Could COVID-19 close office doors for good?

Since March, millions of office workers across the United States have been working from home. As businesses have adapted, rolled out new technologies, and established new practices, they have begun to think of the future of work.

Topping the list: Considering whether physical offices are needed at all.

Management is realizing the requirements needed to maintain a socially distant workplace can be onerous.

The new office workplace will likely feature significant modifications including limited elevator capacity, alternating shifts, sneeze guards, the end of open plan layouts, temperature checks, the end of communal food preparation and larger meeting rooms.

All of this begs the question: If we can’t interact with our coworkers safely, why go back to the office at all?

For city-based companies, there are additional complexities around asking employees to navigate crowded public transport systems to and from work.

Today’s Back to Work analysis looks closely at the different models of slowly transitioning to return.