Work From Home, In the wake of COVID19 many offices, MNC’S and other firms have changed the way of functioning of their whole system and the way it’s working from the last two or three months is quite surprising for all of us. No one had ever thought that someday everyone has to leave their monotonous routine of going office and have to be confined in their houses. It was beyond everyone’s imagination that any idea like “work from home” would be practiced and their rooms would turn into the cabin. Again nature has proved its superiority over whole mankind. It has confined the big firms and MNC’S into small rooms. It’s a time when most companies around the world have given social distancing its top priority. They began the implementation of many rules to avoid gathering and to build a safe and clean environment around them. This includes wearing of masks, sanitization of hands, and the workplace with strict cleaning protocols. Suddenly work from home came up in existence with its own merits.
For many decades the idea of open office has been practiced around the globe. The idea of open office came from Germany in 1960. Its main aim was to provide a suitable environment for work and improve collaboration and proficiency among employees. As it had become a norm, no one had ever thought beyond those furnished demarcated space of the office. But this pandemic has taught the world that in adverse conditions work from home can work as best Option. Now the focus will change from working together to working apart.
With all its benefits, the idea of work from home came up with its own consequences. Now, the problem behind us is if they are working apart while maintaining social distancing then how they will be able to interact with each other. The kind of environment and communal space that open office has to offer will not be available to them. No longer people will be able to sit together and have discussions with their collogues and heads about the plans and strategy they have to work on. To answer all these issues USbased furniture maker Steelcase recently released a report-cum-catalog titled Navigating What’s Next: The post-COVID workspace might help.
The report states that planning for now also means retrofitting the workplace based on a common-sense approach that adheres to governmental and global health guidelines including physical distancing, adding barriers, cleaning, and safety measures.
Some of the other suggestions that it offers –
* includes reconfiguring desks or pulling them apart to reduce face-to-face orientation by turning workstations through 90-degree angles which would prevent workers from working directly across or behind one another.
* using open spaces for meetings of more than five people as well as leveraging flexible furniture with movable whiteboards and screens to create boundaries. It is believed that materials like plexiglass might be the new element in our office spaces to ensure this social distancing.
