Wouldn’t it be great if we could predict the future? Answer all of life’s big questions. How will COVID-19 change office design – will it turn into ‘COVID-19 Office Planning’? Should business owners downsize their office space? Will working from home become the new norm?

There has been much speculation on how coronavirus will change the layout of workplaces, from the return of the cubical office to eliminating the need for physical spaces completely. Additionally, there have been some logical predictions using recorded data and statistics on how both employers and employees feel about working from home (WFH), and if it is likely to be a long-term shift.

Health

The mental and physical health of employees has been at the forefront of the pandemic, both reducing the risk of infection and maintaining a healthy mental state of mind, no matter where you are working from.

Home

On 23rd March, each office worker was thrust into one of two paths. Either to WFH for the foreseeable future or, if essential, remain working in a socially distanced office space.

Many enthusiastically packed up their desks for what seemed a vacation away from the office. However, as weeks turned to months, the excitement wore off and the need for human interaction began to settle in.

Prior to lockdown, it had been a common association that technology had caused us to be less sociable. Ironically, it has been the ability of so many digital platforms that have enabled families, friends, and colleagues to feel connected. For every individual who is eager to again enjoy the relaxing ‘me’ time of the daily commute, to flick on the kettle and catch up with peers – there is another whose life has been refreshed.

The laborious commute has been swapped for family or personal time, the unwelcome office banter has been muted (although, maybe replaced with the echoing requests from children) and an opportunity has arisen to create a space that reflects and enhances your own productivity.

However, the office comforts of an ergonomic task chair and correct monitor positioning have also been missed. Many employers have shipped sufficient equipment to their staff, as employers do have a responsibility to protect the health and safety and welfare of homeworkers. Time was not on the side of the employer, therefore our backs and posture have temporarily suffered.

Office

Those that remained in the workplace may have felt life was changing around them, not to them. And whilst there may be the signs of additional staff returning, many businesses are indicating additional staffing will only be considered at the beginning of September, delaying their own COVID-19 office planning.

Many of the people I have spoken to have referred to the office as a ‘hub’ or ‘community’. Employees are missing the social aspect of ‘going to’ work and the sense of belonging to a group. With social distancing and less than 50% occupancy in place for COVID-19 office planning, the positivity that you may usually experience may not occur.

Design

A good workspace is designed to make you feel a certain way; alert, productive, sociable – often a contrast to the feeling of one’s home. Even as design trends have seen a shift in recent years, the pandemic has set these worlds on a collision course.

Home

Space is a critical factor in whether a design can be successful. When considering COVID-19 office planning; sufficient space is required for both physical objects, as well as individuals’ personal space. Therefore, an individual’s living situation has a huge impact on whether it is possible to ‘design’ an office into your home.

Office

Flexible working spaces, hot desking, and informal meeting pods, the poster products of teenies (1Os, or 2010-2019) that filled our office to provide areas that reflected the task, housed technology and promoted an independent and relaxed working. For COVID-19 office planning, the question must be asked; are these the same products that are currently labelled high-risk areas for the spread of infection and are advised to not be used, without thorough cleaning between users?

A product that has demonstrated its worth, that in recent years has not been a priority within office design, is the office desk itself.

From my experience producing COVID-19 secure space plans and following government guidelines of 2-meters apart, an ‘every other desk occupancy’ system can make it possible to have up to 50% of the usual capacity without the requirement of additional purchases.

This is assuming each desk is a minimum of 1400mm, desks are allocated per person, and users are positioned diagonally to one another to eliminate the need for additional screens.

Infrastructure and productivity

The infrastructure of a business is its basic physical and organisational needs, ensuring it can operate at a sufficient productivity level.

Home

The option to work from home has been on an incline for the past decade. Whilst some businesses have been apprehensive to allow their staff this opportunity over the fear of lack of monitoring productivity, others have relished in giving employees more control over how they work to encourage self-motivation.

2020 was the year a worldwide challenge was forced upon the modern infrastructure of technology, whether an employee or company was previously on board with the option or not. From hardware to cloud servers, to the strength of our beloved World Wide Web.

The duration of lockdown has been a sufficient amount of time for issues to arise and be resolved, for all parties to experience an alternative working life and, most importantly, a visible change of productivity.

For some, an office can be a stage that you do not feel comfortable performing on, such as making phone calls to customers and the fear of judgement. completing these in your home could increase confidence and, in turn, productivity. Similarly, focus tasks in larger offices, where quiet areas are either occupied or unavailable, may have taken longer to complete than when done at home.

In contrast, the constraint of not having physical interaction with customers and colleagues can hinder performance. External sales teams, whose livelihood rely on their personalities thriving with prospective customers may not be able to communicate the same over a video call.

Office

Many offices of those I spoke with sit mostly silent, being used by only a handful of the team. Of course, the infrastructure remains in place and those working from the office should have no movement in the ability to complete tasks or the level of productivity. By and large, the biggest hurdle was the lack of colleagues around them, with them too also relying heavily on video calls to stay connected to the team.

It’s biased to exclusively focus on the workforce of an office space when many of these buildings are brought to life by the visitors that walk through the doors.

The absence of our customers may have encouraged the speculations of the dissolution of the need for offices, as we became blind to business purpose.

Would it be unreasonable to assume a reduction in productivity and business results when meeting rooms are left unused, the polite exchange within receptions muted and the physical site of a business handshake discouraged?

Summary

Our mindsets towards office space have shifted. While I am neither suggesting this as a positive or negative, it would be ignorant to dismiss the huge impact the 3-month critical lockdown will have had. Technology has played an important role in keeping people and businesses connected, to go backwards and revert to a previous normal would contradict our human instincts to self-improve and survive in peculiar situations.

We have seen what can be done from home, but also gained a greater understanding of the importance our office spaces have in our lives. These experiences and new understandings will begin to provide an insight into the new horizon our office’s spaces will inherit.