What will the “New Normal” Workplace look like?

The Covid-19 crisis has impacted every aspect of our lives, from our friendships to our jobs to our family relationships, creating the new normal in which we now live.

One of the most nationally noticeable impacts of the crisis is the complete disruption of the workplace. Many have been forced to work from home throughout the crisis, and with many businesses and offices looking to reopen in the future, just what will the ‘new normal’ workplace look like?

The most important thing to recognize as an employee or business owner is that the old ways will never truly come back, at least not in the way we once knew them. Gone are the days of densely-packed, multi-purpose office spaces designed to be used by as many employees as possible. This is not to say that offices will not reopen, but that when they do they may look very different from how we remember them.

Existing office space must diversify to survive, and the most obvious approach is to make them Covid secure. Retrofitting solutions such as plexiglass screens, one-way hallways, and air filtration systems will all play a role in improving hygiene within offices and reducing transmission. But not every office will be able to cope with these changes, and even those that do may no longer be able to accommodate all of its employees safely.

This is of course where remote working becomes important. Remote working means fewer people have to enter a workplace and therefore there is a reduced chance of Covid transmission via shared surfaces or circulated droplets in the air. Remote working is already becoming the new normal for many businesses across the US – but what about those that simply can’t work entirely remotely?

Whilst not all businesses can function entirely off-site, many can improve their situation by adopting digital tools for a hybridized workplace. Laptops for employees, video conferencing apps, in-house software for monitoring productivity, and keeping projects rolling are all key elements in this hybridized system. Some workplaces may only allow employees to attend in person for specific purposes, such as signing key legal documents or working with sensitive information.

Hybridized and digital workplaces do present another problem in our new normal; workplaces must begin to create a new office culture. If people can’t meet organically in-office cafes or on-site conferences, then alternative solutions such as video-call pairings and virtual socials can allow for increased employee interaction and the development of a culture of wellbeing, where checking-in becomes more important than constant monitoring.

And what of the end of the day? Once upon a time five o’clock meant leaving the office and heading home, but when the office is your home this can cause further difficulties. It will therefore be important for workplaces to ensure sufficient employee breaks and time-tracking without expectation of after-hours work that would otherwise not be done remotely.

Uptime is of course as important as downtime for any workplace, and so combatting wasted time will be just as important as avoiding extra time. Adoption of agile methodologies will likely become commonplace, with increased employee collaboration and customer-focus becoming the norm, rather than traditional working methods based on division and delegation. This also means an increase in communication both between employees and between management and employees, meaning communication tools such as Slack and Zoom will become all the more important.

The new normal will take some getting used to, but one thing is for sure; every crisis is an opportunity for innovation, and this is one like no other.