It was a challenging year for the facility management sector and for each employee who had to get used to a new way of working while living through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The world has navigated uncertain seas since governments introduced social distancing measures and restrictions on people’s day-to-day lives. It seems like the storm is finally subsiding but that does not mean 2021 will be smooth sailing.

Opinions have been mixed on the pandemic’s effect on the commercial office sector. Some organizations have used the pandemic as an opportunity to innovate. Others have clung to the old normal in the hope that one day it will return. The latter have now realized that while life can be put on pause, the business world cannot enjoy the same luxury. It must march on.

In this battle, there are winners and losers. The winners are the firms that have been reactive in their response; they’re the ones that have demonstrated flexibility and resilience as the landscape changes daily. Technology-led FM teams and service providers who provide high quality and efficient services while planning ahead have gained market share. They are ready for what tomorrow may bring.

Despite some of the gloomy macroeconomic and societal predictions – tighter budgets, shifting guidelines, changing legislation, stricter compliance, fragile mental health, business uncertainty and recession – there are several silver linings and opportunities for the FM sector moving forward. For one, FM is higher up on the corporate agenda because social distancing will transform the workplace.

FM has often been overlooked or relegated to a "commodity service.” However, the FM industry should be proud that it has played such a critical role in the fight against the outbreak. Since March 2020, the industry’s profile has grown due to its increased presence in the news. This new-found appreciation has presented a unique opportunity to further demonstrate FM’s value. There is now greater recognition that COVID-19 demands a more sophisticated approach when it comes to cleaning and hygiene regimes and the employee experience, not to mention safeguarding health and wellbeing.

Despite the challenges ahead, FM leaders will be called upon to design social distancing plans and back-to-work models to keep people safe and aid business continuity. HR and FM teams must work together to put employee fears aside while ensuring building occupants adhere to social distancing guidelines. A combination of behavioral change and new systems, processes, policies and ways of working will be vital in achieving a safe return to work.

It is a critical time, but it is also an opportunity to shine. FMs must look at three ways to execute their plans to keep their tenants safe as they re-enter their facilities.

1. Master the art of working together, apart

Working from home is now widely commonplace. Some love it; others hate it. Savvy employers are actively addressing people’s concerns about returning to the workplace. The latest in a string of recent international surveys suggested that the U.K. and U.S., in particular, lag behind the rest of the world in worker attitudes to returning to the office, with a fear of further waves compounding low levels of confidence about the cleanliness and safety of their commute and time in their workplace.

In addition to tuning into the fears, needs and wants of employees as part of a talent retention program, employers must also understand what the business needs before deciding on a workplace strategy. For some, this may involve an en masse return to work. Others may adopt an ongoing work-from-home policy. It seems the majority of organizations will turn to a hybrid working model to reduce the spread of the virus and accommodate employee and business needs. To this end, two strategies are proving popular:

  • The ”split group” strategy involves separating employees into different weekly groups to support business continuity in the event that one group becomes infected. 

  • The “split desk” strategy enables the alternating usage of desks between days, creating maximum usage of the space overall and more time for cleaning teams to react to the demand.

Strategies like these require live data to be effective. Programs that monitor occupancy rates will play a central role in enabling the most appropriate measures to be put in place at any one time. Organizations must understand their occupancy threshold for safe practice and to keep track of when that threshold is neared.

Regular cleaning can help alleviate any workplace hygiene anxiety. However, this will place a strain on cleaning resources, potentially leading to less efficient practices and costing more in time and cleaning products. Cleaning must be tailored so high-contact surfaces such as desks, door handles and communal surfaces are cleaned regularly and after use. Other shared areas such as meeting rooms and phone booths will either need to be closed or, if in use, signage will need to determine capacity while directing people to safe areas. These spaces will require thorough cleaning after every use via an occupancy-based cleaning program. It is key to understand which are the areas that will require greater attention rather than increasing cleaning indiscriminately. Real-time occupancy data is vital in this pursuit.

