Work at a distance

The pandemic has forced millions of people to work from home. Many of them will return to their jobs, but these will be completely different offices. If he returns, unfortunately, the economic crisis also means layoffs. Either way, big changes are coming.

Where there were pens, they may no longer be. Automatic sliding doors may be much more common than they are today. Instead of elevator buttons, there are voice commands. After arriving at the place of work, it may turn out that there is much more space than it was before. Everywhere there are fewer items, accessories, decorations, papers, shelves.

And those are just the changes you see. Less noticeable in a post-coronavirus office would be more frequent cleaning, the ubiquitous presence of antibacterial agents in fabrics and materials, extensive ventilation systems, and even the use of ultraviolet lamps to kill germs at night.

Executives are more supportive of remote work

Many of the anticipated changes to office design and organization are actually speeding up processes that were visible long before the pandemic. This applies in particular to the decrease in the density of employees in offices and the movement of people whose presence is not essential for working from home (1). Colony has been developing for a long time. Now there will probably be a quantitative change, and everyone who can do their work from home without harming the work of companies will not be tolerated as before, but even encouraged. for remote work.

According to an MIT research report released in April 2020, 34 percent. Americans who previously commuted reported working from home in the first week of April due to the coronavirus epidemic (see also:).

Another study by researchers at the University of Chicago shows that this figure more generally represents the percentage of office workers who are able to successfully work away from the office. However, prior to the pandemic, the number of people regularly working remotely in the US remained within a single-digit percentage range. About 4 percent. The US workforce has been working from home for at least half of the time it has been working. Those rates have now skyrocketed, and it is likely that many Americans who first worked from home during the pandemic will continue to do so after the pandemic is over.

“Once they try it, they want to keep going,” Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics, a consulting firm that has researched how work shifts to a remote model, told ox magazine. He predicts that in a few years 30 percent. Americans will work from home many days a week. Lister added that employees need more flexibility in balancing work and personal life. On the other hand, the coronavirus has made their employers see it in a better light, especially since they themselves have had to work from home in recent months. Management's skepticism towards such forms of work has been significantly reduced.

Of course, this is more than what employers and employees want. Economic Impact of the Pandemic they are likely to force many employers to cut costs. Renting office space has always been a serious item on their list. Allowing employees to work from home is a less painful decision than layoffs. In addition, the need to work from home caused by the pandemic has also forced many employers and workers to invest, sometimes significant amounts, in new technology, such as video conferencing subscriptions, as well as new equipment.

Of course, corporations for which remote work, mobile and distributed teams are not the first, and especially in the high-tech sector, for example, IT companies, have coped with new challenges much better, because in fact they have long been operating in a model that other companies still had to be assimilated and tamed because of the pandemic.

six foot rule

However, not all of them can be sent home. Typical of today's developed world, office work probably still needed. As we mentioned at the beginning, the coronavirus crisis will undoubtedly change the look and organization of offices and how offices work.

First, the model of the so-called open space (2), i.e. offices where many people work in the same room, sometimes with high density. Partitions, which are often found in such an arrangement of office premises, are certainly not enough from the point of view of thermal insulation postulates. It is possible that the requirements to maintain distance in confined spaces will lead to a change in the mode of operation and the rules for admitting a certain number of people into the premises.

It is hard to imagine that companies would easily abandon this economical idea from their point of view. Maybe only instead of placing tables opposite each other or next to each other, employees will try to arrange their backs to each other, put tables at a greater distance. Conference rooms are likely to have fewer chairs, as do other rooms where people congregate.

In order to settle various conflicting requirements and even regulations, they may want to rent even more space than before, which will lead to a boom in the commercial real estate market. Who knows? Meanwhile, there are complex concepts for solving the problem of the so-called. social distancing in officesh.

One of them is a system developed by Cushman & Wakefield, which provides services in the field of design and development of commercial real estate. He calls this the "six-foot office" concept. Six feet is exactly 1,83 meters., but rounding it up, we can assume that this standard corresponds to the rule of two meters common in our country during a pandemic. Cushman & Wakefield have developed a comprehensive system for maintaining this distance in various situations and aspects of office management (3).

3. Safety circles in the "six-foot office"

In addition to reorganizing, reshuffling and teaching people new rules, all sorts of new purely technical solutions can appear in offices. for example, based on artificial intelligence and the voice interface of Amazon Alexa for Business (4), which can eliminate the need to physically press various buttons or touch surfaces in the office. As Bret Kinsella, Founder and CEO of Voicebot.ai, a publication on voice technology, explained, “Voice technology is already being used in warehouses, but has yet to be used much in office applications. He will completely change."

4. Alexa device on the table

Of course, you can imagine a completely virtual office without physical representation and space in any glass, steel or cement building. However, many experienced professionals find it difficult to imagine the effective and creative work of teams of people who do not meet face to face to work together. The “post-coronavirus” era will show whether they are right or they have too little imagination.

The six main elements of the six-foot office concept are:

1. 6ft Fast Scan: Short-term but thorough analysis of the existing virus security work environment, as well as possible improvements.

2. The Six Foot Rules: A set of simple, clear, enforceable agreements and practices that put the safety of every team member first.

3. 6 Pedestrian traffic management: Visually displayed and unique route network for each office, ensuring complete safety of traffic flows.

4. 6ft Workstation: An adapted and fully equipped workstation where the user can work safely.

5. 6-Foot Office Equipment: A trained person who advises and promptly ensures the optimal functioning and safe use of office equipment.

6. 6ft Certificate: A certificate confirming that the office has taken steps to create a virologically safe work environment.