Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID- 19 by zyeta

PARADIGM SHIFT IN WORKPLACE DESIGN POST COVID-19 A Comeback Plan for Offices

We understand that this is one of the biggest tragedies of mankind that we are facing right now. However, like Winston Churchill said in this famous quote,

“Never let a good crisis go to waste”. We can utilize this time to find newer ways to redefine our lives, work and environment. So, when the world is facing sudden realities of lockdowns and self-isolations, it is only believable that we aren’t able to think ahead. But we have to! The great depression of 2008 taught us that the world will get up and continue. Therefore, it is on us to prepare ourselves for an impending future. While we are going to see major changes in our lifestyles, there will also be a definite change in the way we work. When we reached out to our Design Experts, we got to know that there’s scope for a lot of improvement in our current workspaces that can make them survive this pandemic as well as stand strong in the future too.

©Zyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

Which is why we bring to you some major office space design solutions during Pandemic/ Epidemic to overcome the current challenges of COVID-19 and such situations in the future. This BACKUP PLAN is not going to be entirely a general backup plan. Half of it can be a temporary holdup solution for the current situation while the rest half can become an indispensable part of workplace design and even a permanent solution to every office design in future. The main intention of these significant solutions is to take care of the physical as well as the mental well-being of employees.

Parameters & Analyses to Consider while Designing While we are already covering several safety and precautionary measures in every project like:

Artificial lighting quality levels Functional line of aspects Fire resistant characteristics of materials Termite-proof characteristics of materials Fire escape routes and accesses

We believe this can be the PERFECT TIME to add some other aspects to the above parameters, so that we design workplaces that are pandemic-proof in the future.

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Reworking the overall design system concerning the environment, so that it is capable of fighting such Pandemic or Epidemic situations in the future Adding proper layout planning to manage social distancing inside the office space

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

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Including thorough air quality check to see how efficiently we need to recycle the indoor air quality in the office space

Designing private zones that will be available for each employee

To give a better understanding of how to approach such alterations in design layouts and existing design settings, we have come up with three major levels as design solutions for COVID-19 and such crises in the future.

Space Level Planning

LEVEL 01

Policy Level Planning

LEVEL 02

Individual Level Planning

LEVEL 03

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

LEVEL 01

SPACE LEVEL PLANNING This includes the various tools and techniques that are required, while outlining the design layouts of workspaces. We have come up with a detailed solution that includes several technologies to help us fight such pandemics today and in future.

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

Step 1 ENTRY-LEVEL PLANNING: To make office spaces safe right from the entrance, we need to rework on the several entrance oriented systems that we have been following. 1. Introducing Disinfection Chamber / Sanitizing Machine/ Temperature Scanner in the entrance of every office space can greatly reduce the risks of infection spread. These units can be added in the existing projects as well. This might not prevent the risk completely, but it can be a preliminary step to stop the microbes from entering the office spaces. This access point scanning can also be used before leaving the office space. This way, the workplace can be monitored for germs coming from the outside environment. 2. Replacing conventional entry access systems- like the biometric system that allows people to touch with new technologies like Access Card Controlled Turnstyles, Face Recognition System, Digital ID Cards, QR Scanners etc. This way, the entry points become contactless. Such systems not only ensures efficiency, they’re highly ergonomic as well!

©Zyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

3. Including single directional movement with one-way roads and corridors inside the office space. This will create a one-way movement among the employees, resolving the unwanted gatherings at places. 4. Adding wider corridors inside the office space. This will let the employees move freely in the office without bumping into one another.

5. Setting up all the common service areas like cafés and restrooms with spacious entry and exit to make sure everyone follows the one direction flow.

TOOLS FOR FUTURE EPIDEMIC-PROOF OFFICE DESIGNS Here are some basic tools or design elements which can be adopted in the current situation as well as in the future spaces. Hands-Free 3D-Printed Door Openers Door handles can be the favorite spots for the germs. Anyone and everyone touches door handles, hence making it a sure point for the germs to accumulate. That is why we can replace the ordinary doorknobs with hands-free 3D printed door openers. This can be applied in meeting room doors, restroom doors etc. Risk prevention analysts have reported that using covered arms instead of bare hands to open doors can somewhat minimize the spread of coronavirus. Kick-and-Go Automatic Hands-Free Opening System Another handy door opening system can be the kick-and-go system. This is usually seen in recycling or waste bins where with a foot pedal, the cover or lid of bins can be opened. This system can also be used for door openings. This can be easily installed on doors and hence, can be immediately implemented in the existing workplaces. These foot pedal door opening systems are high-quality materials, making them a durable choice for such situations. Moreover, you can use it for different types of doors as well. Virtual Voice Assistants Virtual assistants like Siri, Google and Alexa have transformed the way we do our mundane tasks. These tools can be conveniently integrated into household devices like lighting, doorbells, and appliances and can be easily commanded through voice. Now that touchless is becoming an in-thing, it will be a great time to plan our workplace technology with such virtual voice assistants. This can help us in carving a new roadmap for workplaces with more convenient technologies that require less manual activities and more of touch-free tasks. ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

