Covid 19 has certainly changed the way we live, think, and work.
At the time of writing, the UK is still in a state of lockdown and most people who are not considered “key workers” have either been furloughed or they’re working from home. However, there will come a time in the near future when workplaces begin to be populated by workers once more. The contemporary office won’t forever remain empty, and when people start to return to work, there will need to be measures put into place to ensure that the potential for spread of infection remains extremely low to zero.
We’re all currently social distancing. That means we’re either staying away from those we don’t live with, or we’re standing two metres apart from other people when in a shop or in the street generally.
So, how can these social distancing measures be maintained in a large open plan office? Are the days of collaborating around the modern boardroom tables over for good?
Hopefully not, but there will need to be certain measures in place for the time being. This may be not having large-scale collaborative sessions in person and instead sticking to virtual means, e.g. Zoom calls to allow several colleagues to share ideas at once. In terms of the design of the office however, there are several options you might be able to think about for your workplace.
Clip-on Protection Screens
A good option is a perspex clip-on screen which can create a barrier between colleagues. This is see-through, so colleagues can still see each other and connect visually, but the barrier stops coughs, sneezes or other means from becoming dangerous from an infection point of view. Of course, these will need to be cleaned thoroughly every single day to ensure that protection remains high, but the clip-on function also means they can be moved around.
Spacing Desks Two Metres Apart
It’s likely that office desks will need to be set two metres apart for the time being. This may mean that you need to expand your office space into another room, or it could mean that some of your staff will still need to work from home. It really comes down to how many employees you have, how many desks you need, and the amount of space you have to expand into.
Plenty of Ventilation
The coronavirus situation is still very new to us and whilst we’re learning all the time, we still don’t know the exact specifics of how it works and what the potentials are for risk. Does this mean that air conditioning or fans are out of the question? We don’t know for sure, but to minimise the risk the office needs to have plenty of natural ventilation, i.e open windows. We then need to adhere to guidance from the Government in terms of what else can or can’t use in this regard.
Standing Office Screens
Aside from the clip-on screens we’ve already mentioned, you might like to use free-standing office screens to help create different areas in your office. These can also be used to separate spaces and create more social distancing between your employees.
Booths
It’s very unlikely that you will have the space or the budget to purchase an office booth for every single employee, but these can be used in some situations, e.g. if you have a small number of employees working in your space. Then, the booth acts as a barrier and offers a certain amount of social distancing protection.
Of course, it goes without saying that hygiene in the office will become even more important than it was before. Cleaning will take on a new meaning and everyone will need to be responsible for ensuring that they avoid coughing and sneezing in public as much as possible, maintain high-quality hand washing protocol, and simply stick to social distancing whilst in the workplace and outside of it.
This new office design may not be in line with what you wanted for your office, and it might not fit in with your brand identity completely, but for now, in order to get everyone back to work when it is safe to do so and to help reduce the spread of coronavirus, we need to think outside of the box and do what is necessary.