Before Covid, offices were central to our lives. Workers spent most of their time there, but in order to return to offices in the near future, they have to be safe. How do offices need to change as we come out of the pandemic?
Over the last year, while working remotely, we have reconsidered the central role of offices and co-working spaces in the organization and accomplishment of work. As some workers enjoyed the freedom of working from home, others looked forward to going back to their workplace.
Lockdown proved we can work remotely. Why do we need to go back to offices?
The pandemic accelerated the rise of remote working to maximum speed, but it also exposed its limitations, such as:
- Lack of community: face-to-face interaction is generally lost, and there’s no substitute for this during some activities, especially those more collaborative in nature. Video conferencing can sometimes offset this, but it’s not a perfect replacement, thus feeling like a cohesive team is more difficult.
- Lack of communication: when it comes to communication with a remote worker, there are lots of options beside calls and emails. Video calls, texts, instant messages, etc., but those don’t make a difference if the person actually isn’t on the other end.
- Difficulty to maintain accountability: remote teams require more micromanagement to ensure they are on the right track.
How do offices have to change to work safely?
Coronavirus has created new social protocols such as social distancing and planned sanitations. In this context, technology plays a central role in enabling employees to return to offices before the vaccine becomes widely available. Smart building technologies like smart heating and air conditioning, sensor-equipped desks and chairs and phonebooths turn to be essential to work safely onsite. Bonus points for smart booking systems which allow workers to book exactly the space they need at the time they need it for the type of work they need to do.
The future of the office is a flexible and shared workplace
Amidst a pandemic, community is still the keyword.
FMF Campus has been working to evolve, incorporating these new priorities and ensuring the key-points of safety and health. With new physical distancing signage, heightened cleaning schedules, availability of antibacterial products, FMF focuses on creating safely distanced workspaces.
Our smart digital desks and enterprise work-stations are characterized by a combination of innovative scratch-resistant materials and equipped with IoT sensors which collect data about temperature, noise level and air quality, our phonebooths are sound-proof and regularly sanitized and comfortable and large spaces allow workers to be part of a community while ensuring they can still stay safe and work productively.
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