Changing Workplaces for the Better: The Effects of COVID-19

If you’re a business owner you’re likely feeling both trepidation and urgency when it comes to re-opening your business in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it would be alarming to resume operations after a global pandemic, there is the looming cloud of further COVID-19 outbreaks on the horizon for you to contend with as well. 

So, now that office life has changed due to COVID-19, how do you keep your workforce not only safe but productive? Thankfully safety and productivity can go hand in hand. A staff that feels secure is going to be able to focus and perform better than if they were worried about contracting a potentially deadly virus at work. 

While these new workforce trends and the changes they entail may seem daunting, they will likely improve the overall quality of your workforce’s performance.

Traditional Workplaces Compared to During the COVID-19 Pandemic 

Experts agree the traditional way of working before COVID-19 is over. Before COVID-19 working from home was generally either frowned upon or a unique privilege when allowed. But now, the future of the workplace includes more options to work remotely. Before COVID-19 workers would commute from home to the office building, where they would then share space with their co-workers. Many offices are comprised of open-air cubicles where airspace and germs were freely shared. Not only was the workspace shared, but bathrooms, kitchens, and break rooms were as well. While this model allows for better communication and collaboration, with the risks of the pandemic, some of these qualities need to change to keep people safe.

How to Elevate Alternative Workspaces

To prepare your employee workstations for a return to work after the first wave of the pandemic, there are three key ways to keep your employees safe.

1. The first way is very simple—provide hand sanitizer at each workstation. This will allow your employees to sanitize their hands regularly and is a main piece of any COVID-19 workplace guidelines.
   
2. The second way to support employee safety as people return to work is to create physical distance between employee workstations whenever possible. This may take some creativity and will tie into the third piece of many COVID-19 workplace guidelines, physical barriers.
   
3. The third way to protect your employees, especially when physical space isn’t an option, is to use physical dividers. This is a great example of how these new workforce trends can create improvements in the workforce. Having physical dividers between employee workstations can increase a sense of privacy and cut out distractions in the form of noise from other workers. The sense of separation may allow workers to focus better on their job, while also offering physical protection from not only the COVID-19 virus but other germs and bugs as well, such as the flu or common cold. Making these physical divisions as flexible and attractive as possible sets up both the business and the individual employee for success. Using products like the ones offered by The Sliding Door Company would allow an office to customize its design for both function and aesthetics.

Designate Physical Separation with Partitions or Sliding Dividers 

Whether you want sliding pocket doors for your cubicles or glass barn doors to enclose a previously open conference room, The Sliding Door Company offers a variety of ethically sourced and quality-made spatial solutions for every business. From the thickness of glass to beautiful custom finishes including wood and metal framing, The Sliding Door Company can design a custom build to fit any office.

Here are a few examples of how The Sliding Door Company can work with specific businesses:

1. Dental offices and other healthcare businesses are at the front line of the pandemic, making their need for physical dividers between their employees and patients paramount. The Sliding Door Company’s glass door solutions allow privacy when needed for patient consultations, but also can open easily to maximize space and light.
   
2. Schools are also hotspots for COVID-19 but must also be able to provide space for learning and collaboration. The Sliding Door Company’s classroom solutions provide privacy and curb the spread of germs, while letting in light and their quality materials offer safety to the students and teachers.
   
3. Commercial retail spaces have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, second only to healthcare spaces. The Sliding Door Company’s glass wall systems help businesses save on energy costs and create the physical separation necessary to keep retail employees healthy and safe.
   

Cost Matters for New Divided Floor Plan

If the cost of creating a new divided floor plan has you worried, The Sliding Door Company is here to help. With their professional team of specialists, you can be confident that they’ll work with you to create a spatial division plan that works for your budget and your space. The Sliding Door Company prides itself on client communication so that they can make the project of your dreams become reality. 

Part of how The Sliding Door Company can so confidently work within your budget while also offering materials of the highest quality is that they manufacture all their products in their own factory. This allows them to manage the quality of their products from production to installation, giving you peace of mind about the quality of this latest budget expenditure. Because they make their products with no middlemen involved, this allows them to pass savings onto their customers, while still providing products of the highest quality. 

You can also rest assured knowing that The Sliding Door Company focuses on using recycled and environmentally friendly materials, which will likely mean a lot to your staff as well. Whatever your office space needs are in this era of COVID-19, The Sliding Door Company is here to help.