BACK TO WORK
also tackle the challenge of making more space available for employees in order to spread out. Ensuring employees can work safely at an appropriate distance from one another will require a major rethink. Firms will be left with multiple options. One is to rent or buy new space, which, in the current climate, may be too high a strain on financial resources as businesses everywhere are tightening their belts, and the commercial property market is set to fall. For a handful of companies, however, this may be the quickest and best option.
Another option is for office- and facilities managers to rethink the space they already have to make it work better in the ‘new normal’. Especially for firms that use standard cube configurations or benching systems, to safely accommodate personnel, it may be necessary to redesign the office space to ensure no space goes to waste, accommodating empty filing cabinets, for example. Alternately, companies may also consider initiating flexible working and hot-desking systems that will ensure personnel can stay at least one metre apart as they limit how many people can work in the building at any one time.
Shared facilities, such as canteens or coffee stations, will also require a readjustment. As well as perhaps limiting access to these common shared facilities, unless appropriate cleansing and PPE equipment can be provided at all times, it may be a good idea to think about reimagining the space in order to make it safer. Small bar tables and stools for one person to sit at, at a two-metre distance from each other, may be a viable option to ensure these spaces can still be utilised, but safely.
Similarly, conference and meeting rooms that hold large groups of people will need to be avoided for risk of compromising social distancing rules. Rather, wherever possible, implementing partitions that raise cubicle walls or create physical barriers between employees will help limit the risk of office spaces becoming incubators of mass infection. Furthermore, ensuring that staff use alternate desks that can be ‘back-to-backed’ to limit the risk of people facing one another unnecessarily will be useful.
For FMs, considering how the furniture and equipment in their respective work spaces can be configured to support safe but practical working protocols will be key to staying agile. The flex way of working is expected to be used more often, as employers will ask employees to return to the office in shifts and in order to keep desired distance employees will most likely need to use a different working set up every time they decide to work from the office.
Today’s kinetic and mobile office furnishings allow firms to repeatedly flex and reconfigure their office spaces taking into account the current need. This therefore enables organisations to make the most of their existing spaces and accommodate the appropriate number of staff safely. Equipment such as adjustable monitor arms and sit-stand desk converters will allow different users to work in an ergonomic and productive way no matter which room or desk they use each time. The agility of a monitor arm and a sit-stand desk converter will allow quick adjustment to the users’ needs and in practice allow organisations to
36 | TOMORROW’S FM
safely allow employees to come back to the office without sacrificing productivity. Furthermore, mobile workstations on which staff can place their laptop or notebook can be moved into a suitable position from which to conduct socially distanced meetings in open-plan locations.
In order to save space, facilities managers may also consider re-imagining their space, creating additional workspaces and therefore allow the maximum number of employees into the workplace at one time. In order to realise that, investing in wall-mounted workstations can be considered. These are non-electric height-adjustable workstations that can be easily adjusted by each user in order to facilitate their way of working. The workstations can also provide access to power allowing the use of an IT device, making the solution a complete working setup. When not in use, the wall mounted workstations can be folded away promoting a clean and tidy environment. This allows facilities managers to make the most of every inch of space in the office, as the workstation does not take up valuable space when it’s not in use, or even when it is.
A further benefit of these furnishings is that they offer employees the flexibility they need to maximise their immediate working environment for their unique physiques or work tasks. Workers can ensure that desks, seating, and workstations are always comfortable and ergonomically matched to their height or productivity needs.
Mickey Rooney T
https://integral.co.uk/ Programme Director at JLL Integral
he safety of staff was and is still paramount. Work schedules were transformed to make sure facilities managers juggled the needs of the building with staff being off sick or self-isolating. Night shifts were encouraged
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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