Hello Everyone:
It is a lovely, much cooler day as we continue our series of socially distant posts. The good news is Blogger's hometown is slowly springing back to life. One should still observe all the necessary precautions and follow all public health instructions. One of the things slowly returning to life is the office. Will the post-Covid-19 contemporary corporate landscape return to its previous state or something else? Shall we take a look?
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| Contemporary office in California decoist.com |
The contemporary office is purposefully designed to encourage collaboration and includes the always appreciated in-house coffee bar. However as corporate America slowly returns to the land of the living, the contemporary office will have another much appreciated perk, sneeze guards.
The sneeze guard is a "plexiglass barrier that can be mounted on a desk is one of the many ideas being mulled by employers as they contemplate a return to the workplace after coronavirus lockdowns" (nytimes.com; May 4, 2020; date accessed May 11, 2020). Other ideas for the post-virus office include built in hand sanitizers, positione at right angles or enclosed by plastic parititions; air filters that blow air down, not up; outdoor spaces that allow collaborative without viral transmission, and operable windows (Ibid). They all sound like great ideas, especially the part of windows that you can open and get fresh air but will it make the office a safer, more healthier place to work?
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| The offices of Infection Prevention at UC Irvine Irvine, California nytimes.com |
This is the conversation now taking place throughout the American business world, "how to reconfigure the American work-place" (Ibid). Design and furniture companies tasked with answering this question say "that the virus may even be tilting workplaces back toward a concept they had been moving away from since the Mad Men era: privacy" (Ibid). Does that mean a return to the cube farms? Tracy D. Wymer, the vice president for workplace at Knoll office furniture, told The New York Times,
We are not infectious disease experts, we are simply furniture people (Ibid)
The real disease experts, like Dr. Rajneesh Behal a doctor of internal medicine and chief quality office of One Medical, believe that a virus-free workplace is magical thinking. During a webniar on how businesses can reopen, Dr. Behal succinctly put it,
A core message is, do not expect your risk goes down to zero (Ibid)
Most of what we know about workplaces and disease comes from studies conducted on influenza transmissions, which shares symptoms with Covid-19. Surprised? This is why it is absolutely crucial you stay informed. Dr. Lisa Winston, the hospital epidemiologist at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General at the University of California, San Francisco, spoke to The Times,
We know that flu spreads in workplaces among healthy working adults (Ibid)
A 2016 analysis of research paper from around the world "found that around 16 percent of flu transmission takes place in the office" (Ibid)
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| Are cubicles coming back? pinterest.com |
Additional research concluded that the best ways to mitigate workplace transmission is a paid sick leave policy that encourages employees to stay home when they fall ill. Since Yours Truly mentioned it, there should a national paid sick leave policy. Back to the matter at hand, Dr. Winston offered another, very simple suggestion to lower the risk, fewer people in a space (Ibid).
Fewer people in the workplace? This sounds like sheer madness in the face of the workplace embrace of the open-floor place that goes back to the nineties dot-com boom. Matt Richtel describes the open-floor plan embrace "...hailed as essential to collaboration and creativity, but of course, also about cramming more people into expensive office, a situation that people now realize creates unnerving petri-dish conditions" (Ibid).
Mr. Wymer of Knoll Furniture told Mr. Richtel "his goal had changed from making offices virus-free, which is impractical, to remaking them so that workers feel safer." He said,
We can't ask employees to come back to the same office,... Companies feel we have to address the root fear (Ibid)
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| Is the open-plan office a thing of the past? cio.com |
Right now, shared desks are out ("hoteling" in business-speak), cheek-to-jowl seating and cafes where employees can meet over coffee to discuss a project is a thing of the past. It can also mean using materials, like copper, that are easier to clean and hospital-like ventilation systems that draw air down from the ceiling, considered more safe, instead of upward.
The open-floor plan has been the epitome of the 21st-century workplace. Sitting side-by-side, in a row encouraged collaboration and the open space was great for meeting or a ping-pong table. Igor Faletski, the chief executive of the Vancouver-based Mobify, was succinct,
It's less about fun and more about safety ...
Lavish buffets?
Forget about that for now (Ibid)
Mr. Faletski is considering letting more of his employees work from home and moving headquarters to a new building with better ventilation. He told Mr. Richtel, People want to have safe collaboration (Ibid).
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| Please, if you can theconversation.com |
Could we see the return of the much derided office cubicle? There has been talk about introducing a more transparent version of the cubicle, the sneeze guard. Marketed a Cough and Sneeze Protection Screen, by Obex P.E., emails to potential clients advertise,
Plenty of options to fit your style and needs,... Decrease person-to-person contact. Practice Social Distancing (Ibid)
Sneeze and cough guards have already found a home in banks, grocery and drugstores; and are gaining momentum in the office space. Commercial real estate company CBRE produced a promotional 12-page, The Future of Furniture, PowerPoint report, suggestingAdd tall laminate gallery panels to workstations or benching stations,... (Ibid)
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| Cough and sneeze guard samco-machinery.com |
Tall plexiglass partitions that extend over the desks are already in use in the office run by one of the United States' top infectious disease expert Dr. Susan Huang. Dr. Huang is the medical director of the University of California, Irvine epidemiology and infectious disease prevention center. She pointed out that the barriers weren't designed for coronavirus (Ibid), rather they were intended to maintain a sense of collaboration and reduce noise. Now, they have the additional benefit of "creating some biological isolation" (Ibid).
However, Dr. Huang said that "safety in the workplace would require more than plastic shield" (Ibid). When her lab reopened two weeks ago, the first thing she did was explain the new hygiene rules. During the meeting, she handed out bottles of hand sanitizer and masks to each employee. Dr. Huang told The New York Times,
I had to tell them, You're going to wear a mask all day long,... and tell them how to do it right and that they have to do it,...
She also recalled admonishing the employees,
And don't touch your mask without first using hand sanitizer (Ibid)
| Dr. Susan Huang ocregister.com |
Smaller companies may have to implement more modest changes but workplace safety issues are, nonetheless, important. Howard Cao, the chief executive of Form & Function a San Francisco-based start up incubator, is considering changing out the touch pad entry at the front door. Mr. Cao told The Times,
We'll probaby have to reconfigure that into something with Bluetooth or a key fob (Ibid)
Inside the office he shares with his seven employees, he is looking to create some physical distance along the work table. He said,
It may be as simple as mini-divider between people (Ibid)
Perhaps, the cubicle?
For some, the proposed changes are more cosmetic than substantive. Ron Wiener, the chief executive of iMovR, a Seattle-based company that designs standing desks, dismissed it as theater. Mr. Wiener said,
I call it social distancing theater, like T.S.A. security theater after 9/11 (Ibid)
Perhaps the best approach, for now, is to continue having employees work from home instead of overhauling the office. It quickly and effectively fulfills two goals: keeping people safe and saving money. One of the takeaways in the post-pandemic office makeover is cost-effectiveness in the name of safety. These goals are mutually compatible.
| quora.com |
Going forward, the post-pandemic workplace must incorporate policy and design changes that will keep everyone safe and healthy.
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