COVID Office Design

The impact of COVID-19 largely affected industries all over the world. But life has to go on, and people must continue to earn a living amidst the pandemic. In the United States, transitioning into a back to work scenario is one of the major challenges for offices nowadays where some prefer to work on a home-based setting and are becoming more comfortable on that. And only a few are struggling to go back, but they have to.

To move on with the business, offices and commercial establishments had to limit the people working inside their premises. IT people and essential staff are required to report for work even during the pandemic to serve as support to those who stayed at home or at least keep the operation running.

Before the outbreak of the Coronavirus, traditional offices are hubs to culture and productivity, rich in talent and brains that collaborate. Companies were trying to make the best work environment to retain clients and employees. Office layouts were focused on aesthetics with an open-office collaboration environment.

Given the requirement to plan a skeletal workforce, offices are being adaptive to any situation. Office plans are being laid out to accommodate those who were temporarily laid off but haven’t raised the white flag yet in terms of their roles in the corporate world.

Businesses, small and large, are thinking of ways to innovate the workspace. Usual office spaces were spaces where employees could walk around freely, collaborate closely, bump into each other, make high fives, throw their hi’s and hellos, take coffee breaks in the open, and even share food in the pantry! Now that has changed dramatically. Nearly more than half of the workforce is cut down since businesses had been stricken with losses, some even went into bankruptcy and closure. Company owners are now experiencing such predicament whether to fully open or shut down for good.

If the usual setup is to encourage social mixing, it is going to be the other way. While being socially ‘involved’ is still there, it is in a way that we do it with high consideration on physical distancing. You can be sociable without being literally physically close.

If before the goal was to create an office space that will accommodate a dense workforce, today, company owners are thinking of the opposite. Their first response was mainly on ‘social distancing,’ which would prevent one another from getting close to each other and employ strict sanitation. Hence, partitions have to be put up in the form of screen glass, and sanitizers should be provided all over the place to prevent the spread of the virus.

As a result, these measures were found out to be not as sustainable as they cause a shortage in the market. Partitions are not viable solutions to prevent the virus because they simply don’t just apply to all places the way the floor plan is engineered. Above all, human behavior and discipline boil down to oneself when it comes to sensitivity to the issue. To at least make all of these make sense, organizing human traffic, the way they move around the office and implementing one-way walks is one way to solve the problem.

Other points to consider include:

• Shared workspaces need to be modified
• Open cubicles need to adapt
• Separation of desks for open plans should meet distance requirements
• Air cleansing solutions
• Walls with ventilation
• Installation of isolated cubicles (some would love the idea of ‘undisturbed’ environment)

While our objectives include creating spaces that inspire and expand into new markets, the pandemic is a perfect time to adapt and realize these goals by retrofitting the work environment into the new normal without compromising safety and efficiency.

Office Interiors Atlanta is one of the companies who advocate the prevention of Coronavirus from destroying the workplace. As we continue with this fight, it is our urgent goal to help businesses keep running and serve their people in their living.

Our designers have introduced COVID-safety office equipment and set it up so that the workplace may continue to have a purpose.

Without compromising work efficiency, we offer loft walls, emergency pop up spaces, room dividers, and counter shields that work effectively to any business.

While we produce office furniture, we keep in mind that these new equipment are functional and fashionable in the same way. For example, we build pop-ups for emergency use, meaning you can link and unlink them to define your required space.

For bolstering privacy, our room dividers will serve as standalone walls. They can be installed to any pre-existing space.

With counter shields, they will enhance safety while providing a secured space in any environment. These ensure a sanitary environment, keeping safe both the employees and customers using them.

Since the virus is an unseen enemy and no one can avoid its presence and that we weren’t sure enough when this pandemic will end, we need to prioritize the safety of everyone by following health protocols and accept the new normal. One of these guidelines includes the observation of social distancing. With that being said, we continue to create office designs that will promote physical distancing.

In a densely populated office and commercial place, another thing to look out for that will align with social distancing is the idea of working remotely. If COVID is trying to destroy the traditional working space, we will take that as an opportunity to build another future. That is, redesigning to adapt and keep the main office a lively hub while observing safety and efficiency through limited manpower and creating new industrial places set right in your ‘work’ home. Working from home is another viable option to be able to pursue.

As other companies are endlessly thinking of ways about the return of their employees, Office Interiors is all set to cater to such transformational efforts to build and create a new layout where people can work, collaborate, and help achieve the goals of their respective organizations.