Companies are selling $229 desktop shields, moveable partition walls, and screens, and it shows how office culture is bending a knee to the pandemic. Here's what the workplace could look like.
- Office supply companies are selling products to improve distancing in the workplace as some white-collar workers gear up to return.
- Employers might have to install protective barriers in the form of desktop shields, partitioned walls, and screens.
- When you go back to work, there will likely be screens separating you from your coworkers sitting in front of you, beside you, and also walls providing cover from hallways and passersby.
- Here's what it could look like.
In the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the future remains uncertain, including how office employees will reenter the workplace — if they even do.
Companies are migrating to work-from-home policies, and a future of remote work is already having all sorts of implications, like an exodus of city dwellers to suburban and rural areas as proximity to corporate offices is no longer essential.
But that doesn't mean office culture is dead. Many white-collar workers will likely start returning to the office as reopening phases roll out across the US.
And when they do, experts say that employers will need quick solutions to implement healthy distancing protocols.
Office furniture and supply firms are offering products like $229 clear desktop shields, panels, and partitions as companies scramble to refashion their existing workplaces.
Here's what the office could look like.
The most effective way to prevent a respiratory virus like COVID-19 from spreading is by lowering the chance that a respiratory droplet from someone who is infected lands on someone else, which could in turn infect them.
Social distancing in communal areas is the most straightforward way to help with that, and that includes the office.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced new safety guidelines for employers as they begin reopening offices.
Among the recommendations is to install transparent shields or other physical barriers to separate employees when distancing isn't an option.
One company offering clear desk shields is Poppin, whose dividers range in price from $229 to $389 and come in various sizes.
You can simply place them on top of any type of desk.
According to the product description, the shields are easy to clean and disinfect, and are warrantied for 12 years.
Poppin is also offering trays and other accessories that simplify setting up sanitation stations.
Disinfectant products, soap, and hand sanitizer will be a must at various points throughout the workplace.
Similar to the desktop clear shields are moveable partition walls, like those offered by Kirei, a firm offering workplace furniture and design solutions.
Many companies don't have the capital to retrofit offices with wholesale changes.
"The fundamentals of real-estate economics — we don't suddenly have the cash to buy three times more space," Melissa Hanley, the CEO of the design firm Blitz, told Business Insider in May. "So if we're going to engage in social distancing, we have to think about it in a different way."
Kirei President John Stein said in a statement shared with Business Insider that tall dividers and partitions will become more of a mainstay in the workplace moving forward.
The partitions aren't permanent and are equipped with acoustic control. They can be positioned anywhere in the office where a protective barrier is needed.
There are three different modular systems to choose from, and the panels are made from recycled plastic bottles, according to the company.
Office furniture supplier Teknion carries different types of partition screens depending on the specific need.
There are lateral screens that can provide privacy for employees whose workstations are positioned side-by-side.
For desks with adjustable heights, taller screens might have to be used to provide more protection.
Other types of screens would provide a barrier between desks and open hallways to minimize contact from passersby.
Some of the screens are made out of frosted glass to allow for more light transmission.
And screens can be placed in between employees sitting across from each other.
Workstations could also simply be reoriented to cut down on face-to-face setups.
The screens allow for workstations to be semi-enclosed, providing safety but also still encouraging productivity and collaboration.
The popular open office, with its open floorplan and its bench system, isn't dead. But individual workstations will likely have to be carved out, and screens can help with that.
Regardless of the unique layouts of company offices, experts say they will be drastically different than when employees left.
"We don't go through something like this as a global society without things shifting about how we come together," David Galullo, the CEO of Rapt Studio, told Business Insider in May.
READ MORE ARTICLES ON
Popular Right Now
Advertisement