As we all face the challenges of an ever-changing workplace under the cloak of a global pandemic, we ask ourselves, what does the future of the office look like? A workplace strategy is developed when a company seeks ways to improve work space efficiency by improving the environment while utilizing space to its maximum potential. This allows organizations to achieve the greatest return on their investment and keep their staff both safe and engaged. Unlike previous economic downturns or leaps in the US, today’s workplace strategy is affected by COVID-19 and CDC guidelines. This creates a unique challenge for facility managers, which in addition to tracking all trades, must now also follow government mandates and recommendations. This includes piloting the difficult political landscape created by the pandemic. Most of these tasks are required under unrealistic deadlines as well. The best solution for navigating these difficult waters is to engage a professional Workplace Strategist. Some of the techniques that will be used to support your “return to the office” are employee engagement, proper space planning, flexible scheduling modules, change management, and enhanced cleaning protocols.
Employee Engagement
Communication will be one of the most important factors for your future workplace strategy. Listen to employee concerns via surveys, polls and focus groups. A facility manager might be surprised at what they learn from their team. In a recent workplace strategy project for a central NJ campus with 1,100 employees, HF Planners, LLC has learned that 73% of employees want to return to the office, but needed confirmation that their concerns about safety were being addressed.
Space Planning
A facility manager can bring a level of comfort and meet CDC guidelines through superior space planning. A “neighborhood” approach groups employees according to task or department. This can limit the number of people staff interacts with, creating an “inner circle”. It will help promote the face to face collaboration and brainstorming that have been lacking over the course of the last year. Another simple technique to support social distancing guidelines is to “checkerboard” your floor plan, by eliminating every other seat. To do so, the existing work stations are reconfigured to provide the recommended person to person “socially distanced” guidelines.
Flexibility
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