The post-COVID workplace | Guide to a brighter, safer future

The
post-COVID
workplace.
Empower employees to return to the office
with confidence and deliver flexible
working experiences.
#CondecoInsights

2
Did you know?
It’s estimated that the
proportion of the US
workforce that will be
working from home multiple
days a week will increase
from 3.6% pre-pandemic to
25-30%
by the end
of 2021.
(*Source: Global Workplace Analytics, 2020)
Copyright © 2021 Condeco.
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3
Fully remote
Roles which always
allow work from
home remotely.
Flexible remote
by exception
Where working in the
office is the preferred
choice, with options
to work at home.
Flexible remote
Mix of remote and
office-based roles,
where both
environments suit.
On site
Not able to work
from home due to
type of role.
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4
Three reasons to
get the employees
back into the office.
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5
#CondecoInsights
It’s good for their health
and well-being.
1.

6
Giving employees an opportunity to get out of the house to come
into a safe office environment, whether it’s for peace and quiet to
focus, or just for a change of scenery, can play a big part in keeping
them mentally healthy.
40% of US workers have experienced burnout during the
pandemic, while 37% say they have been working longer hours
than they were before the pandemic took hold.
(*Source: FlexJobs/Mental Health America, 2020)
Did you know?
#CondecoInsights
It’s good for their health
and well-being.
1.

7
Research has found that while
79.4% of remote-working
men with dependents find
the experience positive, this
drops to just 37% for their
female counterparts.
(*Source: Mckinsey, 2020)
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8
It facilitates better
communication and
collaboration.
2.
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9
• Video collaboration tools do a great job in
bringing teams of employees together.
• Employees can feel free to contribute and
exchange more creative ideas that can
ultimately help businesses respond better to
the challenges of the pandemic.
• With social distancing, sanitization measures
and meeting space capacity limits in place, all
these benefits can still be enjoyed in a way that
is safe and COVID-secure for all.
Did you know?
The California Department of
Public Health recommends
that workplaces establish
COVID-secure plans for each
of their office environments
And communicate those
plans with their workforces.
Condeco solutions can help
with this by supporting plan
delivery and inspiring
employee trust as a result.
(*Source: CDC, 2020)
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It facilitates better
communication and
collaboration.
2.

10
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It forges stronger working
relationships and helps
employees learn.
3.

11
• Education and experience in the workplace are
about more than training courses and
assessments: it’s about the knowledge employees
learn on the job. This particularly applies to
younger employees, and it’s a vital part of the
learning process that has been completely lost
with the shift to remote work.
• What’s more, teams that work together in the
same physical environment day-in, day-out
build strong bonds and even friendships that
collectively help them be more efficient,
productive and satisfied in their jobs.
63%
Did you know?
Of US workers say they have spent less
time socializing with their co-workers
since the outbreak of the pandemic.
(*Source: Clutch, 2020)
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It forges stronger working
relationships and helps
employees learn.
3.

12
Creating a
COVID-secure
workplace:
The four-step approach.
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13
Redefine Adapt
Adhere Communicate
Determine the new
purpose for your
workplace and your
workspaces within it.
Reshape the office
environment to
keep people safe
at all times.
Meet regulations
and guidelines and
respond to changes
as they happen.
Breed confidence in
the workforce with
transparency in
processes and with data.
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14
Ultimately, most of this definition comes
down to one burning question: what are
employees coming to the office to do? But
within this, there are several sub-questions
to be considered, including:
• Are they visiting solely to collaborate
and socialize?
• Will they be working from the office on
designated days each week, or on a more
causal basis?
• Will demand for meeting spaces increase
or decrease?
• Will workstations need to be shared or
will they still be designated to individual
employees?
Redefine
Determine the new
purpose for your
workplace and your
workspaces within it.
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15
• Spacing out workstations: giving individuals more
space in which to work, and creating more space
between them, so that distancing can be maintained.
Adapt
Reshape the office
environment to
keep people safe
at all times.
• Entry, exit, and movement routes: ensuring workers
can move around the building as easily as possible
without creating ‘pinch points’ where groups of people
come into close proximity.
• Sanitization processes: keeping any areas or surface
that may be used by multiple people clean and
disinfected between uses, such as shared workstation,
kitchen areas, meeting rooms.
• Infection response: putting in place fast-acting plans to
identify infected people, trace their contacts and make
appropriate changes to work schedules with a minimum
of disruption to the business overall.
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16
Most of the principles around making workplaces
COVID-secure are the same in most major
economies, but there will be certain variations from
country to country. Therefore, once you have your
adaption measures in place, they can be fine-tuned
to ensure they meet all the relevant regulations.
With this effort, there are two further responsibilities that
should be covered:
1. The first is due to the fast-changing nature of
the pandemic and the response to it: regulations
and guidelines are changing on a monthly or even
weekly basis.
2. Proving compliance, and what you can do if
authorities come to inspect or audit your workplace to
ensure no regulations are broken. Whether that’s
through scheduled sanitization regimes, clear
separation between workspace bookings, and
effective movement routes through the building.
Adhere
Meet regulations
and guidelines and
respond to changes
as they happen.
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17
All of the above sounds great from your perspective
as an employer, but none of it works without the
buy-in of your employees, who will be working in
these new, unusual surroundings every time they
visit the office.
They want to trust:
• That you have put the right measures in place to keep
them safe.
• That you’ve taken their thoughts into consideration.
• That if you use a technological solution to manage
the COVID-secure workplace, that the data
concerning their daily activities won’t intrude or be
misused.
Only by being fair and transparent throughout, and by
involving the workforce in the reshaping process as
much as possible, can you hope to win that trust.
Communicate
Breed confidence in
the workforce with
transparency in
processes and with data.
#CondecoInsights

