Back to the office in pandemic Firms seeking a balance between safety and need to work under one roof
Jay Foreman, chief executive of the toymaker Basic Fun in Boca Raton, Florida, has a simple message for his employees: It’s time to come back to the office.
“Fear is not an appropriate reason for not being at work,” he said. “We have to get over our fears. We can’t operate remotely, and this is a collaborative work environment. I pay a hell of a lot of rent to have an office, and that’s a big investment.”
It may seem that Foreman is swimming against the tide. Corporate giants like Microsoft, Target and Ford Motor Co. have extended remote working arrangements until the summer. But a recent survey by LinkedIn and Censuswide found that more than two-thirds of offices had reopened or never closed. Foreman is among the employers who don’t believe the coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally reordered the way millions of Americans should work.
They are recalling their employees even as the coronavirus surges in parts of the country, arguing that a balance can be struck between safety and the need to reunite under one roof.
At Basic Fun, masks are mandatory, desks are spread out, and there are stations with hand sanitizer throughout the 20,000-square-foot office in the four-story headquarters.
Last week, the last of the Basic Fun workers who had been at home returned to the office full time.
Some employees have come back eagerly after the distractions of working from home. Others have done so reluctantly after asking for more time. And at least one has found another job.
The divergent feelings echo larger patterns in the American workplace. At some companies, a new dynamic is unfolding between those who are staying home and those who are venturing in every day.
A June survey by accounting and consulting firm PwC found that 72% of workers would like to be able to work from home at least two days a week. And a majority expected to be able to work from home one day a week even after the pandemic.
Foreman is not a mask doubter or a coronavirus skeptic. But he believes the necessary steps have been taken to ensure his workers’ safety.
“People can’t enter our office unless they are wearing a mask, they can’t walk around the office without a mask, they don’t gather in small groups without a mask, and workspaces are more than 6 feet apart,” Foreman said. “I think it’s as safe as your own home.”
He believes there are benefits to working together that can’t be replicated through conference calls or online. That applies to the 65 employees in Boca Raton, as well as a dozen or so in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and 60 in Hong Kong.
“The stuff we make needs collaboration,” he said, describing the process of developing Basic Fun products like Tonka trucks, Care Bears, Lincoln Logs and K’nex building toys. “You need to hold it in your hand. If you’re trying to connect through Zoom or sending samples via FedEx, it’s inefficient.”
By the time Florida’s lockdown was eased in late spring, Foreman had come to the conclusion that with the right safeguards in place, having his employees back in the office wasn’t going to endanger them. He said he had reviewed the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and consulted with health experts before reopening. Even so, it was not an easy decision.
“It was brutal — I had so many sleepless nights,” he said.