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“What we have already seen in supermarkets is going to be transferred to offices”
“New normality”
Work centers must begin to adapt when returning from the offices, with staggered hours and physical barriers between colleagues
Although it still seems silly to say that “the coronavirus has changed life as we knew it,” this statement is increasingly real. After this crisis, the way in which we relate to others, our leisure and, of course, our workspace will change.
If we already see how social distance has been imposed in supermarkets and small businesses, and methacrylate screens and gloves and masks are the order of the day, offices have also begun to adapt to this “new normal” that at some point it will just become “normal.” The first step was a hasty and massive teleworking, which during these months has proven to be a more than valid system. But little by little the workers will be incorporated into the offices, and this return will have new social rules and physical spaces different from what is customary.
Iván Fernández Suarez, professor of the master’s degree in Occupational Risk Prevention at UNIR, gives two important keys that will mark the return to the offices: teleworking already implemented and physical barriers. “We are talking about a risk that we must reduce, therefore, the most sensitive people or people with previous pathologies are likely to continue working from home”, explains the professor. On the other hand, he comments that the new trend will be based on increasing the distance between the posts and in cases where it is not possible, installing barriers, such as methacrylate partitions. «What we have already seen in the supermarkets is going to be transferred to the offices, to guarantee isolation “, he assures.
The center of change, the common areas
The expert continues and says that, inside an office, the problem – or danger – is not found in our chair and desk, but in the areas. «The printing area, the coffee room or the printing machines vending, the dining room … these are all areas that need to be redesigned, or the meeting rooms! Right now they are unthinkable … », he points out.
Another key that will mark the return to the offices is the implementation of new schedules. «At the time of entry and exit, at meal times, it is difficult to maintain a distance at these points, so it will surely be adopt staggered schedules for both moments ”, explains Professor Iván Fernández Suarez.
The use of masks is another aspect that offices will have to adapt to. Although they have already been imposed as mandatory in public spaces, the expert points out that spending eight hours a day with her is very demanding. “We have seen it with health workers and people who have been working in front of the public, they get wounds, marks … it is not sustainable for workers,” he says. For this reason, Iván Fernández Suarez considers that, by virtue of not having to keep the mask during the entire working day, companies will advocate implementing spaces with greater separation, create barriers and promote communication through new technologies.
Basic characteristics of the «new offices»
From Actiu, a company specialized in the design and manufacture of furniture for workspaces, they have developed a guide to adapting workspaces before the Covid-19 in which they cover all the aspects to change and provide guidelines for this adaptation of the workspaces, taking into account the workers’ health and well-being.
Regarding avoiding a high density of people in the offices, they explain that they should reduce seats at workstations, as well as delimiting circulation areas and even putting screens to separate one desk from another.
To avoid large concentrations of workers, as commented by Professor Iván Fernández Suarez, they recommend promoting teleworking, establishing staggered shifts and making a staggered and progressive incorporation to “normality”. Likewise, with regard to moments of socialization between colleagues, the recommendations go from the repeated safety distance of two meters to reduce the capacity of rest areas or control the flow of people with, for example, signs on the ground.
When carrying out activities such as meetings, what they recommend is reduce the capacity of the rooms to half the capacity or 60%, use the rooms only when it is essential and reduce meeting times, making them more specific and efficient. Likewise, they urge to place hygiene points at the entrance or near the tables for use before and after using the rooms and leave the doors open at all times.