Mejores prácticas pandémicas: cómo Glidewell Dental navega por la salud, la seguridad y la continuidad

While the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in dramatic numbers across the globe, people and businesses are still reeling from the pandemic's impact on everyday life. The public is adjusting to living and working from home with shelter-in-place orders, but businesses large and small are struggling to figure out how to change their business practices, protect their employees and local communities, and maintain productivity and customer service.

Glidewell Dental Responds to COVID-19 in California

Glidewell Dental, a dental company based in Newport Beach, Calif., is a leader in technological innovation for accessible patient solutions. They employ more than 4,000 people in a state that is currently under a state-mandated lockdown. The company focuses on providing a wide variety of products including prosthetics and implants for dental restorations. Glidewell Dental also runs a large research and development group.

Protecting Employee Health and Safety

When the Coronavirus struck California, the company quickly made changes to protect the health and safety of its employees.

Anita Islas, manager of digital support for Glidewell Dental, said that one unique situation for the company was that it does everything in-house, including facilities management, interior design, painting, plumbing, electrical work, and cafeteria and catering services. “Our campus is like a university. Employees drive golf courts around the campus because it’s so large.”

Implementing a Rotating Schedule

Although the company could convert some positions to work-at-home, many employees still needed to work on campus. Some have picked up new roles, like screening incoming employees’ temperatures and helping with safety and sanitation procedures to keep those still coming to work safe and healthy.

"Our laboratory is usually open 24 hours a day, six or seven days a week. We had to drop our hours during the outbreak, which not only affects laboratory employees but also those who support them. Fortunately, no one is unemployed. We've implemented rotating shifts so that everyone can still pick up hours."
--Anita Islas

Here are a few of the best practices Glidewell Dental put into place to accelerate health and safety in its operations, including screening and hygiene, maintaining production, managing employees working from home, as well as other lessons learned.

Screening and Hygiene Promotion

The company has limited building entrances, and all employees must have their temperature taken upon arrival. If individuals leave during the day and return, they need to be screened again. All the information is recorded, and anyone registering a fever is sent home immediately and sick leave is applied.

Each department at Glidewell Dental has established detailed safety procedures and hygiene processes that must be followed on a daily basis.

Sanitize all surfaces

“We have a large number of sanitizing products all over the laboratory. A dedicated group is responsible for sanitizing all surfaces, including everything in the laboratory. Protective gear and equipment is not allowed to be moved around.”
--Anita Islas

The company no longer allows food in any areas, temporarily removing free popcorn, cafeteria condiments, community salad bar, and coffee offerings. Sanitization stations have been established all over the campus, with cleaning products and towels readily available, practically every 10 feet. Designated lunch areas have been reconfigured to separate chairs to adhere to the six-foot social distancing rule.

According to the National Institute of Health, the coronavirus can be stable for hours on surfaces and in aerosols, which makes cleaning processes ever more important.

Limit in-Person Activity

“In addition, all conference and break rooms are closed,” Islas added. “All meetings are done over Zoom, which limits face-to-face interactions. Everyone is keeping that six-foot, social distancing rule in all other areas.”

Rozanne Cipriano, Engineering Administration Supervisor at Glidewell Dental, explains that the company has also taken some notably creative measures to allow employees to work from home.

“Some of our engineers work with really large pieces of hardware like robots, 3D printers and milling machines. It’s come to the point where we as an employer have allowed them to take that hardware home so they can continue operating and minimize exposure to others. That’s also kept our IT team busy, making sure all our networks are secure.”
--Rozanne Cipriano

Tip: Prioritize safety by using these helpful hygiene and sanitization checklists in your business to reduce the spread of COVID-19. 

Maintaining Production Levels

Although Glidewell Dental has reduced its hours, the company has been able to maintain its production levels. Currently, incoming orders have not been affected due to the pandemic. However, the management team expects that to change in the upcoming weeks, Islas noted.

“As dentists shift to taking only emergency appointments around the country, we expect that to affect us. However, we will still see a high volume even with emergency-related equipment. In addition, because we're such a large laboratory, we may be getting orders from other smaller companies.”

Managing Home-Based Employees

With a large group of employees working from home, Glidewell Dental has learned some lessons about managing remote team members.

The company has supplied laptops for many employees as well as allowed some engineers to even take home robotic and 3D printing equipment, said Cipriano.

Communicate Regularly and Set Expectations

“Some of our homes have been turned into mini laboratories. We had to quickly document everything employees were taking home, implement telecommuting agreements and communicate rules and policies.”

Islas highlighted the importance of regular communication. “It’s important for work-at-home employees to sync up with their managers daily. Communication is key. It’s a balance between social distancing and still keeping in touch with people.”

Tips for Other Businesses

Glidewell Dental is happy to report that it has no known Coronavirus cases yet to be identified within the company, and has navigated the pandemic in terms of business continuity.

For organizations facing similar challenges around the country, Glidewell Dental wants to share its lessons learned.

Prioritize Employee Safety

“Businesses should be thinking about the safety of their employees first and foremost. Management should be communicating clearly and often and provide creative options whenever possible. They should set clear goals and expectations to help reduce panic and fear.”
--Anita Islas

Set up Schedules, Procedures, and Clear Documentation

With the Coronavirus pandemic happening so quickly, Glidewell Dental had to act fast to implement these new health, safety, and business processes. That takes a lot of effort, but clearly pays off, said Islas.

“Just a week or two, we were operating as normal. Suddenly, things escalated and managers were working late, making sure we set up schedules, processes, procedures and documentation. It all happened very, very quickly. Our top priorities were to communicate and put our employees’ safety first. Management has not slept.”

Indeed, other businesses should prioritize employee safety as much as possible. Glidewell Dental took swift action and made changes and that was not without the help of every individual taking part to stop the spread.

As more businesses that rely on frontline workers figure out new policies and procedures, they should consider following the example of Glidewell Dental and other manufacturing companies across the globe that are going above and beyond to prioritize safety for their employees.