Return to the Office: The Way to Achieve Healthier Space

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COVID-19 has reversed all circumstances. People also start working from home and are accustomed to doing all activities from home, starting from working, gathering with family, to exercising. However, those of you who want your employees back to work in the office must be wondering, how do you prepare to bring your employees back to the office when the pandemic subsides.

As you know, Indonesia has entered a transition period after the COVID-19 pandemic, and a well-designed workplace is still a place many people want, especially at a time like this. No doubt, the office is a workplace that is still preferred by many people to work among other place options, such as at home or a cafe. But provided the workplace is designed to support their work. Before you can ask your employees to return to the office, you must make sure your employees feel safe and they are in a healthy workplace. Although, when a pandemic is too early to fully understand the new habits that must be applied when working from home, but it's not too soon to start planning to return your employees to the office once the quarantine period ends. How do you design your office to stay safe and keep social distance during this transition? You can consult with an architect consultant who has the expertise and can help design your office to adapt to changes in the transition or new normal. In consultation with an architect consultant, they can pay attention to any changes that will be implemented that will impact the performance of your employees. Below are steps that you can make references to apply to your office design in the face of the COVID-19 transition period. How do you design your office to stay safe and keep social distance during this transition? You can consult with an architect consultant who has the expertise and can help design your office to adapt to changes in the transition or new normal.

Architect Consultant Can Design Office Adaptation Design

Your office must apply social distance between employees. Even if your employee wears a face mask, a six-foot social distance rule must continue to be applied in the workspace until the COVID-19 vaccine is found and coronavirus is no longer a health threat to your employees. You can redesign the layout of work tables and chairs, such as placing the right number of chairs in a meeting room. Proper seating arrangements will make people more distant and make sure your employees apply the right social distance rules.

Architect Consultant Pay Attention to Workstation Arrangement

Arranging a work desk might be a challenge for you, especially if your office has a very narrow table spacing, such as some open chair layout. In situations where your table is at least 6 feet apart, you should consider other tables used by your employees. Besides you can redesign the layout of your work desk, you can temporarily assign several people to work from home or place your employees in other areas. This step is ideal for you to apply to your employees so that they don't face each other when working and social distance is easily applied. The architect's consultant will also consider designing a partition that can be mounted on a mounting table or stand mounted on the desktop and moving up and down with the desktop. Installation of partitions aims to block potentially dangerous viruses that can be transmitted by talking, sneezing, or coughing. It is also good to avoid situations where one employee stands, while the other sits within the same 6 feet.

Architect Consultants Rethink Dynamic Work Chairs

After everyone has returned to the office, reconsider placing a work desk that was previously shared with other employees. You can still use the shared workbench but must apply the social distance rules, and then make sure the desk is disinfected before your other employees use it. In addition to a shared work desk that must be limited, as well as the use of technology. To avoid the spread of disease, another best solution is to provide technology and devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, or headset for each individual. As you know, these technology devices are touched throughout the day by your employees, and should not be shared without disinfecting when used.

Architect Consultant Pay Attention to Indoor Air Quality

A well-designed and installed air duct system will produce a healthy indoor environment, where pathogens can be filtered and removed in the indoor air for your employees. The architect consultant will pay attention to the basic principles in designing your offices, such as humidity and airflow. The application of innovative ventilation and filtration technology can reduce the presence and spread of potential pathogens and allergens in your office space. You need to know, the path to spread of COVID-19 is still well understood to find the vaccine. So, you must pay attention to the optimal relative humidity level in your office space and air filtering must also have good criteria.

Architect Consultant Pay Attention to Handwashing Infrastructure

Handwashing habits must be well considered because it is a matter of behaviour and also infrastructure. Strategically placed handwashing infrastructure, including cleaning up space in a handwashing area, can limit touchpoints for your employees. And to reduce the chance of transmission of the spread of COVID-19. Ensuring that the temperature and water pressure is high enough to support proper hand washing is very important. This can be overcome by ensuring the faucet is controlled automatically or used through sensors that run for 20 seconds, according to the proper hand washing time. You can place lights above the washbasins to give visual cues about the time taken. Additionally, you should put a paper towel that can provide a level of cleaning and reduce the spread of contamination that can be found in other types of hand dryers, for example, there is potential for contamination in the future. Use paper towels as hand dryers made from recycled paper. However, you also need to choose the right recycled paper.

When you want your employees to return to work from the office, you can take advantage of design changes that are right for your office. By adapting office designs to lifestyle changes, your employees will not feel worried and remain productive working from the office. Do you want to adapt your office design during this transition? You can work with us to realize the right office design to deal with new normal situations. Contact our customer service for information on how to work with us.

Interior Designers: Contact us via Highstreet to create your dream building and follow our blog for updates on building design inspiration.

This article was adapted from https://www.workdesign.com/2020/04/5-ways-to-achieve-a-healthier-post-covid-19-workplace/