Back to Work - Work Space Planning and Designing


As the pandemic continues and most of us are forced to work from home, employees want to get back to offices, and employers are looking at ways to re-open their offices. Covid-19 hasn’t just affected where we work — it also has changed how we work. 

Bearing social distancing in mind, here is a quick guide from The Global Furniture Group on what to consider and how to reconfigure your workspace. With decades of designing and planning office spaces that have the motto of bringing employees together, this is something that throws a challenge at every one of us- the designers, employers, and employees.

Three Strategies for Rebooting the Workplace:

Let's explore three planning strategies to adapt your existing workplace planning to support social distancing guidelines:

1. Shift scheduling the workforce

2. Reconfiguring the workplace

3. Redefining shared spaces


Shifting Scheduling the Workforce:

Altering employee work schedules maintains individual seating assignments, ensuring employees retain
their own space. Redesigning the benching layouts is one of the plausible options:

Linear Benching Layout, 90-degree Benching Layout, 90-degree Layout, or 120-degree Layout.


You have your employees come in shifts-alternating days or times, maintaining assigned seats, and no sharing. 

Strategy 2: reconfiguring the workplace:

If you require all of your employees to work simultaneously, you can either allow your employees to face forward or add tower storage between people to provide extra distance.


 

The offset or rotation of desks ensures employees don't face each other, and adding screens and dividers can also help with social distancing. This strategy requires expanding real estate or reallocation of existing space to accommodate product solutions that maintain proper distancing protocols. 


Strategy 3: redefining shared spaces:


The idea of getting back to the office is to build the team efforts back in and increase employee engagement. For this to happen healthily, you need to reduce the capacity of communal and
shared spaces. 


New directives for meeting and kitchen spaces, eliminating chairs and offsetting lounge seating, increased video conferencing, widening the pathways, wayfinding directing traffic flow, and introducing new sanitation stations are ideas to redefine shared spaces. 

A before and after depiction of the office designing:

⇓




Role of management in creating a safe return to work ensuring employees' health as the top priority will have a long-lasting impact on the business and its culture. 

With 30 years in this business, Lindsey's Office Furniture is one of the biggest dealers of the Global Furniture Group. At Linsdey's, we carry a massive selection of height-adjustable desks, ergonomic chairs, cubicles- new and refurbished. We will also help you with the free design and planning of your office space. 

References:

https://www.gensler.com/research-insight/blog/insights-from-genslers-u-s-work-from-home-survey-2020 

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/covid-19-and-office-technology

Comments

  1. Stella VinxDecember 13, 2024 at 4:00 AM

    The entire process, from initial consultation to final delivery, was smooth and efficient. The Multiwood team was professional, responsive, and always kept me informed. The furniture arrived on time and in perfect condition. I'm impressed with their dedication to customer service.

    ReplyDelete

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