With nearly half of employed adults in the UK working from home, weathering the distractions and difficulties that come with it, we understand why people are looking to get back into the office.

In all, 49% of workers are looking forward to a return to the office when they reopen. 

However, while aspects of the office will be familiar to workers, many regulations are being enforced to ensure the safety of those returning to the office.

With this in mind:

How will the workspace change?
How will the office experience be affected?

We have taken the most recent office and contact centres government advice and highlighted the key changes to the office space:

What the office will look like due to government covid-19 guidelines

Here is a summary of the key areas of change:

Social Groups

Some office staff will be split into separate groups/bubbles that go to the office on different days and can’t intermingle, minimising the chances of a Covid-19 outbreak spreading through the entire office.

Departments within companies may also choose to split up staff so that operational capacity isn’t affected by an outbreak.

This could result in workers still feeling the effects of loneliness that almost a third of workers have cited as a key disadvantage of working from home.

Rethinking Meetings

With social distancing guidelines enforced in offices, many meeting rooms and office spaces may be too small to hold team meetings. Instead, most meetings will be held in larger open spaces (space permitting), or online.

Business to business meetings, whether they be with clients, suppliers etc, will very likely stay online to minimise the chances of a Covid-19 outbreak affecting multiple offices.

This will result in a reduction in business travel, and an increase in online infrastructure investment.

 Limits on Social Areas

Kitchen areas, cafes, and social areas with particularly high footfall will require regular disinfection and more sanitary products. Some companies have closed their kitchen areas and have shut break out areas for the immediate future.

Lunch breaks may be staggered to reduce the chances of too many workers using the facilities and socialising at the same time.

Changes to The Open Plan Offices

In a study by the New Yorker, 70% of offices were open plan. The requirement of barriers/screens in these open rooms may result in companies favouring the more traditional office, with partitions and separated working areas reducing the chances of infection spreading.

For further guidance from Arinite on the government’s Covid-19 guidelines read our updates here.

You are not alone

Even as offices reopen across the country, a significant number of people will continue to work from home for the foreseeable future. 

Check out our guide on homeworking.

Everyone has a different set of circumstances to evaluate when homeworking, so don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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