Shops have opened their doors - but many are not as busy as they might have hoped on the first morning of alert level 2. Video / Supplied
Kiwis returned to workplaces around the country today, but thousands of corporate employees will remain in their home offices as Kiwis ease back into normal life after seven weeks of lockdown.
While those in public-facing roles must return, other workers will continue to work from home or split their time between the office and home.
Among those encouraging staff to keep working from home offices is the country's largest general insurer, IAG, which trades under several brands including AMI, State and NZI.
Almost all staff would for now continue to work from home, IAG chief operating officer Melissa Cantell said.
"The process for the IAG team returning to work will be managed in a series of phases. In our first phase, we will be partially reopening two sites – one in Auckland and one in Christchurch, but only to a small group of people from our Sales and Service and our Claims contact centres.
"At this stage these sites will remain closed for visitors."
Other staff would continue to work from home, with the situation reviewed fortnightly.
As with all the companies contacted by the Herald, IAG would have controls in place to manage social distancing, contract tracing and other health and safety requirements.
The big telcos are also welcoming staff and customers again.
Spark stores and offices opened around the country for level 2, with distancing, hygiene and contact tracing protocols in place, Spark spokeswoman Arwen Vant said.
Some staff would continue to work from home, or rotate between the office and home.
Critical operational teams, such as the Network Operations Team and the 111 team, would remain separated from other Spark staff, Vant said.
Vodafone also opened its stores and offices today, with measures in place to protect staff and customers, including a maximum 50 per cent occupancy in offices and ban on hot desking, chief people officer Jodie King said.
"Although we can celebrate low numbers of coronavirus throughout Aotearoa at the moment, we're acutely aware it only takes one case to put many at risk. For this reason we're doing everything we can to keep our people and customers safe while still keeping up with the increased demand on our networks and customer service queues."
Staff at the big banks are also continuing to work both from home and the office.
A third of ANZ's staff would return to the office next week, external communications senior manager Stefan Herrick said.
"Staff who are keen to work from home can continue to do so, and the rest will be split into week-on, week-off teams.
"During alert level 2, lower numbers of staff in buildings will enable us to maintain social distancing – particularly in lifts and other shared spaces."
Other restrictions included not allowing movement between floors and staggered start times to ease pressure on lifts.
Most BNZ employees worked from home during level 3 and 4, and the bank had already offered flexible work arrangements, BNZ spokesman Sam Durbin said.
"The combination of working from home and being office-based is very compelling. We are currently working through how we will operate in level 2 and we will be taking a range of measures to keep our customers and employees safe in all BNZ sites, including our branches."
Many ASB staff would also continue to work from home, or a mixture of home and work, ASB executive general manager people Robyn Worthington said.
More than 4000 staff worked from home during the lockdown, and there were elements they wanted to keep going, such as virtual meetings and tech-enabled collaboration.
Safety measures for those returning to the office included physical distancing of desk locations, fixed seating and managing kitchens.
But where working from home was going well for people and their roles, it would also remain an option.
"We've found the change to working from home both rewarding and challenging, as I'm sure is the case with a lot of other businesses.
"Some of our people have been pleasantly surprised by the benefits of working from home in terms of commute times, greater flexibility over working hours, more opportunities to exercise and be with family members."
Meanwhile, the country's biggest council is opening its workplaces slowly "to ensure we can provide our staff with a safe working environment".
"[There will be] a 30 per cent occupancy rate for the first two weeks, then from May 28 we will move to a 50 per cent occupancy level," an Auckland Council spokeswoman said.
"This will remain in place for the rest of alert level 2."
