Pre-Covid-19 the workplace was designed to accommodate team collaboration, creativity and easy human interaction. These important activities will still be possible, they may just look a bit different post Covid-19 as offices will need to adapt.

Businesses will need to ensure that employee safety and wellbeing are at the top of the list when they begin to reopen as this will play a big factor in employees feeling comfortable on their return.

One of the biggest factors impacting a safe workplace post Covid-19 will be the degree of openness and space in the workplace.

Whether you have a big office or a small office there are things that can be done to create a more open and safer space. We spoke with our existing clients about their concerns in returning to work in great detail and as a result we are now providing a Covid-19 Space Planning and Design Service to these clients.

The service offers flexible and cost effective solutions that will enable you to optimise your existing space to effectively implement social distancing measures. In doing this, staff will feel positive that they are working in the safest possible environment.

Covid-19 Space Planning and Design Services

Capacity Planning

This will involve determining how many people will be returning to work straight away and therefore occupying the office space. We will come to your workplace and analyse the best way to optimise the space to adhere to social distancing requirements. From here, we would produce a floor plan of the space clearly stating the areas and workstations that can be occupied whilst ensuring the current guideline distancing.

Phased Re-Occupancy Road-map Planning

Bringing all employees back into the office at the same time is simply not feasible. As well as the obvious difficulties in implementing social distancing measures, bringing the whole workforce back may cause anxiety amongst some staff. The ‘Phased Re-Occupancy Road map Planning’ service will help guide your business on how to bring people back to the office through a mix of remote working and adaptation of existing space, gradually over a period of time.

Maintaining Office Culture

This is a crucial aspect in ensuring employee wellbeing isn’t being neglected. If proportion of the office are working from home, it’s important that a business’s office culture is felt by remote workers as much as possible. This could include organising regular group video calls, one on one wellbeing calls and rewarding staff for their efforts even if they are not physically in the office. Staff may feel distracted at home, therefore rewarding them, if justified, will motivate them to ignore distractions and produce good quality work.

Visual Cues & Signage

Based on your office layout, we will be able to advise you on the best set-up regarding visual cues and signage. This could include floor markers, posters around the office, visual cues on the doors and print-outs for individual desk spaces. Having prompts up around the building will encourage employees to be aware of their surroundings and it will also ensure the workforce feel comfortable that their colleagues are staying alert and wary too.

Agile & Flexible Workspaces 

Agile working is all about being able to provide flexible working environments, which will be crucial as the country goes back to work after 13 weeks of lockdown. Agile working ensures businesses can create different working environments within their space to empower their employees to choose how and where they want to work. However, in the post Covid-19 instance, these spaces will be used to separate employees and ensure they are at an appropriate distance. A space like this could be incorporated into an office by using moveable wall dividers that would act as protective screens. These spaces could be furnished with comfy seating and unique décor to ensure employees feel inspired and motivated by their surroundings. Integrating adaptable furniture solutions would aid in creating these spaces.

New Hygiene Solutions

There are a number of hygiene solutions that could be implemented to ensure staff’s safety and cleanliness. Upon surveying the building, Opus4 will recommend the critical hygiene solutions most appropriate for the business. One of the first things we’d do would be to identify every major touchpoint in the building where the risk of contamination could be high. At these touch points hand sanitisers should be made available and posters that prompt employees to stay alert should be presented. Also, cleaning operatives should be made aware that these touchpoints will be in need of regular deep cleans. Some of these touch points could include all of the main doors, the kitchen area and the restroom areas, as well as at every individual’s desk.

Providing employees with Personal Protection will also ensure that they are fully equipped with the essentials necessary to stay hygienic.

It is vital that everyone in the office is aware of the precautions and measures required and are adhering to them accordingly.

For more information on this service please contact us on 0161 4023 340 or email us at hello@opus-4.com