Post-Pandemic Advice: How to Prepare (or Redesign) Shared Office Spaces
Shared office spaces were on the rise before 2020. Now, with rising health concerns limiting the big “return to the office,” designing a workspace for a growing team is a challenge.
Commercial interior specialists, such as the professionals at Key Interiors, can help employers craft a space that suits their employees’ needs. These spaces can combine pre-pandemic excitement with the necessities of the modern moment, ensuring comfort, safety, and efficiency above all else.
At-Home and At-Work Spaces
As COVID-19 transforms, so too do your workspaces. If you’ve allowed some of your staff to continue working from home, your office needs to suit the rest of your team’s needs. That being the case, make sure your current workstations have the technology and tools your team needs to communicate with off-site individuals. Web cameras, microphones, and organizational equipment can all make video conferences (with staff or clients) all the simpler.
Low-Occupancy Activity Spaces
You may also be interested in reducing the amount of foot traffic that your office sees. While your team may still want satellite spaces, make sure that these spots are for six people or fewer.
The fewer people you have hovering at a workstation, the less likely those individuals will get one another sick. What’s more, controlled occupancy activity spaces keep your team efficient without denying them the opportunity to communicate with one another. In dovetailing your team’s efficiency and social needs, you keep the atmosphere in your office lively but focused.
Retain Your PPC Materials
COVID-19 is not over for the United States, nor nearly any other nation. As variants transform the way children and parents live, it’s important to keep your PPC materials on hand. Some staff who come back to your office may still want barriers between themselves and their peers. Others may appreciate the prevalence of masks and hand sanitizers.
When in doubt, discuss your team’s preferred PPC with them before their return to the office. This way, you can determine what extra healthcare steps you need to take to ensure your team’s comfort.
Cultivate a Sense of Normality
Above all else, your team wants to feel like the world’s gone back to normal. While you can’t change the news, you can give your team that sense of comfort. Integrate fun into your work as you’re redesigning your office. Make sure you keep your team’s health in mind.
Introduce more greenery and plants, encourage engagement with activity spaces, and keep your team interacting with one another. The more easy-going the atmosphere in your office seems, the simpler it will be for your team to get back to their effective in-person work style.
Preparing Your Office for a New Style of Work
The pandemic has transformed the modern office. But those changes don’t have to be bad! Commercial interior specialists can tackle the design challenges that stand between you and your office’s new normal. Reach out to discuss your next developments with a professional today.
