However,  in  this  environment  where  people  don’t  need  to  go  physically  into  the  office,  it  is  unclear  if  any  California-based  workforce  must  or  will  move  with  these  companies  that  are  fleeing  the  Golden  State.

I  participated  in  a  group  analyst  event  several  weeks  ago  about  companies  converting  their  offices  into  collections  of  meeting  rooms.  We  couldn’t  picture  people  who  have  been  meeting  remotely  for  so  many  months  suddenly  concluding  that  the  long  commute  to  and  from  the  office  was  worth  meeting  in  person;  given  they  are  now  okay  with  using  solutions  like  Webex  or  Microsoft  Teams.

Let’s  talk  about  what  the  future  of  the  office  should  be,  and  we’ll  conclude  with  my  product  of  the  week,  the  Microsoft  Surface  Pro  7.

The  Pandemic
We  can’t  start  this  discussion  without  talking  about  where  we  are  with  the  pandemic,  which  significantly  changes  where  and  how  we  work.

Right  now,  many  of  us  are  anticipating  a  post-Superbowl  pandemic  surge  here  in  the  United  States;  and  the  inability  to  reach  crowd  immunity  before  year’s  end,  due  to  a  combination  of  vaccine  supply  and  logistics  issues,  and  some  folks  refusing  to  take  the  immunization.  Eighty  percent  of  us  must  either  be  vaccinated  or  have  had  the  virus  to  get  to  a  level  of  immunity  that  would  allow  us  to  go  back  to  the  old  normal.

Also,  the  virus  is  mutating  at  a  high  rate  and  may  metamorphose  around  the  antiviral  products  we  currently  have;  potentially  lengthening  further  the  need  to  mitigate  the  problem.  This  set  of  circumstances  makes  it  unlikely  that  those  of  us  over  age  60  will  ever  be  able  to  go  back  to  the  old  normal.

More  and  more  companies  are  altering  policy  so  that  increasing  numbers  of  employees  never  have  to  come  back  to  the  office.  Firms  that  have  done  work  from  home  well  are  reporting  increases  in  productivity  and  an  improved  ability  to  attract  top  talent  by  getting  around  the  need  to  relocate  (people  don’t  like  to  move).

These  trends  all  suggest  that  most  of  us  will  continue  to  work  from  home  and  that  company  offices  will  need  to  be  redesigned;  not  with  huddle  rooms  that  still  put  folks  in  close  physical  proximity,  but  with  systems  that  can  better  protect  employees  from  viruses.

What  we  need  to  prevent  most  aggressively  is  the  chance  that  even  one  infected  person  can  innocently  get  into  the  office  and,  once  in,  infect  a  vast  number  of  employees  all  at  once.

The  Home  Office
Home  offices  then  rise  from  being  a  “nice  to  have”  to  a  critical  feature.  Where  more  than  one  person  works  from  home,  the  configuration  must  conform  to  how  the  family  works.

If  the  family  has  kids,  there  needs  to  be  a  provision  for  oversight  to  ensure  the  kids  are  studying  and  not  screwing  around  when  they  are  supposed  to  be  doing  schoolwork.

Parents  with  different  types  of  jobs  will  probably  drive  each  other  crazy  if  forced  to  work  too  close  together  in  the  home  office.  Ensuring  the  home  can  accommodate  the  work  needs  of  both  parents  without  driving  each  other  nuts  will  help  with  marriage  longevity.

The  home  office  solution  needs  to  be  presentable,  so  the  room  doesn’t  detract  from  the  employee’s  image.  The  green  screen  stuff  may  eventually  evolve  so  it  doesn’t  look  so  artificial.  But  until  it  does,  having  an  office  space  that  is  neither  too  flashy  (so  you  never  get  a  raise  again)  or  too  ratty  (so  people  lower  their  impression  of  you)  is  critical.  You  want  folks  focused  on  what  you  are  saying,  not  how  you  spend  money.

You’ll  need  a  strong  Internet  connection  and  adequate  power.  If  you’re  in  an  area  that  is  prone  to  power  outages,  a  backup  system  so  an  outage  doesn’t  put  you  out  of  work.

There  are  tax  advantages  to  fully  separating  the  home-office  space  that  should  also  be  considered.  Since  we’re  entering  tax  season,  consult  with  your  tax  adviser.

The  Company  Office
Office  buildings  need  to  be  rethought  entirely.

Cafeterias  need  to  be  redesigned  to  deliver  packaged  meals  that  can  be  delivered  to  employees  to  minimize  unnecessary  interaction.  Sensors  at  all  office  entry  points  should  be  enhanced  with  scanners  that  will  alert  if  a  staff  member  is  running  a  fever.  Cubicle  farms  should  be  eliminated  in  favor  of  rooms  that  separate  people  completely  or  into  working  groups.  Air  conditioning  systems  need  to  be  modified  to  mitigate  contagion,  and  mask  policies  need  to  be  implemented.

Open-plan  offices  also  need  to  be  reconsidered  but  could  still  work  as  long  as  social  distancing  between  workers  and  mask  policies  are  enforced.  Space  planners  need  to  take  into  account  the  changing  OSHA  rules  concerning  the  pandemic  and  advances  in  technology  that  can  mitigate  the  transfer  of  pathogens,  such  as  built-in  sneeze  guards.  But  the  place  still  needs  to  be  attractive  and  welcoming;  otherwise,  productivity  will  take  a  hit  and  there  will  likely  be  issues  getting  people  to  come  into  the  place  consistently.

Ingress  and  egress  routes  need  to  be  thought  through  to  minimize  contact  and  spread.  Should  someone  become  symptomatic  while  at  work,  there  must  be  a  path  for  their  safe  and  rapid  removal  from  the  environment  without  forcing  an  evacuation.

In  short,  rather  than  focusing  on  the  old  goals  of  employee  density  and  productivity,  the  new  objective  is  to  limit  or  eliminate  pathogen  transfer  without  destroying  the  collaborative  reasons  people  are  likely  coming  into  the  office  in  the  first  place.  Creating  the  right  balance  will  be  anything  but  easy.