CHALLENGES IN OFFICE DESIGN- HEADING BACK TO WORK IN TIMES OF RESURGENCE

We are living in unprecedented times.

Analysts are in a tizzy trying to gauge and quantify the financial losses across industries while trying to define the path of resurgence. In the past 69 years, India has seen a recession only thrice - 1958, 1966 and 1980. The primary cause for all three was agriculture and a failed monsoon. The current one though, stands on a different platform altogether. This is a first in terms of its cause and the massive scale that it has acquired, dragging down almost all major economies across the globe in its wake.

The climb up is unarguably filled with challenges that are layered and manifold. On this arduous road to recovery, one of the first facilities that need to get fully operational are office spaces. Solutions have been formulated and shared across the globe in a bid to restart and yet be safe. In the Indian context, the situation could be broadly classified into 3 categories.

1. New offices

2. Retrofitted Offices

3. Real estate footprint re-calibration

 The first consideration that needs to be addressed across the three segments is the reconfiguration of the office schedules. This can be enabled by demarcating the teams that would operate out of the office and those that would be working from home (WFH). Such a system would automatically reduce the footfall, and thus ensure minimal exposure and safety for the ones attending office. Basis the operational methodology of the teams involved in an office, it is easy to work this out. For those on the operations side, it is extremely easy to switch to a WFH profile. The sales team on the other hand can easily operate from the client base facilitate discussions. It is the research and development team, which is a collaborative department and therefore needs to work from out of an office or a common space. Once the new reduced office user numbers have been deciphered, it's easier to forge the way ahead.

1.  New offices: This is easiest to tackle as the new 6' norm can be put into immediate implementation. The collaborative segment can have mobile workstations and discussion boards- almost akin to the Google garage concept. The same desk can be used for working and for meetings. Rather than fixed screens for projectors or LED screens on the wall, mobile jam boards or equivalent could be put into usage. In order to accommodate hopeful future, where spatial norms might ease out, accommodating more workstations, this module can work optimally. As most electrical and data cabling work would pass through the ceiling, adding or modifying desk locations is feasible.

2.   Retrofitting: This format is what the majority of offices might need to undertake. Emerging out of a lockdown with a global recession looming ahead, the quandary is how much or how little to spend on modifications and what work would be deemed absolutely imperative to the situation. Sanitization kiosks and consoles, floor markers for unidirectional movement inside the offices, a small disinfecting kit with essentials such as a mask, disinfecting spray for the desk and chair, a hand sanitizer etc. need to be provided to every employee. Desktops need to be replaced by laptops wherever possible, so that a flexible seating plan can be derived inside the office. This will ensure optimum utilization of the slightly underused spaces such as a conference room, a breakout space, a cafeteria or even a training room. Every alternate chair can be removed and a glass clip on partitions can be added wherever necessary on workstations.

 3.  Real estate footprint re-calibration: With the new distancing norms settling in, one certainly needs more floor area to accommodate the same functions as before, which amount to approximately 50% additional area. This snowballs into another 30% increase in the infrastructural cost per desk and a 50% addition to the running cost. Given the volatile nature of the market, currently not too many people want to invest more in real estate as of today. Thus, the Work from Home option easily balances the necessity of a larger space. Another option that seems lucrative to most companies is to set up smaller satellite offices, instead of bringing everyone into one huge building, together. Thus, in case of any resurgence of such an epidemic, one needs to manage only a smaller number of employees as opposed to all of them. Decentralization is certainly a long-term solution, and is a wonderful step ahead in reaching out to tier 2 cities and smaller towns, instead of concentrating only on metropolitan cities and their work hubs. Leasing contract modules too would undergo an amendment- a 3+3+3 module might not be the new way ahead. Shorter lease periods could be demand a higher rent and longer ones - lower.

 They say that change is the only constant. Therefore, it is time to, rethink reconfigure, re-plan and reboot!

By Meena Murthy Kakkar, Design Head and Partner, Envisage