How Will You DeDensify Your Office

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After months of your staff working remotely, you can't expect everyone to return to the office, business as usual. That's because business - whatever you do for a living - is no longer usual! The pandemic has flipped the corporate world on its head, disrupting daily operations and casting doubt on shared workspaces. 

Before you can welcome staff back to the office, you need to de-densify the workspace to ensure everyone can feel safe at their desks. This may be a challenging task, so here are some ideas to help you safely reduce the number of people in the office.

Staggered Shifts 

Staggering shifts is a great way of maintaining a safe physical distance between employees. This scheduling pattern alternates when people arrive and leave, so only a small fraction of your staff will be working in the office together. 

Contrast this to everyone working the usual 9-5, Monday to Friday. A staggered shift program creates a quieter, less populated workspace. 

Increase Real Estate Footprint

De-densification may be tricky even with staggered shifts if you have a small corporate office. If you can't keep safe distances between desks with the space you have, the solution is simple: you need more space.

How you create a larger workspace depends on your budget. You may increase the number of offices you have in one building or relocate to a bigger headquarters. You may even consider de-centralizing your offices so that you have multiple satellite offices spread across the city. 

Whatever you end up doing, a relocation of any size can be stressful. To preserve your peace of mind, be sure to research your options before you hire a moving company. 

Look for professional moving services with a long history of successful commercial moves and an impressive customer satisfaction rating. An office moving company that checks these boxes will perform a safe and efficient relocation, promising a hassle-free experience.

Reimagine Collaborative Workspaces

Ironically, before the pandemic hit, most corporate spaces embraced open-layouts and collaborative workspaces. Hallmarks of these trends include shared benches, unassigned seating, and free-flowing traffic throughout the office, all of which make it hard to physical distance. 

Whether you're staying in place or moving to a new office, you'll want to reintroduce designated seating arrangements with clear buffer zones. Assign staff at every other seat if you have space or consider adding cubicles and other partitions to separate employees.

But moving in new equipment creates a new problem. What will you do with all the old furniture you can't use anymore? The top corporate moving companies will have a plan in place to help you. 

Talk to your moving company about their office furniture removal services. They may be able to collect unwanted furniture and appliances ready for the dump. Or, if you're not prepared to say goodbye to these assets yet, they may offer commercial storage services as an alternative.

Bottom Line

Change can be scary, but it's a necessity of life. If you're returning to the office soon, remember these de-densification techniques. They can help you manage your workspaces and keep your staff safe.