Now is the time to prepare for your employees return.
MB Contract Furniture’s pre shelter-in-place message was “creating healthy workplaces that reflect your corporate culture”.
Oh, how that has changed in a few short weeks to now “creating healthy workplaces that protect and allow your employees to work safely and thrive in the post shelter-in-place work environment”.
Never in the 40 plus years I have been a part of this industry has the narrative changed so drastically and in such a short period of time. In very short order we have gone from business as usual, to being there to support our clients who were deemed essential businesses (and we sure did!), while being engaged in the new reality of helping our customers transition to a work from home environment. And now we are faced with how we help our customers redeploy their workplaces to work well in a new reality.
This quickly evolving role is not one we could have anticipated but it’s one we embrace. It is our small part in helping our communities reengage the economy.
And What Will the New Normal Look Like?
The immediate fixes so that you can return to work in the hopefully not too distant future:
- Privacy and protection
- Clean and sanitize and incorporate cleaning and sanitizing stations within the workspace
- Don’t share equipment and technology
- More individual workplaces and less shared spaces possibly continuing some remote work. And if you plan to have more people work remotely, how will you address the ergonomics and standards of the home work environment?
Then we can take a look at the redo of your space to be sure that:
- It provides proper social distancing by un-densifying your space (yes, watch the pendulum swing!)
- A new collaborative privacy will take hold
- Introduce surface material and textiles that incorporate copper infused or silver ion technology for anti-bacterial benefits
Then the strategic reevaluation of your real estate needs and what that will mean for you:
- Will your office space be largely centralized?
- Will you need a smaller central space that supports remote locations, including work from home?
- How will your central office space function in the future?
The reality is yes, this will cost money. But it is our responsibility as leaders to invest in our employees’ well-being by making their work environment a safe place that will meaningfully reengage them in this unexpected and strange new normal. After all, the cost of doing nothing is much greater than this relatively small investment.
MB Contract offers many of the products and services recommended to prep your workplace for reopening. We are here to help you make this post shelter-in-place workplace a reality.
Let us know how we can help your employees return to their workplace with confidence.
John Mele, President, MB Contract Furniture