(Photo: In the Living Lab on Armstrong World Industries’ corporate campus in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the company plans to implement ideas for the post-COVID office and measure employee feedback.)
As the COVID-19 pandemic subsides and vaccination rates improve, employers are working on re-entry plans with the option to reset previous environments. The benefits of working from home have given many people opportunities for a more convenient, controllable, and customizable workplace. Employers who want to attract and retain top talent need to ensure that each work environment offers similar amenities.
The post-COVID office as a work-from-home experience
For some people, working from home is a tough challenge. Noise, lack of space and family obligations are some of the factors that make some people dream of having their own cabin. Many others, on the other hand, enjoyed moving around freely at home, switching from desk chair to couch or kitchen stool at will, breathing in the air they controlled, enjoying the view from a favorite window or taking their laptops onto the terrace, patio or terrace.
Ideally, the post-COVID office would replicate these benefits of working from home while providing the social interactions and collaboration opportunities that fuel creativity, innovation, and productivity.
The challenge for designers is to choose the best solutions that will have a real impact on people’s daily work. Thanks also to the green building movement, modern office design can be very flexible, humanistic and appealing, and the possibilities are diverse.
Employee surveys can be an orientation aid. For example, ceiling and wall maker Armstrong World Industries released an employee survey earlier this year suggesting that employees expect their workplaces to promote personal well-being and ensure health and safety when they return in person.
Walk to the healthy workplace
Armstrong is also watching the modern post-COVID office in action through the daily experiences of employees working in its new Living Lab on the company’s Lancaster, Pennsylvania campus.
The Living Lab is the forerunner of a renovation of the Armstrong headquarters in collaboration with the global design and architecture office Gensler. The experiences from the Living Lab will flow into this renovation.
The Living Lab took shape in 2020, with an initial focus on using sustainable products and other Armstrong building elements to create indoor and outdoor workplaces that encourage collaboration. In addition to 24 individual workstations, this also includes a working lounge, a working café, and rooms for large and small groups. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was expanded to include a focus on Armstrong’s air quality products, Healthy Spaces. Sound, light and air conditioning are also important functions.
Key themes: information and flexibility
In May, staff began staffing the Living Lab and they are encouraged to provide detailed feedback on their experiences. Two key issues are already emerging.
One is information: during the COVID-19 pandemic, large sections of the working public got immersed in the news. Feedback from Armstrong employees shows that people still expect high levels of information about the quality of their indoor environment, and the Living Lab is designed to deliver that.
A WELL Health-Safety Rating Certification seal from the International WELL Building Institute, which Armstrong received in 2021, is issued at the entrance to the Living Lab. This certification provides a framework for organizations and communities to prepare for a safer, healthier future. When you see the WELL Health Safety Seal, you can be sure that the room you step into puts your health first, says Armstrong. In the Living Lab, the first thing the employees see is a dashboard with detailed information on the indoor air quality of the laboratory, which was developed in cooperation with the HVAC service provider Trane.
Along with this displayed information, important design elements contribute to well-being: Lots of light from the windows, workplaces are separated for security and privacy, and Armstrong products such as AirAssure blankets and VidaShield UV24 air purification systems work to maintain air quality. The Living Lab also includes an outdoor workstation with furniture, electricity and WiFi.
The employees became aware of this from the start. “The most important elements that caught my attention were the freshness and smell of the space, the flexibility of the workspaces, and the natural light,” said Alexandra Waltemyer, Armstrong’s senior manager for strategic initiatives at Healthy Spaces. “As soon as I walked in, the room was bright and felt clean and fresh. It even has a visible dashboard that shows all the measures for the indoor air quality, so that I not only felt the fresh air, but could also see things like temperature, humidity and number of particles visibly. “
Waltemyer also noted the ability to move between different environments, a key element that makes the Living Lab similar to the work-at-home experience. “The ability to switch between a private focus room, a collaborative space, or even working at the counter in the work lounge for a change of scenery really helped me stay productive and inspired throughout the day,” she said.
Corporate social responsibility in the information age
What is particularly interesting about the Living Lab is its potential to inform and influence employees beyond working hours.
“Making the indoor air quality of the room I enter visible to me has made me learn even more about the air quality in the rooms that I enter,” Waltemyer told 3p.
Meredith Baxter, Campus Experience Manager at Armstrong, had a similar experience. She named the ability to move between individual and collaborative spaces as a central feature, but also emphasized the informative element.
“Every day when I enter the room I can see a real-time air quality assessment that gives a sense of security in the general ‘health’ of the room,” she explained. “The visibility of the variables that affect score makes me wonder how I could incorporate similar interventions in my home to identify areas that need improvement to promote the general well-being of my family.”
Companies must learn lessons from the pandemic – and also from their employees’ home experiences
All in all, Living Lab’s experience suggests that companies can use their products and skills to become a trusted partner for employees looking for reliable, accurate and useful information about their indoor environment.
Socially responsible companies have long sought to attract top talent by informing and engaging in company sponsored projects, including volunteering to look after students or environmental activities like tree planting. They also had to prove that their pursuit of improving their social and environmental performance is one of the words that go together. Now the challenge is getting more complex.
When employees return to the post-COVID office – at a time when millions of job vacancies are suggesting companies are once again facing fierce competition for talent – executives will have to prove they are not only a great place to work, but also inviting places where employees are welcome and also feel their best. The Living Lab offers a test field for this. While the initiative is still ongoing, early evidence suggests that by providing access to information and introducing the convenience and security of home to work, businesses may begin to respond to the expectations of a new generation who is imbued with the lessons of COVID. 19th
This series of articles is sponsored by Armstrong World Industries and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.
Image courtesy Armstrong World Industries
source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/this-living-lab-imagines-the-post-covid-office-as-flexible-informative-and-responsive/
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