As we make tentative steps back out into the big wide world and the new normal, many companies are looking at opening their offices again however taking government advice into account and making sure that employees will not only be safe but feel safe, adaptations will have to made to the office environment to enable this.

At 3-Space (UK) Ltd, our designers have been working with existing clients to re-imagine their workspace to accommodate, at the very least, a skeleton workforce based in the office. There are numerous benefits to teams working out of the same space, many of which have been lauded in previous articles so we won’t go into too many details but ultimately to be able to bring cohesiveness to a group of co-workers, face to face contact, albeit from 2 metres away, is a must.

Below is an example of how an existing workspace can be adapted to make it safer for the employee.

It has been drummed into us that hygiene is key to stopping the spread of the coronavirus so it makes sense to have hand sanitisation stations positioned in key areas around the office such as in Reception or in the breakout area. Additional signage can be very useful to remind people of social distancing rules and perhaps a one-way system could be implemented in the office with signage on the floor indicating direction of traffic. Screens, many of which have anti-microbial properties, can be erected around desks to protect employees from airborne particles which carry the virus. Quiet spaces can be set up for remote meetings and meeting rooms can be reconfigured with fewer chairs to allow for a 2m distance between participants. There are so many ways to make your office safer.

It is going to be quite some time before we are able to work in the same way so we should make the best of what we have to enable face to face collaborative working where space allows so if you would like to discuss any of these options with us at 3-Space, please call us on 0203 773 7900 or email info@3-spaceuk.com.