Designing a safe workplace in the future office environment
As governments ease restrictions in our daily lives and loosen office safe management measures, employers are wrestling with the issues in encouraging productivity gains either from WFH (work from home) or other hybrid scenarios.
The main issues in building a safe working environment are centred around mitigating the spread of covid on one hand and on the other, facilitating the camaraderie and positive collaboration of employees who are only beginning to come back to the office after mainly working from home for the past year or more.
What are the main considerations when redesigning an office environment where employees can feel safe and more importantly; motivated to work collaboratively with shared visions.
In a recent installation, our customised workspace layouts were carefully designed and implemented with the following key benefits in mind:
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While maintaining safe distancing, co-workers are still able to collaborate very effectively.
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Work surfaces were coated with anti-microbial surfactants that repel and kill viruses for up to 6 months.
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Recommendations for the use of planters as separators instead of false walls & partitions.
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Decentralised printers and office equipment to prevent staff from congregating unnecessarily.
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Well designed and Ergonomic office furniture to enhance employee well-being.
Recent recommendations from renown designers have suggested work place environments that are akin to country club settings. Whilst most of us are hesitant to consider this due to prohibitive costs, it gets our creative juices flowing in our constant endeavour to provide the best environment where people are driven to perform optimally.
