attention to unwanted intruders, smart cameras can record incidents and provide evidence should an incident occur.

A robust surveillance system records clear visual and audio, connects with your wider security apparatus, and alerts the appropriate stakeholders of suspicious activity. Surveillance systems not only provide monitoring of your workplace but their physical presence can also act as a deterrent for bad actors. Potential intruders are more likely to target workplaces that have their defenses down, so keep yours up with the right technology.

4. Educate your employees
An empowered workforce is a safe one. Help your employees understand how to prevent a security breach with a comprehensive security protocol. A good protocol outlines best practices for both digital and physical security and should include:

• How to dispose of sensitive documents
• Instructions on how to save and secure internal documents
• Guidelines around sharing company intellectual property
• Visitor check-in requirements

Implement annual training of your policies and include situational examples that resonate with employees to bring them to life.

Be sure to make it safe and easy for employees to report any suspicious behavior that they may experience. Your training should include information about how to report an incident and include clear language that protects employees’ identities in these situations.

5. Make improvements to the physical workplace
Prevent a security breach in the workplace and stop intruders before they enter your office with extra safety measures. Take inventory of your workplace valuables—confidential files, intellectual property, computers. How are you keeping those valuables protected?

There are the physical security basics like having locks on doors, badge-restricted access to offices, and impenetrable filing cabinets that lock, and then there are the digital security basics. For example, it’s best for companies to secure all digital devices with passcodes and require updates every month or 90-day, tier documents by level of confidentiality, and save all confidential documents in passcode-protected folders.

It’s important to have a well-thought-out framework on how to keep your office space safe and secure. As companies grow and working models become more flexible, threats continue to evolve. Your physical security and access systems need to be ready. Whether it’s a visitor or an unexpected intruder, your physical security systems need to be ready. By thinking ahead and staying vigilant, you can keep your employees, physical and digital assets, and office safe and secure.

About Envoy
Welcome to the workplace platform that flexes with you. Envoy transforms modern workplaces into hybrid work and brings people together so they can connect, collaborate, and thrive. Learn more about Envoy and solutions that support a flexible workplace, here.