Open concept offices looking to adapt
Companies consider ways to redesign staff space to incorporate COVID-19 safety protocols
As the curve flattens in the fight against COVID-19 and many of us begin to return to our office buildings, it may be time to say goodbye to the open-concept workspace.
In expensive rental markets such as Vancouver, one fundamental concept has driven the design of offices: How many people can be crammed into a certain space?
Michael Trottier, national design director for Truspace, said his firm is already fielding inquiries about how spaces can adapt, without spending more.
“New office builds are now asking, ‘How can we fit as many people in here, but get them as far apart as possible?’ ” said Trottier.
Over the last few decades, white-collar employees have been progressively downsized. Offices became cubicles, cubicles were tossed for open-bench workstations, and finally came hot-desking, where employees don’t have dedicated desks but scavenge for space each day.
Open concept spaces, touted as collaborative and creative, were driven in part by budget constraints, and often felt like assembly lines where, shoulder to shoulder, workers tried to ignore the heavy breath, loud voices and migrating personal effects of their colleagues.
According to an Oxford Economics study, the open office maximizes stress and distractions, while minimizing productivity.
And then there is hygiene. According to one study, the average office desk harbours more than 400 times the bacteria of a toilet, and two-thirds of employees do not regularly clean or sanitize their workstations — clearly an issue for shared-desk environments.
“It is too early to say the open office concept is dead,” said Trottier. “There may be shifts and safeguards, such as increased cleaning of the office space, Purell stations, anti-microbial carpets, stainless steel and stone countertops that are more sanitary.”
Open workbench stations could be adapted with added front and side panels, with zig-zag seating so no one works directly opposite anyone else. Small meeting rooms, hot-desks and kitchens would require sanitizing after each use, much like gym equipment.
But, as in the gym, there will always be someone who disregards protocol.
“Employees will have to go in to work with the mentality of self-preservation, and we’ve got to create work environments to give individuals the opportunity to do that,” said Trottier.
This could include sanitizing stations, and new codes around social behaviour.
Terri Griffith, who holds the Keith Beedie Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University, believes work safety is going to require a combination of hardware and software.
“That means physical barriers and social behaviours, the furniture being the hardware and the people being the software.”
“We may need physical reminders of where six feet is, and we need to look at what kinds of process we are going to come up with, a workplace committee saying, ‘This is what we agree to do, and how are we going to respond to people who break these agreements?’ ”
The lessons of COVID-19 aren’t just about workspaces, but how we work.
What was dubbed “the biggest work-from-home experiment in the world” when China first locked down, has become the norm.
Griffith envisions a new “ecosystem of work flexibility” that could include less time in the office, continuing options to work from home, perhaps on alternate days, and adaptations to how we schedule our time throughout the day. In short, more choice.
“The data coming back is showing that people have gone home, they are getting their work done, and they may not want to come back, either because they are not feeling safe or they do better with greater flexibility.”
Griffith said the COVID-19 changes that were rapidly put in place are nothing more than COFs (crisis online formats) for both work-fromhome and online learning.
“Both work and education organizations had to abruptly shift. The issue is that neither setting had the chance to plan.”
Panic buying of materials needed to create barriers has already caused supply chain shortages, but higher cubicle walls and plexiglass screens are not the only things that need to be dealt with. “Even with an office partition, I want to know what kind of air handling you have,” said Griffith.
Griffith said we will need talent (people committed to their own and their colleagues’ safety), technologies (masks, barriers and air-handling adaptations), and techniques to create new practices for working together safely.
The good news, she adds, is that this is an opportunity to improve. “It’s all been unfrozen. If we can make the best of a bad situation, if we are thoughtful, this is an opportunity to make things better.”