Will the COVID-19 led ‘work from home’ culture mean I need a smaller office?
A question we are being asked at the moment is, ‘When we come out the other side, will I need a smaller tenancy as a result of the COVID-19 led ‘work from home’ culture?” We have been researching this, and what we have found it that from a both a psychological perspective and a team culture point of view, the answer is not necessarily. What we will probably find is a reduced reliance on hot desking, especially from a contagion (germ desking is a popular term at the moment) perspective. There will still be a need for the team to come together, physically, at those critical points. Some companies who have implemented a very space efficient hotdesking style workspace within their tenancy may need to shift to a larger tenancy to apply & comply with social distancing rules. In addition to creating hygienic spaces, we can simultaneously reduce acoustic trauma with an acoustic mitigation plan, leading to a better outcome for their business.
Our research is finding that there will be increased choices to work from home, but it will never completely replace physically working from the office. It could mean that the tenancy sizes for companies will be the same or maybe even a bit more, in order to comply with the different rules regarding social distancing, for example the 4 sqm per person in a room regulation.
We would love to help you with how your workspace can be adapted to meet these new social norms, how you can be at the front of the curve so you can hit the ground running. You can be the first one out of the gate when the restrictions are lifted, and the economy is back in launch mode.
We would love to help you, and we would love to take you through these steps and show how you can up your game, meet the new criteria & be ready.
Other videos in this series you may be interested in:
Why is now the perfect time to renovate my offices?
Did we apply workplace standards in line with social distancing prior to this pandemic?
What popular design practices have been unwittingly contributing to the spread of infection?
How will social distancing impact our workplace in the future?
What are the positives we can learn from this pandemic?