Since its outbreak, Covid-19 has turned the world upside down. It has introduced unprecedented situations and brought about unthinkable transformation. Touching upon every aspect of human life, the pandemic has unfurled disturbing circumstances, leaving humanity to struggle against its fate.
However, even after all these, life doesn’t stop. It shouldn't stop. With people’s increasing urge to return to regular life and work, businesses are also gearing up to welcome their employees after a year of virtual meetings and remote sessions. Companies are altering their workspaces to make them more employee-friendly in terms of physical and mental well-being.
Apart from regular sanitization and maintenance of utmost cleanliness, organizations throughout the globe are thinking of restructuring their working areas to ensure employee safety. This blog post gives a sneak peek into six innovative and practical ideas on how to create social distancing-compliant workspaces.
While the Google office in Brazil has thought of a spacious workplace with one-way circulation and small meeting areas, the office of Tamaros Design in Israel has come up with illustrated partitions to maintain social distancing. Also, Massive Design in Poland has introduced ‘Six Feet Office’, transforming the office layout for employee safety.
Following the footsteps of these organizations, companies can incorporate these workspace designs:
Desk Pods:
If plastic shields/partitions tend to hamper successful collaborations at the workplace, companies can choose desk pods. Thoughtfully designed, these allow teams to work together while maintaining proper distance.
Large conference areas:
While small meeting spaces get overcrowded easily, it is time for firms to design larger conference rooms/areas so that team members can communicate effectively and observe healthy distances simultaneously.
Video Conferencing Booths:
Virtual meetings have become an integral part of the ‘work from home’ life of the employees and are likely to continue in the future too. Therefore, the creation of separate spaces dedicated to such conferences is essential.
Three-way screens:
Organizations need to install temporary shields or barriers to ensure distancing and curb the spread of the virus. These shields can be set up in hallways, personal desks, and conference rooms. With these, both visibility and communication are retained.
Honeycomb booths:
These modern, innovative and personalized workstations encourage focused work while reducing face-to-face interactions. Such modular hives place employees away from one another yet keep them connected. These booths can effectively replace traditional cubicles.
Community spaces:
Shared spaces in offices include cafeterias, conference rooms, canteens, employee lounges, etc. These spots are to be imagined differently in a post-Covid world. Temporary areas can be transformed into community spaces for employees to spread out comfortably while having sufficient distance among them.
Returning to offices in the post-Covid era would be different and a one-of-a-kind experience. With the lines between personal and professional constantly getting blurred in the work from home scenario, employees are eager to head towards their workspaces.
At such a time, businesses need to welcome the ‘New Normal’ by redesigning their workspaces, ensuring proper precautionary measures, and following adequate social distancing.
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