5 practical changes you can implement now

As countries consider ways to ease their lockdown restrictions and gradually reopen their economies, businesses are now having to consider and plan exactly how a return to the office will work.

While the future impacts of the pandemic remain uncertain, one thing is clear - social distancing will remain a feature of society for the foreseeable future and office working practices will have to rapidly adjust to this new normal.

At Cityspace, we are working with clients and their human resources teams to put in place solutions that can be implemented quickly in order to create a productive and effective office environment, whilst protecting the safety of both staff and visitors. Based on this work, we have outlined below 5 practical changes that businesses can put in place to incorporate social distancing and hygiene practices into the office environment.

1. Rethinking how people move through the office

Keeping staff a safe distance apart requires a rethink of the routes that people take through the office - unfortunately, the shortest route may no longer be the safest. Adopting practices implemented by hospitals during the pandemic, we have been helping clients redesign office traffic flows to avoid group gatherings and congestion points.

This begins with the reception area where floor tiles can be replaced to demarcate safe distancing and sofas exchanged for single seating in two seat clusters. 

Looking at the floorplan, we have been creating one-way traffic flows through the office to make it easier for staff to keep their distance from workspaces and avoid areas of congestion. Markings on floor tiles and signage provide guidance enabling these measures to be quickly and easily adopted.

For high congestion points such as toilets or waiting areas for lifts, floor tiles or decals can be used to manage queuing that takes account of social distancing.

2. Reassigning workspaces

One of the biggest changes required for incorporating social distancing into the office environment will be around individual desks and workstations. In order to increase the space between workers, one of the quickest and easiest ways is to create an “every other” seat arrangement where staff are staggered diagonally rather than directly across from each other. Installation of clear shields between workstations is an additional solution and we have been recommending to clients a range of existing products which are suitable for this.

While using every other desk will naturally cut your headcount capacity in half or more, reassigning break out spaces and small meeting rooms can create supplementary workspaces, as these areas would have become dormant anyway as a result of the need to maintain physical distance.

3. Reconfiguring meeting rooms

Even though the rules of social interaction have changed, collaboration will remain an important aspect of office life even under new restrictions.

To enable this, we are helping clients to reconfigure larger meeting room spaces and, by changing seating plans and specifying access and exit routes, meetings can still take place while keeping 6 feet of space between participants.

 4. Reducing the spread of COVID-19 on surfaces 

To minimise any cross-infection of coronavirus from office surfaces, we are advising clients on processes and regimes to increase office cleanliness.

Measures include reviewing (where possible under fire or security regulations) the opportunity to take doors off hinges or prop them open so employees and visitors can avoid touching door handles in high traffic areas. Hand sanitizers can be introduced across the office and, in toilet areas, hand dryers should be replaced by disposable paper towels to reduce transmission of the virus.

Cleaning regimes should be frequent and visible during the day, rather than just the traditional night service, to help employees feel more comfortable about the cleanliness of their office environment.

Hot desking, where desks are typically claimed on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis should also be reconsidered in favour of assigned desks to individuals, in order to reduce transmission of the virus caused by sharing workspaces.

5. Maintaining working from home 

One realisation by companies as a result of the lockdown is that in many instances, working from home does work.

As companies transition back into their offices, there is therefore the opportunity to remain multi-site, opening the main office for a reduced number of employees under a social distancing regime, and keep other workers working from home and connected to the mother ship through technology.

As we help clients develop their return to office plans and reassign and reconfigure the office environment, it creates a clear sense of the numbers who will be able to work productively, effectively and safely from within the office, and those who will work from home either on a more permanent or rotational basis.

For many of us, adjusting to the ‘new normal’ of living and working in the time of coronavirus is certainly anything but business as usual. If you would like any help and assistance in adapting your office to this new environment, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Cityspace team at info@cityspacemanagement.co.uk or telephone us on 0207 638 4250.