New Age Access Systems We all remember our office sign-in systems, where we need to access the doors with fingerprints; but that is certainly not viable anymore. Just like doorknobs, finger access for offices can be a point of coming in contact with germs. Hence, the “biometric system” has been revisited by adding face recognition instead of fingerprint access. This way, you won’t come in contact with the system and yet get the official access to your workplace.

Step 2

This step is about splitting up workspaces, community areas, collabs and service areas in the office space. As open space office had been the current face of productive workplaces, we need to sustain that collaborative design thinking by including newer choices of design settings that can avoid employee gatherings. That is why we need to segregate several zones and decentralize the open workspaces. While we surely need to sequester and modify the crowded areas in offices, we don’t have to go for complete isolation. Instead, we can divide solid masses and workstations into

©Zyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

smaller pockets where each pocket comprises of fewer number of workdesks, separate meeting space and activity zones. This will create enclosed niches with all the utilities, so that every team can access the services within their contained proximities and don’t have to be in any queue or gatherings.

MAJOR & IMMEDIATE STEPS TO BE TAKEN IN OFFICES 1. Reduce the density of employees inside the office.

2. Redefine the workspace by decentralising and splitting the workforce into smaller groups with independent amenities. For example, instead of occupying 1000 people in a single floor, the plan can be spread into 10 different floors, each with 100 people, with their amenities. This will help in managing the larger group of people.

5. Introducing a variety of seating arrangements in meeting rooms such as bean bags, pouffes, Japanese seats etc. to encourage people to maintain social distancing within the meeting rooms.

3. Commuting is the major problem, when we provide safety inside the office. People commuting through public transport are exposed majorly. To tackle it, companies can encourage them to use private vehicles. Also employees can be provided with office cab services with safety precautions.

This step is about encouraging immersive spaces in offices to reduce physical connection among people. Or like one of our designers remarked, “Segregating people physically and integrating them virtually!”. The immersive spaces are the virtual digital spaces which work by combining Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies. It uses multiple digital devices to connect people from different sections. This creates the ultimate human interaction experiences even if they are not at the same place. This will also help people to maintain their social distances, which is a rising concern during COVID-19.

4. We also suggest having smaller offices in different localities to split up bigger groups. It can also allow the employees to commute by walking or cycling. This will be beneficial for their wellness as well as help the organizations by limiting the chances of spread. In case of any infection spread, organizations would be able to contain the affected premises only without shutting down other offices.

©Zyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

Step 3

IMMERSIVE SPACES Here’s a glimpse of a layout with specific client requirements that includes immersive spaces to encourage virtual collaboration among employees.

REQUIREMENTS: 1. Reception + Waiting area 2. Two numbers of Cabin 3. 1 number of Telepresence area 4. 1 number of Meeting room 5. 1 number of Dry pantry 6. Work area

©Zyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

OPTION A

OPTION B

Â©Zyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

Step 4 This is about including specific air quality checks in all the areas of a workspace. When focusing on several services in the workplace, it is important to double-check the quality of different design aspects, particularly of indoor air. As air supply can be the main way of spreading contamination to multiple zones, it is advisable to adopt precautionary measures while checking the air quality. For this, we can approach the layout in the following ways:

When multiple closed meeting spaces are there, a lot of people will tend to gather in a smaller area. Hence, open areas are advisable. Necessary rooms with minimal people like Cabins, Interview rooms can be designed with accurate proximities to avoid crowding and claustrophobic situations. 3. Floor mounted AHU units are preferred over ceiling suspended units for better HVAC performance.

Step 5 This step is about creating more introverted spaces to maintain the social distancing among employees within the work environment. Such spaces can also work great for people with concentrated work. Here are a few things that help in creating introvert spaces.

1. Install relevant types of 1. Movable and agile furniture that equipment to inspect the fresh air help employees to maintain and to control the indoor air distance. quality. Example: Installing air curtain, dust control + germ control mechanisms etc. 2. Open office system and non-dense areas should be encouraged more instead of multiple closed ODC systems or even closed rooms.

