How to Bring 82 Million U.S. Employees Back to the Office Safely — 100 Experts Weigh in (Week 1)
About
At Density, we work with some of the most experienced professionals in real estate, human resources, workplace, security, and safety. Collectively, our customers manage over a billion sqft of space (35 sq miles).
Right now, they are laying plans to bring 82 million U.S. employees back to work. They always have great ideas. So, instead of publishing our own opinions on COVID, we thought we’d share the ideas experts are discussing.
Over the next few weeks, we’re interviewing and publishing these discussions anonymously. They have been instrumental in our thinking about the problem. We hope they’ll be useful to you, too.
What’s the reality no one is talking about?
“There’s no way we go back to work any time soon. Here’s the problem: if we send everyone back and there’s another shelter-in-place order or a localized outbreak, we will have to pull everyone back. This is a massive disruption in routine.”
“I think it’s irresponsible for knowledge workers to go back to work. They / you owe it to everyone else to do your work from home, if you can.”
“People are already going back to the office. They’re just not telling anyone. If you don’t strictly enforce (lock the doors, turn people away, etc)”
“Our visitor check-in NDA’s are getting an upgrade. You’re going to have to declare you haven’t traveled internationally, haven’t recently been in contact with someone who has COVID, etc.”
“Lead from the front is a real thing. Our leaders want to get back to the office but the reality is, as the team responsible for crisis management and risk, we have to ask ourselves if the c-suite is the last to come back or the first. It’s not an easy question.”
“This is the ultimate design challenge. We need visual cues that reinforce the perception of safety. Objects that force separation, reduce headcount, etc.”
Expertise, perception, and mutiny
“So many people are coming out as instant experts in this. The reality is that things are changing so quickly each day that it’s impossible to be an expert in this.”
“Perception of safety is as important as actual safety. It is the key thing that will differentiate organizations that get back to their offices and those who have mutiny on their hands.”
“If you ask your employee to come back to a facility that hasn’t changed, you’ll have lost them. Whatever has changed has to be communicated.”
“Getting resources for our 150,000 employees like PPE or COVID tests, etc is, in reality taking away from those who need it. Going back to the office is, in fact, going to further squeeze those who need it most.”
“We’re already planning an anti-body test for returning employees. Everyone will have a risk classification.”
Employee feedback
“This is the primary concern we have. It’s a two sided problem. One, is the place safe? Two, even if it’s safe, do people believe us? Communication is critical.”
“The only way our team will feel safe is if someone puts a great plan in front of them and it outlines: ‘In the event of X, you should do Y.’ Our leadership team is literally emailing daily updates to the entire workforce.”
“Well, they’re starting to get a little freaked out. When all this started, it was a wait and see approach. Now, I’m witnessing outright fear that when it’s time to return, the business may not be solvent. There is an incredible opportunity for leaders to communicate: this is our plan for a vibrant return to work.”
WFH and Productivity
“We anticipate a very large number of employees deciding to remain at home.”
“Honestly, it’s a huge reduction in variable expenses. Travel, support infrastructure, real estate, etc. Our exec team has always been against WFH but with the market decline now see it as an opportunity.”
“It will be up to the employee. If an employee demonstrates that they can be just as productive from home and they say they don’t feel safe coming in, we can no longer mandate they do.”
“I’m working with a company right now that has the opposite of a WFH culture. They just sent 195,000 employees home. What do you do? They really don’t know so they are more heavily leaning on the stepped up cleaning concept as solve-all.”
“Wages are so high in SF. This is being seen as a really good opportunity for us to encourage productive teams to move out of the city and take a pay adjustment. Good for those who want to be closer to family and good for the business as it reduces overall cost.”
“I think you’re going to find different things at different companies. If you have a bad week revenue-wise, do you attribute that to WFH? What happens if you have a good week? Measuring productivity is about to change. Butts in seats no longer matters.”
Hot-desks and shared space
“Anyone who tells you that shared space will remain the dominant method of keeping offices safe is from facilities or real estate. The reality is, it doesn’t matter how much cleaning you do or how badly you want to make hoteling work, employees are going to avoid shared objects. Pretend you’re not in real estate or workplace for a second. Which makes you feel better — space dedicated only to you or stepped up cleaning practices? It’s all perception.”
“Assigned all the way. If someone gets sick, you have to know where someone spent their time. I think it’s ludicrous to have shared space going forward.”
“Two schools of thought here. One group thinks it should be all of our space. It makes it easier to clean if we don’t have to move anyone’s stuff. The other group wants to kill it entirely. The first is the real estate team. The second is employees. So… it’ll be interesting.”
“We’re removing furniture from conference rooms. Honestly, have no idea where we’re going to store all this stuff.”
“We have shared keyboard and shared screens. We used specialized cleaning on these so they don’t get damaged. We’ve just decided to pull them out and put in storage.”
“We’re now thinking about desk neighborhoods as ‘bookable.’ Meaning a team can book a floor and come in 1 day a week.”
Cleaning and Separation
“It turns out how many times you clean as a company is irrelevant. We’ve realized that putting wipes and other cleaning supplies out for employees gives them a sense of confidence in the cleanliness of their own work station.”
“Yes. Three times a day.”
“Actually, we’re using Density to clean spaces that get used and ignore the ones that don’t.”
“There are so many railings…”
“There’s clever policy out of Norway — the corporate office stole an idea from an Italian pizzeria. They give blank sheets of paper at their entries. Employees lay the paper on their desks and then throw the paper away when they leave. Brilliant. We told them we should give them crayons and make it the new whiteboard…”
“There is a world in which this whole thing brings about an appreciation for biophilia (plants near humans) and other wellness ideas. If you’re going to put up plastic between desks or spaces to force separation, why not use dense plants instead?”
Real estate portfolio
“All new capital projects have been killed indefinitely. The construction industry is about to get hit hard.”
“Half our team is moving to WFH. We’re getting rid of 50% of our offices, globally. We’re trying to get rid of our space while there are still buyers.”
“How do you sign a new lease you can’t tour?”
“We actually think keeping all our real estate will make it easier for us to give employees extra distance inside the office.”
“I don’t know. It’s a huge thing to have empty right now. It’s the second most expensive thing next to our payroll.”
“No decision yet. But no new projects right now.”
“No change.”
“For the last 11 years, our goal has been 80% utilization of desks, buildings, etc. Now we might need people to stay home.”
Uh… Elevators
“In China, they’re limiting elevators to 2 people per cab. No one is talking about this but skyscrapers are screwed. It will take half a day to get everyone onto a floor. There’s no way this type of real estate survives if social distancing remains in effect medium / long-term.”
When do you think we’ll be back?
“In all honesty, I’m mentally preparing myself to go back to work in 2021.”
“July. I have a 2 year old out of school. It has to be July.”
“Not sure but I think it will be a year at least before things go back to any semblance of normal. Also… handshakes are dead.”
“No idea. June? I realized this was going to be a long term thing when I was waiting in line outside the grocery store and an attendant came up, peeled the blue painters tape off the sidewalk, added a strip of yellow road line, and blowtorched the thing to the ground.”
Add your ideas
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About the author
Andrew Farah is CEO of Density — the people counting company.
