Everyone is a “futurologist.” Soon, when we can go back to the office completely because a vaccine has been found, the 6-foot society will be stripped of all coronavirus rules and stickers. The world will look different, and what does that mean the office will look like?
Architects sketch vistas of work environments that have been completely redesigned. Real estate agents come up with images of workplaces in large circles of 6 feet and calculations of the number of more feet needed, ready for the next pandemic. And furniture suppliers come up with ingenious solutions for home workers. In this period, when all the impossible suddenly seems possible, utopian ideas sound realistic.
When the world changes so fast, it is tempting to think big steps into the future. And what prevails: the quality of the workplace or the idea of saving money?
In recent weeks, Solved has coronavirus-proofed many work environments and so inspecting abandoned offices. Except for a few, everyone worked at home. The finance department, which has always been said to be near their files, works at home – as do the lawyers. A tour with another customer shows that even the employees of the abandoned control room with the large screens are also working at home. Working from home is possible for many more departments and organizations than previously thought. The estimate of how much people will work from home will vary widely, from 49% (Intermediair study, 11 May 2020) to 25% (Knowledge Institute for Mobility – 24 Apr 2020). Both percentages are correct but will apply to different organizations.