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

2. Movable screens or movable partitions that help in separating spaces and in creating smaller contained areas where distancing can be achieved. 3. Using small individual rooms to avoid occupying large meeting rooms and instead, carrying on with quick discussions in these spaces.

Step 6 This step is to provide more technical support to introduce non-touch surfaces and sensor-based systems. Adding more sensors like automatic doors, sensor-based access controls, occupancy sensors, IoT based planning etc. help in reducing surface contaminations. Use of IoT is going to play a major role in future. Automatic doors which can be synced to our mobile phones through bluetooth to access automatic light switches, temperature controllers etc. are going to be common now.

a live occupancy feed in common spaces like toilets and café areas so that others can wait and avoid gatherings. It is better to introduce new technologies like the Aarogya Setu app, which helps in crowd management in common spaces. These apps can help us give warnings about the spaces where we can’t maintain social distances within office spaces and hence take the necessary precautions.

Step 7 This step is about taking care of the design materials and finishes. Materials like antibacterial fabrics & finishes, carbon-neutral flooring etc. can help in preventing the spread of infectious germs. RNA viruses are known to survive for only 4 hours on a copper surface, whereas they can survive days on other metal surfaces. Hence, we can use copper instead of other metals in the high touch surface zones wherever touching is unavoidable.

Traffic management apps which help in monitoring the occupancy and people movements within the office space also help in managing and warning people violating social distancing. These apps can give

©Zyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

LEVEL 02

POLICY LEVEL PLANNING We believe it is not only space planning that helps in creating a successful solution for this crisis but also some major policy changes that are required to be implemented within the working community.

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

1. It is predicted that 25 - 30% of employees from almost every sector, will be given an option to work from home and the management has to provide the necessary provisions to continue working. So, including WFH as a regular feature in work culture can be profitable for organizations to maintain the right ratio of employees inside the office premises. With coronavirus disrupting our lives, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high time for work-life integration. People are now getting used to working from home and workplaces should be flexible enough to cater to their needs. While in the pre-corona days, most of the working people were not familiar with the WFH option, the virus has given us a new reality where we are forced to take work to homes and we are doing it fine. Therefore, taking advantage of this scenario, we can start making the use of WFH culture regularly to avoid overcrowding in office space.

2. To avoid a crowded work environment, the management should introduce alternative office working days or shift basis working days for employees. The total number of workforces in the office at a time can be reduced to 30% to avoid gatherings. To achieve this, management has to encourage employees to actively use immersive spaces and technologies.

3. To prevent office spaces from infections/contaminations, along with sanitizing the surrounding, it is equally important to encourage people to disinfect their hands regularly.

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

4. Building trust in the work environment and within the team. Organizations should develop a culture where there is trust among employees, so that work can be done with virtual presence of employees as well.

7. In existing offices, alternative workstations should remain unoccupied to ensure social distancing. The remaining workforce can be given a WFH option or can opt for different shifts. 8. Employees should be encouraged to get food from home, or the company should provide food to restrict exposed food packet movements within office space.

OTHER THAN THESE, OFFICE MANAGEMENTS SHOULD CONCENTRATE ON THE FOLLOWING ASPECTS AS WELL 5. In an office building of 10 floors with different offices, using the elevator can be a challenge. To address that, offices within one building can have different work timings. For example, people of a particular office can allow using the elevator in their allotted time interval while entering and exiting the office. If this is followed widely, there is a possibility to reduce traffic congestion and thus eliminate the peak hour idea.

1. Updating medical leave and insurance policies to support the pandemic / epidemic 2. Sanitizing office spaces regularly 3. Conducting tests and health checkups frequently for the staff 4. Enforcing hygiene and social distancing within the office and its surrounding. 5. Creating awareness on such pandemics 6. Concentrating more on trust-building and increasing the 6. To maintain safe distance within morale of the staff the elevator, its limit can be reduced 7. Encouraging employees to come to the forefront and make the to less number of people so that management aware if they are thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always enough room for facing any kind of fever/health distancing. issues to avoid the spread of even the common health diseases.

