The Post-COVID Office

Our mission is to help your office remain flexible and productive while supporting your team’s wellbeing. All of these things are at play as more employers eye a return to shared office space: the post-covid office or post-pandemic office. At FCC Innovation, we believe that the need for adaptation to new ways of working will remain long after the easing of this lockdown. The future is hybrid work for many of us, not flicking a switch straight back to where we were in March 2020 – even if future Government coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions are avoided.

Where are we now? Is it time to ‘go back to the office’ in part or in full? Read on as we summarise the challenges (and the potential solutions and management thereof) that might accompany a gradual return to our former desks over the coming months.

Where are we now?

As we write this blog, the advice is that everyone who can work effectively from home should continue to do so. However, the Government’s ‘roadmap’ has been released, and over the coming months, we should see a cautious route out of lockdown.

You know your team best. How are your staff feeling after a year at home, or perhaps a year furloughed, or a year working in a relatively ‘normal’ way while others were not? How can you support them as you re-evaluate the best ways to run your business or organisation as restrictions ease?

Chances are, your employees will be used to a more flexible and remote way of working. While some may be desperate to return to the office, others may be reluctant to return to the daily commute and miss tea time with the kids. Beyond working practices, some will be grieving, anxious, or perhaps be feeling isolated. You may have a whole range of experiences, emotions and attitudes within a single team.

What is best for your company’s circumstances regarding how and when to return to the post-covid office will differ from place to place and team to team; you must consider physical and mental wellbeing as well as guidance coming from Government.

Is it time to return to a shared office?

If your team can’t work from home, you might already *be* back in the office (if you ever left), but there are more questions to answer for everybody else. Firstly, is it now essential to be back in your office to offer your services effectively? Secondly, can you return in a COVID-safe manner? If the answer to either of these questions is ‘no’, then the time might not be right, or you might need to look again at the management of risks to ensure you can offer a safer workplace environment.

The answers to these questions will depend on your circumstances, including, but not limited to:

the nature of your work and workplace
how easily your office can be made sufficiently safe – ensuring a suitable level of social distancing, work bubbles and the like
the make-up of your team (e.g. vulnerable staff, people with caring responsibilities, how many would need to use public transport)
how well adapted you are to hybrid and flexible working, allowing you to switch between home and office at short notice if there is a local outbreak or if members of your team are required to isolate or care for children unable to go to school, for example

Assessing and addressing the risk

We recommend using the following resources to look at managing health and safety at your premises. The Health and Safety Executive is conducting spot checks to ensure that employers are following COVID-19 advice and guidance.

Government guidance: Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19)

HSE guidance: Making Your Workplace COVID-secure during the coronavirus pandemic

ACAS guidance: Working safely during coronavirus

By now, we all know ‘hands, face, space’. You will need to assess how you can maintain social distancing at desks and during interactions like meetings and mealtimes. This might be through a phased return, limiting numbers at any one time, or staggering start and finish times. You will also need adequate handwashing and sanitation facilities, suitable cleaning regimes, thought to ventilation requirements and PPE policies covering the use of masks and gloves. In lots of cases, it will also include regular testing for infection.

Communication is key. The success of a return to a shared office space is reliant on the whole team understanding each other’s needs and your policies.

How will your office work environment change post-COVID-19?

UK businesses have shown just how adaptable they can be this past year— staying flexible and productive post-lockdown-three means remaining creative in your business planning. We think there will be a consolidation of things that worked well this past twelve months going forward. There will also be new moves to do things differently (compared to the time before the pandemic struck) when some or all staff return to a collaborative in-person office experience.

Businesses will remain agile both for necessity/business continuity and preference. There has been widespread proof that many of us can work effectively – and sometimes even more productively – from home. Our domestic lives have changed markedly, and we think expectations of work-life balance have changed. In addition, businesses will want to remain prepared for another virus wave and further restrictions. This can be done with hybrid working – a mix of office and home working – as long as communications and access to resources make that possible.

Work will be distributed across a wider geographical area. Social distancing might reduce the number of staff working from one central HQ. Coupled with people working from home at least some of the time, we expect to see a switch to smaller regional offices or virtual tenancies, allowing businesses to use the space they need when they need it.

More work will take place outside. This is great for employee wellbeing – e.g. a walking meeting – but is made more productive with the increasing availability of mobile and cloud technology. Mobile devices mean you can meet and move outside without losing access to essential documents. Staff can even share and print from a picnic bench!

We will be more alert to infection risk. In the past, employees might have come to work with a cold, but now they will stay at home. Temperature screening at the doors of offices, hairdressers and restaurants has become commonplace. Over time we may also see wearables that alert staff when they get too close to someone else.

Office cleaning will take place more often throughout the day, and intelligent sanitising technology and air filtration will reach more workplaces. Risk assessments will consider how and when to clean spaces along with extra controls to reduce the risk of transmission of viruses, from ventilation to misting and deep cleans.

Offices will reduce shared touchpoints. Staff will have technology for their personal use wherever possible. Meanwhile, they will operate printers and other shared items remotely with apps or browser windows opened after scanning QR codes. Expect even coffee machines to be ‘no touch’ and taps and sanitiser stations to be hands-free.

Physical office space will be more flexible. Adaptability remains critical, not just over a network but within your company’s four walls. Is your workspace for quiet work or collaboration? Is it a meeting place for socialising, or a conference room with break-out areas? Is it somewhere where both home and office-based staff can meet together? Can it be all of the above?

The last mile and the last foot will still need consideration. If your team is at home some or all of the time, you may need to consider the quality of their internet connection (the last mile) compared to their office-based colleagues. Also, you will need confidence in their technology set-up: headset, desktop printer and the like (the last foot). Many companies now offer work-from-home bundles to help you ensure that everybody has the right kit for the job.

Technology will remain at the heart of making our ‘new normal’ work. Security of vital data, management of remote teams, access to crucial documents, mobile print, workflow software and more are in the mix. Last month’s blog rounded up our thoughts on what we think will be the top ten office tech trends in 2021, so we’ll say no more here.

Mindset and culture will evolve. It will take time for us all to learn how best to deal with what comes next. There have been worries about recruitment, training and performance management of home workers, for example. Collaboration, innovation and creativity might not work in the same way online, either. There are many ways for workplaces to address these issues, but what works from business to business might look different. Once again, communication is vital.

How can we help you?

As we said at the beginning of this piece, our focus is flexibility, productivity and wellbeing. Our business is about supporting other businesses; becoming a partner that listens to you and helps you as your needs change.

Whether you need managed print services, touchless technology, technology as a service (TaaS), a print fleet that works in a central office and team members’ homes, smart sanitation and temperature screening – or something else – please consider asking us for advice. We look forward to talking to you.

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Return to the shared workplace? Ten features of a post-COVID-19 office

Where are we now?

Is it time to return to a shared office?

Assessing and addressing the risk

How will your office work environment change post-COVID-19?

How can we help you?

Ena Catlin

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