As the world learns live to in a state of unrest due to COVID-19, many professionals and business owners find themselves adapting to a new normal. Working professionals find themselves adjusting to a new way of life and are witnessing first-hand how necessary it is for us to adapt until our return to the workplace. We use FaceTime and video conferencing platforms more often to speak to our loved ones, celebrate our friends’ birthdays and watch children take their first steps – often wondering what kind of world they will grow up in. Many people struggle with feelings of isolation but have found comfort in the normalcy of seeing our friends and colleagues face on video calls each morning and at the end of the day.
By now, working professionals must know that a return to the workplace as usual in our old familiar workplace may be nothing but a dream of the past. Businesses will need to plan and design spaces that accommodate their employee’s new social practices and ways of working. This shift may include simple every practice but may also include redesigning their workspaces, adopting design practices that are common in healthcare facilities.
As we start to look forward, it is critical to understand that the design of our workplaces can not only directly impact the experience of our employees, but their health and safety, too. I anticipate that a return to the workplace will require designers and business owners to work together to incorporate infection control practices in the design of the workplace interiors, cultural institutions, and institutions of higher education.
Expanding our Design Team
There are many lessons to be learned from the design of healthcare facilities in addressing this global pandemic. When designing a healthcare facility, it is crucial to the health and safety of patients as well as the viability of healthcare facilities that infection control be addressed as the risk of hospital-acquired infection posed not only health risks, but business risks. Thus, the typical healthcare design team incorporates a broad range of voices in designing their facilities to meet those diverse needs.
A typical project for a workplace environment is comprised of a design team with owners, architects, designers, engineers, and various other consultants. Healthcare design projects take things a bit further, incorporating doctors, nurses, facility team members like janitorial and maintenance staff into the design team. Measures are taken by each team member to listen to and record design meetings held with these professionals to ensure that the space they will occupy will best suit their needs, as well as the needs of the patients and their families. Everybody works together toward a common goal and acts in the best interest of the project by sharing their experience and knowledge.
One way of ensuring that our buildings are thoughtfully designed and better equipped to handle any unforeseen changes is to consider an integrated design and delivery model. This model includes designers, engineers, facilities managers, technology and financial leaders (to name a few) joined by a group of building users. All team members collaborate to establish design principles that ensure optimal results. Working together will foster trust within the team and bring all valuable voices to the table allowing for fair and equal contribution. Designers should listen closely to what our essential team members can teach us and use this information to thoughtfully and carefully design the workplace, ensuring that our spaces are functional, beautiful, and safe.
Increased Cleaning Measures
The COVID-19 pandemic should also teach businesses not to overlook cleaning and facilities team members. As most of us work from home, cleaning and facilities teams continue to go into essential businesses and work to make these environments safer.
A return to the workplace will mean businesses need to increase cleaning measures and employee accessibility to antibacterial hand gels. A thoughtful redesign of the workplace may include other measures, such as sensor-activated faucets and soap dispensers, even card readers with automatic openers on doors, all of which would reduce the risk of infection spread through physical contact.