18
Using technology to
keep employees safe.
#CondecoInsights

19
Did you know?
71%
of C-suite
executives
surveyed by EY are
planning to prioritize new
technology investments.
(*Source: WORKTECH Academy, 2020)
#CondecoInsights

20
Solving employer challenges.
Workplace scheduling software allows workstations to be
booked in advance, and rotation plans (where employees
come into the office on set days of the week) to be taken into
account. Workstations can also be set aside for casual bookings
on a first-come, first-served basis.
Reductions in meeting room capacities can be integrated into
the booking system, and employees making reservations will be
prevented from adding more attendees than the room can
safely accommodate.
#CondecoInsights
How can I managed reduced capacity for
the whole workforce, now that we have
fewer workstations than employees?
How can I make sure social distancing
is maintained in meeting spaces?

21
The designs and layouts of workplaces can be adapted as
changes need to be made, with resulting impacts on existing
bookings or schedules taken into account. Employees affected
by the changes can be notified automatically.
Time for sanitization can be block-booked into schedules
between each individual use of a workstation or a
meeting room, preventing new bookings being made
immediately before or after existing ones.
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How can I ensure that workspaces are
cleaned between uses, even during
bust working days?
How can I respond quickly to changes
in guidelines or regulations?

22
Employees can access the workplace management system
from home, either online or using a mobile app, to book their
chosen workstations for the times they need it. This applies
whether working from the office on set days each week or
are attending on a more casual basis. In either case, they
receive full information and instructions on booking on how
to reach their designated workstation safely.
The system can give employees full visibility of all
schedules, including the sanitization time allocated to clean
spaces between each individual use. This gives them the
confidence that they will always reach a booked space that
is fully cleaned and sanitized as required.
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How can I be able to work from the
office when ever I want?
How can I know that my booked
workstations and meeting spaces are
safe to use?

23
All meeting spaces have their own schedule within the
system, just as employees and workstations do, with their
real-time availability and safe capacities being displayed.
Employees can then correlate this information with
co-worker availability to book meetings at the right time
for everyone involved, and in the right meeting space.
By integrating all employees’ schedules into the system,
contact tracing can be conducted more easily. Those
known to have come into contact with any infected or
symptom-showing employees can quickly have their
schedules changed to remote work only, with knock-on
effects on meeting bookings and workstation reservations
updated automatically.
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How can I be certain that I can get the
meeting space I need, when I need it?
How can I stay safe in the event of a
colleague becoming infected or
showing symptoms.

24
Destination
office:
Your post-COVID workplace.
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25
Data on workspace usage and
employee attendance trends
means the office can seamlessly
adapt to suit employee requirements.
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26
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Workstations and meeting spaces can
be used at different times by different
people for different things, with total
clarity on scheduling and availability.

27
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Employees can plan ahead to meet
colleagues at the office at specific
times for maximum productivity.

28
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The workplace can now be used for
the team-building and relationship
strengthening that may previously
have only taken place outside of work.

29
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The needs of employer and of every
employee can be fulfilled in a way
that doesn’t compromise anyone’s
safety or health.

30
Checklist:
To help you chart a path towards a COVID-secure workplace
that makes sense for both you and your workforce, follow the
key tips set out in this checklist:
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31
Set out your key goals and objectives
Work our what your ideal post-pandemic workplace looks like and keep that
definition at front-of-mind throughout the process.
Engage the workforce at every stage
Keeping workforces fully abreast of the changes and giving them full visibility of their
working arrangements and those of others, are key to achieving their buy-in and
breeding confidence and reassurance.
Embrace the potential of technology
Bring every element of the workplace together in an integrated solution that
enables safe, efficient working for every employee, wherever they’re working and
whatever circumstances arise.
Embrace the potential of technology
Ensure you always keep on top of changes in regulations or new demands on the
workplace as employee needs and business requirements evolve, through regular
revies and fine-tuning.
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32
In the months and years ahead, everyone – from senior management to
the day –to – day workforce – has a lot of adjusting to do. Pivoting
towards a post-COVID workplace requites a significant shift in mindset,
both in terms of how we work and in terms of the function that the
physical office environment exists for.
• Ultimately the office will now become less of a ‘place for work’ and more of
a ‘destination’
• Office workspaces will become a bookable commodity similar to seats on
flights or hotel rooms.
• This guide has demonstrated that to make all this work as effectively as possible,
there is a need for employers to adopt long-term, flexible strategies; ones that
can adapt to new challenges on the unpredictable road ahead, while still instilling
employee confidence in safety throughout.
#CondecoInsights

Get in touch:
www.condecosoftware.com
Our Global Presence
London • New York • Frankfurt • Paris • Dubai • Delhi • Singapore • Sydney
Thank you.
Find out more: https://www.condecosoftware.com/modern-
workplace/asset/ebooks/post-covid-workplace/
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The post-COVID workplace | Guide to a brighter, safer future

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