WFH!

It is official…along with the countless other notifications of cancellations and postponements we’ve received, last Friday we got our industry’s biggest announcement yet. For the first time since its inception in 1969, NeoCon 2020 has been cancelled due to the escalating COVID-19 outbreak.

From theMART:

“After consultation with leaders and partners within the commercial design industry, theMART has decided cancelling NeoCon 2020 is the best course of action considering the on-going COVID-19 outbreak and the unknown duration for social distancing and other measures. The next NeoCon will be NeoCon June 14-16, 2021.”“We thank all of our NeoCon participants for their loyalty and support, and we look forward to bringing the commercial design community back together in Chicago for NeoCon 2021. Additional updates, including creative new ways to connect the community in the interim, will be communicated soon.”

What does all of this mean for the workplace interiors communities, including all of the furniture companies that plan their entire year around introducing new products every June at NeoCon? NeoCon has always served as a centering point for those in workplace interiors.

Joining the NeoCon announcement are statements of the cancellation of ICFF + WantedDesign Manhattan 2020, postponement of Salone del Mobile, postponement of the new WELL Conference, the digitization of Living Future 2020, and many others.

All of these events have in the past provided opportunities for us to come together face-to-face for meaningful relationship building. We now have the chance to search for and examine and experiment with new ideas, new normals, new ways of working.

For our part, we at officeinsight are committed to covering this evolving situation, keeping our readers abreast of critical updates and perspectives as the community continues to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic. We promise to provide valuable insights about office design and furnishings in light of these new challenges.

In the meantime, this week we’re publishing a selection of the best “Work From Home” themed content we’ve found riding the internet waves – and there is a LOT of it. Enjoy!

Will coronavirus quarantines lead more companies to consider 4-day workweeks?” – Adele Peters, Fast Company

“As the coronavirus crisis forces more companies to participate in a massive experiment in remote working, it raises questions about how work might change when the health crisis passes, and if companies may be more open to alternative forms of working in the future – including not just letting employees work from home but allowing new variations in schedules, such as the four-day workweek.”

“’Often when companies don’t allow remote work, it has to do with not necessarily a lack of trust in the person, it’s a lack of trust in the process,’ says Amy Balliett, CEO of Killer Visual Strategies, a creative services firm that shifted to a four-day workweek in 2017 and also allows remote work. ‘They’re so used to a very specific traditional process of work that they’re worried about what happens when that process shifts. I think what we’re about to see, as all of these companies that have been set in that tradition for so long are forced out of it, that there’s going to be a new level of trust and a new willingness to consider alternatives to the traditional going to the office nine-to-five.’”

“Companies that have adopted four-day workweeks have found, repeatedly, that productivity doesn’t decline even when people work fewer hours. Perpetual Guardian, a statutory trust company based in New Zealand, first tested a four-day workweek after seeing research that suggested that employees were only truly productive for around three hours a day; by giving workers a day off each week, the CEO theorized that employees might be more focused on their jobs when they were in the office. It worked. Researchers from two New Zealand universities found that after the first trial, employees were happier with their jobs and productivity hadn’t dropped. The company made the policy permanent.”

“When Microsoft tested a shorter workweek in its office in Japan – making every Friday a paid holiday for the office’s 2,300 workers last August – it found that productivity actually increased by around 40%. The company asked employees to chat online to avoid meetings, and to limit any physical meetings to half an hour and no more than five employees.”

“Other companies have adopted variations on a shorter week. A Swedish company, for example, still has a five-day workweek but limits each day to six working hours. The company sees it as a way to improve work-life balance, since employees can now more easily run errands after work and spend time with their families each day. The company says that it hasn’t seen productivity decline. It’s more proof of the obvious: Coming into an office and being present for eight hours, or more, doesn’t mean that someone is effectively working all of that time, and many of the standard parts of office life, including meetings, are either unnecessary or could be replaced with a five-minute chat on Slack.”

“As coronavirus quarantines force more people with office jobs to work from home, especially management and executives, some of this reality may become clear. For employees without children, being at home and away from the distractions of coworkers may allow for better focus, so it’s easier to finish the same amount of work more quickly. For those with children whose schools have closed, the challenge of fitting in work will be enormous – but also could prove that 40-hour weeks (or 50-hour or 60-hour weeks) at the office aren’t necessary.”

