The Second Wave is Here: What That Means for Your Office Space

This is part two of a two-part series about the second wave of COVID-19 in Berlin. In part I, which came out earlier this month, I share general insights on how your business should understand the second wave of COVID-19.

It’s the second week of lockdown-lite. In part 1, we spoke about the importance of flexibility, and how important it is to adapt to the new reality—and that also extends to your office space. In this piece, I want to share a few thoughts on what the second wave means for your office and your team. At Setting, we’ve been preparing and implemented quite a few organisational changes over the last six months that have worked quite well and ones that we don't like as much but for the safety and health of others. We’re by no means perfect, but one thing we’ve learned is that some of the things you’ve believed worked in the past have to be re-learned and re-established. 

That’s especially true when it comes to communication with your teams. During COVID times, I’ve seen teams unable to create the right balance in their organizational function to cope with the situation. We obviously need to follow distance correctly, and follow government regulations so that we lower the spread. What we’ve realized here at Setting is that having checks in place whereby you can have the organization function without key personnel—office managers, team leads, and so on—is a great way to keep the company running in times such as these. We also established a clear communications protocol between employees, set up a constellation of staff to maintain productivity and employee happiness, and established a new chain of command. A more personal note from our organisation: office lunches, and happy hours--these are sacrifices that we'll have to take for now, including not having food altogether at our lunch table and frequent airing and disinfecting in the office. Our idea was to leave no stone unturned, and not leave room for self-interpretation. 

From the management point of view, that also meant communicating with our employees about what to do when someone gets infected. Close circles and connections will continue to be affected by the virus during the second wave. Managers and employers should isolate cases and make sure that people can get tested. Once they know someone is infected, they should take proper action. 

The second point to make is about having the right technology in place. Digitalization is the future: COVID-19 presents a perfect opportunity to rethink how technology can empower you, your team, and your office. And that means both in, and out, of the office space. But What’s different this time around is that people now have a degree of understanding as to how to use basic tools to work remotely. 

In our case, we have always believed in digitalisation from the inception of our business and more so now in COVID times. But remember that the virus has forced us to re-learn how to use the right tools. At our office, we were even questioning how to do standups. We also had to re-learn a lot of these tools, but we’ve also looked at using the right tools. Big tech companies, such as Google, Apple, and Amazon have, on their part, improved tooling for businesses to work more productively. Zoom calls, new Slack updates, and Google Meeting Rooms are reminders of the way technology has improved in the last year. Privacy and security protocols have also improved compared to the first days of remote work in the earlier phase of the pandemic; Zoombombing is starting to become a thing of the past. The takeaway for us? Let’s use these tools in ways that help our teams and, by extension, our organisation. 

The last point to make is an obvious one: make sure you keep up with the regulations on social distancing. In the spring, we had a corona case in one of the offices that we rented to a mid-to-large sized company. But thanks to having the right social distancing measures in place, nobody else caught it. At Setting, we are insistent on providing personal protective equipment for employees returning to the office, keeping up a rigorous cleaning schedule, and making adjustments to workspaces to provide more barriers and space between workers. The same social distancing techniques need to apply during the second wave. 

These three things fall under the bigger category of contingency planning. In times of uncertainty, thinking about contingency planning in the office space has helped us ameliorate challenges we’ve faced at our organisation, and I’m sure it can do the same for yours. Active communication is key during this period. By learning from experience and thinking ahead of the curve, you'll be prepared for whatever comes your way. 

We’re helping the Berlin office ecosystem before, during, and after Corona times. If you’re looking for an office space or need advice on finding the right space, talk to us.