As the tumultuous year of 2020 moves into summer, states all over the nation are beginning to slowly ease restrictions on our lives, leaving many people to wonder what things will look like in a world that’s been utterly dominated by an invisible spectre haunting our every move and interaction. With the disease still kicking around, clearly things can’t go straight back to where they were before the pandemic hit, so where does that leave us and our jobs?

The LA Times recently came out with a story describing the difficulties facing business owners and office building landlords. Our business leaders share many of our concerns, as any breakout in their buildings and businesses may cause things to spiral out of control:

People need to expect that the office will be a very different place for the foreseeable future.

“We all have habits for how we work in an office,” he said, “and those habits are going to have to change until there is a vaccine or permanent remedy.”

Their goal is to reduce the likelihood that occupants will contract the virus while signaling to nervous tenants that it’s OK to come back inside.

“It’s all about, how do you get your tenants to feel safe?” said John Sischo, a managing principal at Coretrust.

…Small measures may start with return-to-work gift bags containing hand sanitizer, gloves and masks to be handed out as tenants arrive. Lanes for foot traffic will be marked and doors to the lobby will be kept open so no one needs to worry about germy handles. Security guards will make sure people come and go from the garage in a single direction.

Among less visible measures, the landlord will try to boost indoor air quality with high-efficiency filters and perhaps ultraviolet light disinfection of mechanical systems that pump air through the building.

Before the pandemic, janitorial services were viewed by many companies as overhead costs that should be kept to a minimum, said Laurie Sewell, president of Servicon Systems Inc., a Culver City cleaning service provider.

“People didn’t want to spend a lot of money on cleaning because if it looked clean it was OK,” she said. “But it’s not what you can see; it’s what you can’t see.”

Only a few months ago, it was fairly standard for office cleaning to consist of dumping trash and vacuuming, the indoor equivalent of a home gardener’s “mow and blow” yard cleanup, Sewell said. Some landlords saved money by turning off the hot water in the restrooms, which often were, however, the one part of the office that actually got disinfected by janitors.

New policies regarding office safety won’t be limited to handing out hand sanitizer and paying more for janitorial services, however. Ensuring your office’s safety is also a matter of utilizing the right furniture and material to ensure social distancing practices are maintained and the spread of pathogens is limited. The use of acrylic panels and other safety screens will be an essential part of making sure your employees are shielded from other people sneezing or coughing.

For LA-based readers who are on the lookout for adding new safety addons to their office furniture, Creative Office Design is offering a variety of health and safety furniture items that can help screen your employees from wayward infected droplets. Plexiglass office dividers, for instance, are going to start being a commonly seen items in offices across the country, and employees may start demanding such items be put into place before they get back to work.

Much like 9/11, the COVID pandemic has reminded normal Americans that they aren’t quite as secure as they would like to think. To give your workers and tenants peace of mind, Creative Office Design’s health and safety furniture items can go a long way to getting the pre-pandemic level of productivity back in your enterprise.

Creative Office Design

(714) 328-7627

5230 Pacific Concourse Dr #105, Los Angeles, CA 90045