Brett White, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, joins "Squawk on the Street" to discuss what returning to work might look like after the coronavirus pandemic.

Over the past month, commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield has helped 10,000 organizations in China move nearly 1 million people back to work after the country reopened its economy after the pandemic. Cushman & Wakefield, which manages 800 million sq. ft. of office buildings in China, learned much from that experience.

According to Despina Katsikakis, who heads Cushman’s occupier business performance, the company used its learnings — along with World Health Organization data and the advice of medical specialists — to develop a concept dubbed the Six Feet Office, which it has already applied inside its Amsterdam headquarters.

Through properly spaced desks and visual cues, such as bold colors and large circle designs in the carpet, the Six Feet Office concept will remind employees that 6 ft. must stay between people at all times. Katsikakis says the Six Feet Office concept is a prototype to showcase some of the ideas Cushman envisions companies around the globe will be adopting soon.

Katsikakis believes many employees will welcome these new changes. In recent years the amount of square footage allotted per employee has gone down from 211.4 sq. ft. in 2009 to 17.6 square feet in 2017, according to Cushman & Wakefield. This has led to widespread complaints about loud office mates and lack of elbow space.

COVID-19 is likely to halt this trend. Other changes she sees happening in China: staggered schedules to lessen occupancy in buildings, desks being moved farther apart and more barriers between desks. Cushman & Wakefield also sees more emphasis on sequencing people into elevators so they aren’t packed in like sardines.