SUMMARY:
How do we get back to physical working environments?
Over that past month, many of us have seen multiple webinars and trainings on how to get corporate environments ready for business due to the current pandemic. While well intentioned, personally, I’ve been left with more questions than answers.
Having worked on assessing and developing multiple corporate environments, I decided to write this pragmatic questionnaire that kicks off the initial roadmap to ease into a “make ready” office environment:
1. Current Layout - What is your current layout (office floor plan)? Can you benefit from a floor plan layout analysis by a design professional to assist with safe distancing parameters?
2. Space - Is your staff currently productive via virtual meetings and have you analyzed a “game plan” to reduce physical staff presence once you enact your “soft opening”?
3. Hoteling Stations - Have you considered “hoteling stations” or “hot desks”? No more personal desks with clutter.
4. Cleaning - Have you considered the added costs of daily sanitization (cleaning) and do you have an understanding of what your facility will allow (i.e. LEED buildings and acceptable cleaning agents)?
5. Security - Have you looked into security and technology that does not discriminate on hierarchy with the overall staff? For instance, facial recognition software that can detect if an employee is wearing a mask and their temperature is acceptable to enter the office?
6. Employee Health - Have you contacted an adept legal counsel that understands employee repercussions associated with the spread of Covid-19 and other future viruses? Check the “Force Majeure” clause on your insurance. I cannot remember reading a qualified, pandemic related clause.
7. Lease - What are your current lease terms and is it time to renegotiate based on “Pandemic” leverage or find a new space?
8. Furnishing - Based on item #7 above, if you stay in your current space, have you considered the costs and operation delays involved with new pandemic “friendly” furniture? A digression from the current “open office” and reduced desk sizes. It looks like “Back to the Future”:
9. HVAC - How do you alter your current Heating Ventilation and Air Condition (HVAC) systems in order to provide fresh air? Should Building Codes enact a change, this will be a delayed effort and will require an adept HVAC Engineer to challenge current regulatory stipulations and provide sound advice. Offices that provide a “base-building” HVAC system and no operable windows are going to be a concern.
10. Information Technology - How does your IT infrastructure measure up to the new operating paradigm? How does this impact your “Disaster Recovery” and response plan?
11. Food Service - If your office has food service, have you considered a “grab and go” initiative where employees receive a bagged meal and can decide if they want to eat in the cafeteria, or eat somewhere else?
12. Mental Health - Mental health of your employees? Larger corporations are offering counseling to employees that require assistance with this altered environment and uncertainty with their wellbeing in an office environment.
CONCLUSION:
This next phase is going to be an austere and practical effort as corporations are taking a significant economic hit and the future remains uncertain. For most, if not all, this is going to require a fiscally smart plan to get open/make-ready.
While the future of corporate office design is going to be revisited, in the interim, my core recommendation is to work with what you have and find adept individuals that collaborate with the right questions and help you find the most pragmatic solutions.
If you have the right person to assist, excellent! Maybe you can share the questions I've posed above? Otherwise, please do reach out and let us know how we can assist based on our expertise in Architecture (licensed architect), Project Management (Owner’s Representation) and Corporate - Interior Design? We’re here to help you with this next step in a fashion that caters to your unique needs.
Wishing you the best! We all need a good foundation to kick this off.
Umang Shah, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP