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

Below are the Key Locations for Hand Sanitizers

Just to help you manage the office hygiene better, here are some office locations that should have the access to immediate sanitization. The best way to remind employees to use hand sanitizer is by making it easily accessible and always placing it within sight. It is important to place hand sanitizers near and around high-touch surfaces and communal areas, including: ENTRANCES AND EXITS As already mentioned, doorknobs can be a potential germ-spot to spread infections within a workplace. There are even reports by the CBS that showed how a virus can be picked up by 40-60% of employees and visitors in a facility, that too within just 2-4 hours. This also applies to light switches and other high-touch surfaces in workplaces that need frequent disinfecting to prevent the spread of infections. STAIRCASE While elevators can be problematic places for infection spread, staircases can also be a sweet spot for germs. That is why placing hand sanitizers at both the ends of handrails for staircases can be a smart idea of preventing the infection spread. As handrails are contact surfaces while taking the stairs, it is advisable to maintain the supply of sanitizers in those places. CAFES, FOOD COURTS AND BREAK ROOMS Another hotspot of germs is the shared spaces like cafĂŠs and food courts, where people usually gather, talk and chill. Besides the usual hand wash, sanitizers can be placed, so that people can frequently disinfect their hands.

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

TRANSACTION AREAS It is advisable to place hand sanitizers near transaction areas such as the reception counters and the cafeteria check-out counters. In these areas, people often engage in sharing of packets, food etc. Therefore placing hand sanitizers in these areas is necessary. MEETING/DISCUSSION ROOMS Meeting rooms can be a nest of infections because these rooms often remain crowded by employees and even by visitors. Hence, it is very important to sanitize such areas to avoid swapping of germs through handshakes. Placing hand sanitizers just while entering and exiting the meeting rooms can help people sanitize their hands and minimize the spread of such infections. WORKSTATIONS Employee desks, phones, computer keyboards, and computer mice can be the ultimate germ points. If such devices are shared, the probability of spreading the germs increases more. Hence, it is important to place sanitizers right beside the workstations to avoid infections. This will also help the employees disinfect their hands right after they sneeze or cough. RESTROOMS While soaps and hand wash are primarily important in restrooms, hand sanitizers can be placed to make it easy for those people to sanitize their hands, who are in a rush.

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

LEVEL 03

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL PLANNING While awareness on a community level is of course, important, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very essential to be aware of hygiene and social distancing on an individual level. There are different health organizations and the government itself is trying to educate everyone about the crisis and how to fight it; however, one must be personally committed to follow all the rules and create a better, well-learned society. After all,

ÂŠZyeta | Paradigm Shift in Workplace Design Post COVID-19

“Success is not a Big Step taken in Future, it’s the Small Steps taken Right Now!”

DOS AND DON’TS FOR GENERAL PRECAUTIONS Here are a few things to know as general precautions for the coronavirus and also for such infections in the future.

DOs 1. Daily recording of body temperature is advised 2. Proper use of face masks and gloves is a must. Face Visor is also recommended 3. Hand sanitization and surface decontamination are advised strongly 4. Maintaining a preferable social distancing of 6 Feet 5. Taking bath as soon as you enter the home after work 6. Reporting to the concerned people if you come in contact with an infected person 7. Using disinfectants whenever you come in contact with shared touch spaces. While buying cleaning products, make sure you buy products that are designed to fight viral pathogens 8. Prefer cashless transactions

DON’Ts 1. Avoid physical contact with people. You can go for contact-less greetings. “Namaste” is now accepted by the entire world 2. Avoid shared tools and devices. If necessary, don’t forget to use disinfectant right after the use 3. Avoid touching your Mask, Face, Eyes and Nose while working 4. Don’t share pens to sign paperwork 5. Don’t dispose of used materials in consumers’ premises. 6. Avoid sharing face masks 7. Don’t consume any Eatables/Beverages without disinfecting covers.

Going back to offices would be challenging for many reasons. However, we can all be prepared to make the necessary changes and create a better work environment which stays future proof for such impending crises and survive through any tough situation. We would like to conclude this by repeating Leon C. Megginson’s words, who is the author of the book “Small Business Development”.

It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself. – Leon C. Megginson, Civilisation Past and Present, 1963 We hope that this situation gets better and we are able to return back to our normal lives. But if this situation is going to be our new future, we should be ready to adapt, rather than avoid.

Credits DESIGN CREDITS Shafeeq Mohamed Janani Chitra Kulothungan Sushrutha D T GRAPHICS Swetha Sharma Narendran MEDIA CONTENT CREDITS Mehnaz Farooque ATTRIBUTES www.cmmonline.com/articles/best-places-for-hand-sanitizer www.comelite-arch.com/blog/smart-office-design www.awesometoplist.com/top-10-best-hands-free-door-opener-review www.materialise.com/en/hands-free-door-opener www.Freepik.com www.Flaticon.com CONNECT WITH US https://www.facebook.com/Zyetaglobal https://www.instagram.com/designing_workspaces/ https://twitter.com/ZyetaL https://www.linkedin.com/company/zyeta/ https://in.pinterest.com/designsbyzyeta/