Returning to the office: How to create a comfortable environment

With the summer drawing closer and a return to the office looking more and more likely, it’s time to start thinking about how to create the perfect office, factoring in everything we have learnt from the pandemic and remote working.

Let’s dive in.

The office as we know it is going to remain largely the same

A lot of things have changed in a year. While you might have heard that some Silicon Valley companies have allowed their employees to work from home forever, this doesn’t mean that business districts the world over will become ghost towns. No, while remote working will most likely become a core feature of working life for many, there are many workers out there who are looking forward to a return to the office, about half in fact.

Priority #1: Health and safety

Of course, when reopening your office, the first thing you are going to want to prioritise is health and safety. Here are some of the main points that you should consider when redesigning:

• The new layout: When creating a new layout for your office, the first thing you need to think about is space. Does the design allow all workers to stay 2 metres apart when sat down or when moving through the office? If not, then it needs a rethink.

• One-way system: As well as ensuring that the desk layouts adhere to social distancing rules, it’s worth considering whether your office could benefit from a one-way system. 

• Sneeze screens: Not only do sneeze screens offer physical protection from other coworkers in terms keeping viruses and bacteria contained, but they also offer an additional layer of privacy without resorting to the cubicle farms of the early 2000s.

• Sanitisation stations: Hand sanitiser stations are an essential health and safety feature that you should consider for your new office. These should be positioned throughout the office with signs clearly pointing them out. This will help keep employees safe and virus-free.

Embrace both open and closed plan

The open vs closed plan debate has been raging for decades now, and the solution is becoming abundantly clear: we need both, not either or. Many employees who have been stuck in open-plan offices for 5 days a week have been reaping the benefits of remote working, so if you want to coax these people back into the office, you need to make some serious adjustments.

Your office space should be split equally between open collaborative spaces and closed private spaces. This means that your employees have the option of knuckling down and getting work done when they need to, as well as bouncing ideas off a colleague in a shared setting.

Connect your workforce

Even when we do return to the office, not everyone will be there all at the same time – some may not even return at all – and this needs to be taken into account. Meeting rooms will have to be able to accommodate employees who are there physically, as well as those who are present digitally. This means that you need to introduce solutions for individual and group video interactions that are not constrained to laptops or phones.

Here at Ashlar, we design innovative office spaces that work for you and your needs. As a full-service fit out contractor, we can help you create a comfortable environment for your employees and adapt to the new world through COVID-safe design. Want to learn more? Simply get in touch with our friendly team today.