ADVICE & OPINION
COMMENT
OFFICE BLUEPRINT
Pro-longed working from home has been a
challenge for many. There is an enormous
desire to get back to the o ice, as we realise
the social importance of the workplace, and the
ease of doing business and collaborating with
colleagues that it facilitates.
The government has outlined a roadmap for when
we can start to return to the workplace, starting with
those who can’t operate from home. However, the
message is clear – the approach must be phased and
carefully planned, otherwise we risk losing all the
gains we have made in defeating the virus.
The question for businesses is how to re-occupy
workplaces in an e ective and safe way, which
ensures sta have the confidence and trust to return
and aligns with the government’s goals. We have
already witnessed sta and union resistance to a
limited return back to the o ice by the UK Passports
O ice . It is certainly not as simple as announcing
“Everybody back next Monday”.
In response to this we have set out a five-step
process to follow, which we have developed through
collaboration across the Newmark Knight Frank
network, learning from colleagues in Asia. We have
also been part of the UK Government consultation
process.
TALK TO YOUR LANDLORD
This is the first step because it is outside your
control. A safe working environment needs to
be developed in partnership with the landlord,
whether it is ensuring that they are changing the
air conditioning filters, re-programming the li s to
ensure no more than a social-distanced restricted
number of people can use them, or providing
signage and sanitation in the entrance. Many
landlords are being pro-active but others are still
waking up to their responsibilities in this area.
REVIEW EMPLOYEE JOURNEY
We must also review the employee journey from
home to the o ice, and the from the door to the desk
within the building, assessing the risks along the
way. Whilst the travel to work may not be considered
the employers responsibility, the government is
asking businesses to help mitigate the risks of over
burdening the public transport network. This is
largely taking the guise of encouraging sta to cycle
and providing appropriate facilities, or staggering
journeys, there are ways that businesses can
support. A risk assessment of all the areas within
10 JUNE 2020
the building will identify high risk areas that would
include receptions, kitchen areas, meeting spaces,
printer hubs, and showers just to name a few.
Cleaning regimes, social distancing measures and
protocols need to be developed in each of these
areas to mitigate risk.
SOCIAL DISTANCING
It is necessary to review the workplace using the
two metre social distancing rules, and not use desks
that are within this distance. Check-boarding the
occupancy ensures that sta are not sat opposite
and facing each other. Best practice then is to remove
the chairs form the workstations that are not within
this distance. Other spaces such as small meetings
rooms that can no longer be used with the two metre
constraint, can be re-purposed as work space. An
example of a capacity over lay can be seen below.
SUPPLIES PROCUREMENT
Once you have completed risk and capacity overlay
then you will know what to procure, whether it is
signage, masks or sanitisers, as well as how you
need to re-specify the cleaning regimes.
DEVELOP PROTOCOLS
There are many areas where new protocols need to
be developed and others reinforced strictly, such as
clear desk policy, to enable e ective cleaning of the
workstation.
Examples include:
» Meetings – these should be avoided unless essential
» Printing – should also be avoided as printers
are a high-risk area, not only in terms of direct
virus transmission but also the documents that are
produced are another source of risk
» Encourage people to bring in their own food
» Do not share equipment of any type – keyboards,
mice, headsets
» Continue to wash hands regularly and for 20
seconds at a time
These protocols should be developed as strict rules
to follow.
AFTER CORONAVIRUS WORLD
The government is advising that social distancing
should continue beyond the return to work, and
some recent research from Harvard University has
suggested social distancing could continue until
2022. We need to plan for an extended period of this
‘new normal’ and ensure it is managed as a change
programme in its own right.
Many companies are training Return to Work
champions to ensure understanding and compliance
with the protocols. The new o ice will be a strange
place to work and one of the challenges will be
how to bring some fun and social element into the
workplace. In the same way that we have been
innovative in how we shi ed to work from home,
we will need to be creative in how to make the
new workplace enjoyable. In addition, the blend of
extended working from home alongside children
being allowed to go back to school, and combined
with some work in the o ice will be another
continuation of this experiment. We will be able to
determine how we want to and need to work in the
future and develop the a er Coronavirus workplace
that best suits our needs.
Neil McLocklin, Head of Strategic Consultancy, Knight Frank on
the development of a roadmap to how businesses can prepare
to go back to the offi ce