“For different companies, some variations in scheduling make more sense than others. Killer Visual Strategies, for example, bills by the hour as a design firm and needed to keep employees on a 40-hour schedule, but decided to change to four 10-hour days. Balliett says that in the past, her employees would come in energetic on Mondays, but their productivity would decline through the week; now, with three days off, they’re able to get more work done. Some employees have Mondays off, and others have Fridays off, so clients can always reach someone. During the current crisis, some employees are now also taking turns covering for one worker who needed to temporarily move to half-time hours to fit in childcare for a toddler who would normally be at preschool.”

“’As economic damage grows, a four-day workweek might help some companies survive,’ says Andrew Barnes, the CEO of Perpetual Guardian. ‘Many businesses are considering or implementing reduced hours and reducing pay as well,’ he says. ‘The methodology of the four-day week trial is to have a safe, renewed focus on productivity. The process eliminates much of the unproductive busyness whilst reinforcing trust between employers and employees. Businesses who do this will have a better chance of surviving this temporary crisis and maintaining employment for their people.’”

“Still some companies may be unwilling to break away from the traditional mold. ‘We’re about to see a negative economic impact across the board, in my opinion,’ says Balliett. ‘I think those companies are going to be very happy to get back to business as usual. And I think that as they’re trying to make sense of the economic impact, they might blame lack of productivity from working from home.’”

“But Barnes believes that this period of remote work will lead to longer-term changes. ‘The coronavirus crisis, which is enforcing the use of remote working and ways of engaging, will demonstrate to many businesses that employees can be trusted to deliver productivity without being in the workplace,’ he says. ‘This is an essential building block to how we have a reduced-hours workplace once this trouble has blown over.’”

”Sticking Together While Staying Apart: 5 Tools for B Corps and Other Businesses Facing New Challenges” – Carrie Fox at B Corp

Is it just me or is 2020 turning out to be much more complicated than any one of us could have imagined?

Our kids should be in school. Our employees should be in the conference room. Our restaurants and retailers should be open for business. Instead, we’re doing everything in our power to make our daily routines as uninterrupted as possible in a world where nothing is normal anymore.

COVID-19 will challenge us on many levels in the coming months. It will challenge us as parents, as business owners, as foundation and nonprofit executives, and as individuals who need to keep work going even when everything around us feels like it’s come to a screeching halt.

What I know for sure is that our Certified B Corporation community is a profoundly kind one and that each of you have the grit, perseverance, and resilience to guide your organization, your colleagues, and your community through this time of unknown.

The reality is it’s hard to know what to do, and how to stay focused when the situation is still unfolding. So, while you’ve had no shortage of coronavirus-related messages in your inbox, I wanted to share a few of the most impactful tools I’ve seen come through, should they be helpful to you as well:

>On shifting your team to remote work.

Last week, I made the decision to move Mission Partners to a remote working policy through at least March 27. For those considering the same, I’ve offered a link to our announcement, as well as our health and safety best practices should you find the resource helpful. I also wanted to pass along the amazing crowdsourced resource that Amira El-Gawly of Manifesta shared in her newsletter, which really helped my team develop the above health and safety best practices document.

>On managing well while remote.

It’s one thing to make the decision to go remote, and another to manage well in a remote working environment. I loved this article from our friends at the Management Center with excellent tips for staying connected even while apart.

>On communicating through crisis.

The awesome team at CommNet has started a Coronavirus Crisis Comms Triage Kit – an open Google Doc to share and crowdsource best practices, resources, and examples of effective crisis communications covering many of the tasks you’re attending to.

>On helping where it’s needed most.

There will be no shortage of community nonprofits that can benefit from support, but if you’re looking for a group to help now, we suggest donating to Manna Food (or a similar organization in your community). For the estimated 63,000 people who regularly experience hunger and food insecurity in Montgomery County, Maryland, COVID-19 presents unique challenges. Families with limited means, particularly seniors on fixed incomes, often don’t have the resources to stockpile groceries and supplies, and they don’t have the ability to weather the self-quarantine that the CDC recommends as a crucial step in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the community. And the 3,000-plus kids who rely on free and reduced-price meals are in danger of not having that food resource over the weekends with schools now closed. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to help someone else through this public health crisis, I invite you to donate to Manna, and contribute to #foodforall.

