Page 9 - NY Cooperator April 2020

COOPERATOR.COM THE COOPERATOR — APRIL 2020 9 REBECCA SCANDALIATO rscandaliato@mackoul.com 516-279-1215 | www.mackoul.com Mackoul Risk Solutions provides training for the employees and board members who have direct interaction with those employees. For more information and to avoid costly fines for non-compliance contact Mackoul Risk Solutions today. OVERVIEW OF THE LAW New York State has enacted several significant measures regarding harassment in the workplace. All New York State employers are required to adopt written workplace harassment prevention policies and institute annual anti-harassment training for all employees. NEW YORK STATE MANDATED WORKPLACE HARASSMENT PREVENTION TRAINING MACKOUL RISK SOLUTIONS OUR LOW COST SOLUTION GET IN TOUCH DID YOU KNOW... That any employee hired must be trained on the workplace harassment prevention policy within 30 days of employment? Mandated training provided for Property Management Firms as well. —which means that building staff mem- bers deal with items both coming and go- ing. Unsurprisingly, the holiday season can be particularly tight. On top of box delivery, the concierge says that their front desk also handles tra- ditional dry-cleaning pick-up and drop- off —which adds the dimension of dirty clothing to the mix—as well as deliveries from restaurants and food markets. Th e building has a refrigerator for cold stor- age, but that refrigerator has a limited ca- pacity. With all of these challenges, the building staff tries to maintain as much order as possible, but the volume can get overwhelming when residents aren’t im- mediately available to pick up their deliv- eries. (For reasons of security and privacy, they prefer not to enter a resident’s apart- ment when the resident isn’t there.) One interesting point our concierge shared with us is that when Fresh Direct fi rst began deliveries, residents in his build- ing ordered more items more frequently from that particular grocery retailer than they do now. Whether the tapering of that particular delivery service is due to com- petition from other companies, passing fashion, or some other reason is beyond the scope of this story, but has been inter- esting to observe from the building staff side of the equation. Concierge Wish List So what does the perfect package and storage room look like? We asked a few residential front desk staff ers what would make their jobs easier and their work spaces less cluttered and chaotic. Ac- cording to one concierge, his ideal pack- age room would be situated right behind his station, so he doesn’t have to leave the desk and his responsibilities there to stow or retrieve packages. He’d like to have separate areas for boxes and for dirty laundry, and a relay rack for orga- nizing dry cleaning. Another staff er rec- ommends designating a separate area for package returns with a space where he can work on repackaging if necessary. For groceries, he’d like to see adequate refrig- eration that is separated from non-food items in case of spills or other accidents. for industrial-size kitchen equipment. It’s of the problem and planning for their fu- Th e ideal solution would include a space expensive, takes up a lot of space, and— with defi ned compartments to segregate unless your 200-unit condo is 90% profes- the various functions safely and effi ciently. On the subject of refrigeration, Lauren off ers the following advice: “Generally, volumes of packages and other front-desk a full-size refrigerator with a freezer is business is likely to grow in complexity, suffi cient for a building with around 100 rather than subside. Boards and managers residents,” meaning that there’s no need are well advised to consider getting ahead sional chef-occupied—likely redundant. In the fi nal analysis, managing high ture package space needs now. Th e key is: ask your doorman or concierge; they know what they need. n A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for Th e Cooperator, and a published novelist. “Storage needs for package delivery have changed over the years.” — Susan Lauren