The rollout of vaccines across the globe means the hope of an eventual return to normalcy. This includes the workplace; while many employees have been working remotely for months, most businesses are planning for their workforce to come back into the physical space – office or job site.
What will the workspace look like, post-COVID?
Post-COVID, employers must tackle a new set of challenges: how to make the workplace safe and productive. Before reopening your doors to employees now is the time to review, reassess and reinvent the workplace to accommodate a new normal. The ground rules of what work will look like post-pandemic will continue to evolve. Remote, staggered, or hybrid schedules may be the norm.
Even after mass vaccinations, health experts worldwide recommend we maintain the same safety disciplines established over the past year: keeping a safe distance from one another, remaining masked, and washing hands. These healthy habits will continue for the foreseeable future. In addition, employees will have expectations as to steps their employers have undertaken to keep them safe and healthy at the job site like enhanced cleaning, better ventilation, and employer-provided PPE.
How can you prepare the workspace?
- Review your current floor plan. Are there changes that can be made to improve flow or spacing such as implementing one-way traffic patterns throughout? Do desks and workstations need to be re-configured to allow for more distancing? Could taller cubicle walls and plexiglass shields be employed to create physical barriers?
- Expect hand sanitation and PPE stations to replace water coolers, coffee stations, and kitchen gathering spaces, at least for the time being.
- Test and if necessary, consider upgrading your air filtration and ventilation systems to improve air quality.
- Finally, re-think your signage! Directional, safety, digital and large format graphics can help establish new guidelines, serve as prompts and also help create a positive, welcoming atmosphere.
For BBVA, Philadelphia Sign installed new Social Distancing signage that included BBVA floor decals and main entrance door signage as the first of two projects that involved getting the workplace back in business as the 142 branches of for this project opened.
- Applying Social Distancing floor decals
- Applying temporary door cling to the main entrance door or the surrounding area
- Attaching removable marketing insert holder to the main entrance door or the surrounding area
For Project 2, our wayfinding division recently worked on the “Return to Work” sign package for BBVA. The scope of work included tabletop signs, wall-mounted signs, floor stand signs, standalone totem signs, and vinyl applications for 32 corporate locations that included. The purpose of the signs was to ensure a safe return to the office for employees and their clients. The signage package included directional, sanitizing, and distancing messages. The images below provide you with a visual of the completed work.
All Signs Point to Change!
Post-COVID will see many businesses reimagine their physical space. These changes must take into consideration how your workspace functions for your employees. How does space serve your workforce and work style?
Prior to re-opening your workplace, consider any messages you want to communicate to your team. Whether it’s safety-related or morale-building, signs are your most efficient and cost-effective way to relay your message.
- Review your current floor plan. Are changes needed? If so, be sure to review and install new signage to direct flow and limit crowding in elevators or halls.
- Many businesses will see a change in their workforce to include new hires who are unfamiliar with space. Signage will help them acclimate faster.
- Let digital signs do the talking! Convey new COVID safety protocols; announce changes, meetings, or work schedules; address new policies, or state simple reminders – easily – with digital signboards.
- Large format graphics are an easy and impactful way to transform your existing space with a face-lift! Customized wall graphics can give your lobby, desk areas, and meeting rooms a refresh that can boost morale and elevate the atmosphere of your office or workspace.
All signs point to a post-COVID recovery for your workforce and your business!
Contact us to talk to a representative today and find out how to make our signs work for you!