Real-time data can be used to alert cleaning teams as soon as an area has been vacated for immediate cleaning. Cleaning staff should be equipped with devices that receive data from sensors in the area. Push notifications can alert the cleaner to areas that have been vacated and require cleaning before the next occupant. The area can then be recorded as having been cleaned, releasing it back into the availability pool and alerting others that it is safe for use. This simple process is a highly effective way of ensuring the safety of all areas and reassuring staff they are not at any unnecessary risk. This technology can also utilize occupancy data to inform staff how regularly cleaning takes place on any particular day, offering reassurance in the process. Finally, existing floorplans combined with occupancy data can be used to create clear visual diagrams signalling which areas are due to be cleaned or are at higher risk due to high usage.

2. Keep calm & communicate

Communicating effectively with employees is another element of the workplace that must be more efficient and effective. New practices such as one-way traffic flow systems should be clearly signposted to make the process of returning to the office as hassle- and stress-free as possible. Practices such as social distancing, washing hands more regularly and allowing time for cleaning certain areas between use may take time to adjust and employees might need an extra nudge to make sure they remember. The precautions may change daily or hourly due to occupancy and behavior, so it is important to be as agile as possible.

Digital signage is a growing part of this communication process, enabling easy navigation in an environment which, for many, has suddenly become stressful. Clear signage will be vital in communicating what policies are in place and the behaviors required of staff, as well as which areas are safe and open for use and which are closed. Research by Intel shows that digital signage captures 400 percent more views than static signage. This is not limited to messages reminding employees to wash their hands and avoid touching their face. Displaying live data regarding socially distanced spaces to use, cleaned space availability and the cleaning regime will reassure staff and make staying safe as easy as possible.

Whatever strategy an organization implements, it will need to clearly communicate these measures to staff and explain the behaviors required of them. Digital messages both via signage and through smartphone notifications will streamline this process.

Booking apps can help employees plan their work day by enabling reservations for a clean, socially distanced desk or meeting room, manage communications and answer questions to ensure employee wellbeing. Furthermore, the apps can allow users to coordinate their visits into work with an inner circle of colleagues ensuring they are there together on the same days and easily find safe spaces in the vicinity of each other. The app, which integrates with smart tags on the desks, also becomes a key tool in office-based contact tracing.

3. Offer comfort in a crisis

While it is important to manage the behavior of employees and ensure they are taking all required safety precautions, anxiety will play a part and employers must take on the role of guardian. According to a recent survey by WkSpace, more than half of employees are concerned about job security. Sadly, these concerns are valid as unemployment figures are rising. If that wasn’t enough, many fear for their health and the health of their loved ones. Returning to the workplace can bring many back to a familiar and comforting sense of routine that has been sorely missing. At the same time, more change may further unnerve already fragile mindsets.

To ensure the return-to-work plan is more reassuring than stressful, communication from management will be imperative. Cleaning, once a behind-the-scenes profession often relegated to non-working hours, will be a reassuring presence in the workplace. Seeing the precautions taken will be an important element of the post-COVID office. In addition to signage around the workplace, smartphones are a useful way to keep staff up to date, allowing them to plan when they will be in the office without exceeding safe occupancy, and quickly notify everyone of changes. Regular updates and clear signs can reassure employees that everything possible is being done to manage risk and so they can work without unnecessary worry or distraction.

Smooth sailing

There is now a battle for employee hearts and minds, only winnable with deeds and actions. It is not enough to publish social distancing guidelines and tell people to simply get back to work. These people may have lost friends and loved ones to an indiscriminate pandemic that has devasted communities and turned the world upside down in immeasurable ways.

Employers are under a legal obligation to maintain health and safety provisions while governments have released guidance on how best to ensure employee safety. This includes carrying out risk assessments, reinforcing cleaning practices, maintaining social distancing and managing transmission risk where distancing is not possible. It is undeniable that technology will play a key role in the development and successful implementation of these new practices. Over the last 10 months, data insights have been central to the governmental response and in educating the public. Workplace leaders have been integrating these processes into their daily functions for many years, leading to the development of smart buildings. These innovations will now be more important than ever, finding newly central roles in FM and efficient targeting of cleaning practices.

The return to the office may initially seem like a huge challenge — and it is. But it is also an opportunity to transform the workplace world for the better, whether offering a hybrid model that enables people to balance their home and work lives, or celebrating what an office offers – a place to meet others, share ideas and collaborate – and boosting the overall employee experience in the process.

The prerogative must be to ensure workplaces are as safe as they can be. COVID-19 has already demonstrated the ingenuity of workplace design and management. The new year will not be smooth sailing, but there is no denying there is a brighter horizon.