I’ve built Mission Partners on a commitment to using business as a force for good, and I don’t intend to stop now. Sending you strength, health, and good things to come.

Image: courtesy of B Corp

”5 Ways to Optimize Buildings for COVID-19 Prevention” – Center for Active Design

Coronavirus has taken over the 24-hour news cycle, with article after article updating us on newly identified cases, handwashing techniques, and why we should avoid touching our faces. While this information is vital to controlling the spread of COVID-19 and protecting the most vulnerable populations, one area that has been routinely underrecognized is the role that building design and operations can play in controlling the spread of this disease.

To start with the basics, what exactly is Coronavirus?

Coronavirus is a family of viruses that affect the respiratory tract and cause a range of illnesses – from a mild cold, to a serious case of pneumonia. COVID-19, Short for Corona Virus Disease 2019, is a disease caused by a new viral strain of the coronavirus, not previously seen in humans. While health officials are still learning more about how the virus spreads and ways to control the outbreak, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 can be spread in three main ways, with the first two suspected to be the most common:

  1. Person-to-person via direct contact.
  2. Person-to-person via airborne respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
  3. Surface-to-person via contact with surfaces or objects that hold the virus, followed by an individual touching their own mouth, nose, or eyes.

It is believed that people are most contagious when they are symptomatic, though it is possible to spread the virus before symptoms are evident. It is important to note that more than 80% of confirmed coronavirus cases are not severe and do not require hospitalization. Vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, are at greater risk for infection and severity of symptoms.

How can the real estate industry help reduce Coronavirus transmission?

As COVID-19 spreads, the connection between health and our environment becomes increasingly clear. While there is still much that is unknown about this virus, there are immediate preventative steps those working across the real estate industry can take to reduce the risk of infection:

  1. Increase ventilation: While recirculating air has become the default in our buildings, ventilating with outdoor air is vital to diluting airborne
  2. contaminants and decreasing disease transmission rates. For buildings without heating and ventilation systems, another option is simply to open windows to let in more outdoor air.
  3. Post educational handwashing signage: Health officials recommend washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Despite being a relatively light-lift strategy in Fitwel, the healthy certification system that we operate, our July 2019 analysis found that only 40% of Fitwel Certified projects integrated handwashing signs into their spaces, demonstrating clear opportunity for improvement.
  4. Strengthen cleaning protocols: Adjusting cleaning protocols to meet the demands of the current situation is another valid approach. Increase cleaning frequency, replenish cleaning supplies ahead of time, and ensure that bathrooms stay stocked with hand soap, hand sanitizer, paper towels, and tissues.
  5. Maintain optimal humidity: Evidence suggests that viruses survive better in low-humidity environments. Buildings can increase humidity via heating and ventilation systems to maintain an optimal range of 40 to 60%, or by purchasing and installing portable humidifiers throughout.
  6. Filter indoor air. This preventative measure may take more time to implement, but is worth mentioning as this approach can help property managers, architects, and engineers plan for the future. Our friends over at Atmos Air, who contributed their expertise to guide the development of Fitwel’s air quality strategies, and have developed technology designed to sanitize air and surfaces through the release of bi-polar ions. Such ions: a) break down the protein surface of the virus so that it is unable to infect individuals, even if ingested; b) cluster individual virus particles, forming larger, heavier particles that are more effectively trapped by air system filters or released to the floor where they are removed from our breathing zone; and c) neutralize particle charges so that the virus cannot cling to surfaces.

It goes without saying that healthy buildings play a central role in creating a healthy world. In addition to everyday precautions taken by individuals, the building industry and employers have a vital role to play in creating safe environments for themselves and their employees.

COVID-19 has taken a major toll on global economies due to production halts, strained healthcare systems, supply chain disruptions, workplace and school closures, and event cancellations. Taking measures to build a healthy environment is prudent to both preventing illness and preventing loss of productivity.

And for Dessert…A Few of our Recent Favorites from Buzzfeed:

>”17 Hilarious People Who Are Fending Off Social Distancing Boredom in Funniest Way Possible”

>”21 Tumblr Posts That’ll Give You a Much-Needed Laugh Right Now”

>”Just 65 Things to Clean While You’re Spending So Much Time At Home”