The smell of jasmine in the air marks a new season. Hope. A fresh start. Change – a word that we have become all too familiar with. As orange hues turn to green, we face another transformation that admittedly causes us mixed feelings. On the one hand, excitement at the prospect of seeing our colleagues face-to-face again – or at least eye-to-eye considering the lower parts of our faces are covered – and trepidation as we navigate a new ‘normal’ in the workplace.
The office we are to walk into now will look quite different to what we knew previously. A screening procedure where our temperatures are taken. The role of our receptionists takes on a new dimension as the gatekeeper of our safety and health – monitoring all who enter the office for symptoms of the virus1. Circulation routes are demarcated to avoid people coming into direct contact with one another. Perspex screen dividers have been placed on desks. Assigned workstations are positioned at least 1.5m apart and some desks have been marked unusable due to their proximity to other workstations.
No longer will we congregate around coffee machines or watercoolers but will rather be encouraged to bring a flask from home or to stand at a social distance and sanitise before and after the use of shared equipment.
The changes are vast – and seem to be the antithesis of the high-density, open plan offices that we are accustomed too. Although retrofitted for now, COVID-19 will have a long-lasting impact on what offices look like in the future and it is important for those in the commercial property industry to be well versed with the changes that are likely to take place in order to meet the need:
Wellbeing
| The post-pandemic office will have an even greater focus on people – their physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. The 2020 Global Human Capital Trends Survey carried out by Deloitte found that four-fifths of organisations consider worker wellbeing as critical to their success over the next year and a half. To cater for wellbeing, Deloitte advises providing technology to enable people to work from anywhere, increasing flexible work practices, introducing wellness behaviours into everyday work, and redesigning the physical workplace to allow for standing desks and social distancing2. |
Culture and Community
| Organisational culture is still rooted in community and the value of Social Capital will in time draw people back to the office. As social beings, the need for face-to-face interaction, collaboration and knowledge sharing will outweigh the comforts of home.
Some property specialists hypothesise that the office will in time become a social meeting ground, with staff still performing focused work remotely but gathering at the office for in-person meetings3. |
Workplace Intelligence
| With the need for virtual meetings, businesses across the globe have benefited from lower travel costs balanced out by the need to ramp up their technological infrastructure. This is a trend that is likely to continue. We have realised that productive meetings can be facilitated online, and we no longer bat an eyelid when a beloved pet or child ‘Zoombombs’ a meeting. In some ways, it has drawn us close together as we have had a glimpse into the lives of our colleagues outside of the office.
Technological advancements in the office will continue with the introduction of contactless solutions – voice activated or app operated doors, coffee machines, aircon solutions and lights. Sensors will measure our temperatures and the use of workplace utilisation systems will increase, enabling staff to book a workstation from home via an application and prompting the need for sanitising before and after occupation. These applications will help to identify areas with the greatest occupancy, that will require more frequent cleaning and assist with contact tracing when someone falls ill4. |
Easy to clean
| In the past, organisations have adopted design elements from home – beautiful plush fabrics and softer finishes that provide comfort and warmth. Now, it has been said that every organisation will become a health business in some way – adopting fabrics, finishes and materials that are used in clinical settings and are easier to disinfect4. |
Distributed Offices
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Organisations are expressing an interest in distributed offices – smaller sets of offices for teams that are located closer to where staff live – resulting in less exposure to diseases on public transport and still meeting the need for social connection and collaboration5. |
Shorter leases
| The volatility of the market and pace of change during this pandemic, will prompt organisations to seek out shorter, more flexible lease terms in future6. |
De-densification
| De-densification will need to take place to accommodate social distancing requirements. The need for more private offices, larger collaboration areas and more space between desks means that the market-demand for space could balance out7. |
It is still too early to tell what the exact changes will be long-term, but it is important to start thinking about some of these outcomes to be best positioned to respond to the need. Steelcase, a leading furniture company, affirms the above stating that ‘the winners will be those who most clearly understand the customer’s needs, collaborate to identify multiple solutions, prototype and iterate quickly, bring new ideas to market and make the risky decision to invest at scale’3.
Are you ready for the post-pandemic office?
Sources
1 Covid-19: The Guide to Workspace 2020 Edition, Oktra, 1 June 2020
2 2020 Global Human Capital Trends, Deloitte, June 2020
3 Navigating What’s Next: The Post-COVID Workplace, Steelcase, April 2020
4 What Will Tomorrow’s Workplace Bring – More Elbow Room for Starters, The New York Times, April 2020
5 How Offices Will Change After Coronavirus, BBC Worklife, 14 May 2020
6 What Offices May Look Like in a Post-Pandemic Era, If they Exist at All, ABC News, 8 May 2020
7 This is the End of the Office as we Know it, Vox Recode, 14 April 2020
