The Reset Workplace Part 03

Webinar Transcript.

Welcome to this the third part of the Woodalls webinar series on the workplace reset. I’m Shaun Baker, Design Principal at Woodalls Design and with me today I have Tara Hack Senior Associate at Woodalls and Neil Usher chief partnerships officer at GoSpace.

In the first event we spoke about the initial thoughts on the potential workplace futures, based upon our experiences at that time, along with the legal issues centred around site operations and shutdowns.

In the second event, we gave an update on the revised thoughts on peoples experiences of homeworking and what that might mean for the workplace going forward. Along with answering a number of questions from the previous event.

Today we want to talk and look further into the immediate practical solutions available for the return to the workplace and again address some of the questions we have received.

In particular we want to focus on the quick and simple amendments that may need to be made to the workplace once we are given the all clear.

The day to day protocols for the uses of the space and the wellness issues that will encompass.

It’s quite ironic that just prior to the worldwide self-isolation, yet another paper was published in a series of reports that showed that workplace effectiveness and efficiency had been in decline for a number of years.

Which is not only extremely worrying but also interesting when you realise that it has coincided with the introduction of an Open Plan base with projects zones and collaboration areas along with all those cool spaces that design companies have taken great pleasure in including within their proposals.

Unfortunately, far too many organisations don’t continuously record and collect data on how well the employees actually use the space, which leads to cool looking environments that don’t support the activities and even worse, make some functions harder to do.

Whenever there is a situation that effects the majority or in this current moment in time, everyone, the initial responses no matter what the event, tend to be overblown and pretty extreme.

This particular solution from the 1920s made me laugh.

Ironically, it’s called the isolator and was designed as a response to individuals not being able to focus in the workplace…. Yes, it was even an issue in the 1920s. I’m not suggesting, for one moment, re-introducing these at all but it always worth looking at some of the historical solutions to a particular issue to see if it has a bearing on the issues of today.

I particularly like this image of a 1960s typing pool. There is something very inviting about it. I don’t know if it’s the colours, the space or it’s familiarity, but I for one, would be quite happy to work there. Especially, if the desks were turned to face each other rather than the Managers office.

I do hope however we don’t panic and make a return to the soul-destroying cubicles that were and to some degree, still are, the staple layout for many organisations. The cubicle farms were another response to the difficulties of Open Plan but only really swapped one set of workplace issues for a different set.

So what does the return to the workplace mean in practical terms? To help illustrate this I’ve taken a part of plan of a recent scheme and have looked at those issues that may need addressing.

Instantly you can see that social distancing will have a bearing on seating positions. In this illustration I’ve only removed seats, not desks, as practically moving and storing desks will not be an easy option.

The basic day one solution may have to be based around the spacing of staff at alternating workstations where dividing screens don’t exist.

A reduction of seating positions in large meeting rooms. In this example you can see that a room that potentially held 40 people will effectively now hold only 12.

Effectively all other spaces are halved in the numbers that they will support.

The conversion of small meeting rooms into individual focus booths and the retrofitting of regular sanitisation stations is also something to be considered.

Potentially the environment could look like this. We do have some thoughts on a cleaning regime and will cover that later.

So what about some quick wins on the furniture front? Before the lock down there was a definite upturn and increase in the installation of solutions such as these.

Quick and easy to install, they instantly create areas for staff members to drop in and focus, away from the main workspace. Many of these solutions are screen hung which begs the question are we going to see a return to action office?

Action office was a screen hung system developed and sold by Herman Miller in the late 1960s. Incredibly flexible and adaptable it allowed businesses the ability to easily change layouts dependent on the requirement of the moment.

With all the frustrations of the pre COVID-19 workplace and the potential demands of the reset workplace, its easy to see this solution making a comeback of sorts.

I think the reset workplace, workstation and individual focus and work areas are fairly easy to address. There are many off the shelf solutions readily available. From high backed and wings sided chairs through to pods and pseudo cubicles.

The reluctance to share technology will mean staff who don’t have the option currently, will demand being issued with a tablet or a laptop or failing that, assigned a sole user terminal.
There are hygienic tech solutions out there, but they are quite expensive and aren’t necessarily the right solution right now when you consider user anxiety and mistrust.

There will I believe be a demand for elements such as tranquillity pods. After all, the shock for some on their return to the office will be those issues we’ve been struggling with forever, noise and distraction. Having worked from home for quite some time, (for some), they will now be used to a much quieter environment. I know the complete opposite will be true for all of you with young families…

The biggest issue in the post isolation working environment though, I believe, will be with the collaboration zones. Just how do you create an area for people to come together and share their ideas and to have creative discussion when they have to maintain a distance between themselves?

Technology, will undoubtably help and there are some new products out there that are mobile that enable software and digital information to be shared amongst others. Small and very mobile elements of furniture will enable the space to be adapted to suit those who need to attend. But it will be about creating a large open and flexible space.

The ultimate solution, will of course depend totally on the guidance from the medical fraternity and what they find out about coronavirus COVID-19, between now and the return to the workplace. We seem currently to be hung up on this 2 metre rule, without really being told too many facts about the spread of the disease.

There are many products that are inherently, self-cleansing, self-sanitising and anti-bacterial and designers will need to be aware of these and specify solutions that bring better health qualities to a space.

One of the biggest issues on the return to the workplace will be centred around doors handles and grab rails. There are some very practical retrofit solutions out there, such as foot openers for doors, hands free door handles that allow you to open the door with different parts of your body and automatic sanitising sprays.

In the main office area it will be prudent to create foot operated sanitation stations at regular intervals and provide individual, wipes, sprays and hygienic means of disposal.

While there are some easy wins for the layout and design of the workplace. I can’t help but think the biggest issue on day one of the return will be travel.

The transport companies will need to lay on far more regular services to allow commuters to stagger their journeys and travel without being in close proximity to others. The Central line is definitely going to be a no-go area in London.

Interesting to see how in South Sumatra that they have marked out their transit trains to show commuters where to sit. I cannot see how this could possibly work in the cities such as London with the sheer volume of people that need to get around the city.

I see a situation where on the immediate return to work that people will try to find their own mode of transport. And whilst here in the UK electric scooters are still illegal on the roads and pavements, I can see there being an uptake in their use along with skates, skateboards and cycling.

In fact, any method of individual travel will be the preferred method. This will lead to some serious jams in city centres with the added difficulty of finding somewhere to park.

So those are our thoughts currently, on the immediate return to a reset workplace. But as we’ve said before, these change a little week to week, dependant on experiences and the continuing health issues. I’d like now ask Tara and firstly Neil for some thoughts from them based on the slides we’ve shared and some answers to questions we’ve received…