Some people continue to work from home remotely, but many have come back to their offices and companies have had to take all the necessary steps to make their employees work safely.
It’s over, or rather suspended, the time of open plan offices, desks grouped together, conference rooms and common areas with many seats. The guidelines on social distancing require a minimum distance between chairs and desks.
All this, of course, has led to the redefinition of the office furniture, as it is no longer possible to be close to each other at work. In 2020, workspaces will be redesigned with a view to social distancing and furniture will undergo an evolution in terms of individual protection.
La Mercanti designs the companies workspaces. Today they are required movable walls, automatic doors without handles, spaced out workstations, redefined conference rooms, larger common areas and the movements from one space to the other are limited as much as possible.
To keep the right distances, more space is necessary, so all the unused spaces can now be used to position executive and operative desks. In places where multiple employees work simultaneously, removable dividing panels can be inserted between the desks, which can be removed once they are no longer needed.
The Italian company Flex has recently developed a collection of products in line with the needs of this time. It is an idea born to be closer to companies that need to adapt to the new regulations in order to get back to work in total safety. Combining design and functionality, it offers various types of protective solutions without interfering with the elegance and customization of each context: queue management columns equipped with sanitizers to mark the spaces, adjustable protective partition walls and lightweight space-saving walls to divide the rooms in a refined and elegant way. The open spaces must be easily remodelled, enlarged or in any case contain a smaller number of workstations.
To reorganize the office space, of course it’s necessary a company culture based on flexibility, trust and that works to achieve targets; it is no longer the man who has to adapt to his workspace but the opposite. It is good not to lose sight of the man in the social distancing, it is necessary to rethink the spaces and let people work together while respecting safety standards. So let’s supply the office spaces with furniture that promotes interaction and not isolation.
The desk and executive chair always remain the main elements of the office, as well as functionality, aesthetics, design, lighting and furnishing accessories must keep their importance in the workplace: working in functional and beautiful places makes the time more pleasant and productive.