Quite rightly, most organisations are taking a cautious approach and making sure they comply with those guidelines which only related to re-occupancy for staff who could not work from home. With new government guidelines being announced for England, we ask what will be the impact of the relaxed social distancing ‘1m plus’ rule, and also what are the lessons that can be learnt from those who have already opened offices, as well as why are companies holding back despite this.

NEW GUIDELINES

The new control of 1m plus social distancing announced by the Prime Minister to Parliament on 23 June has manifested itself in the guidelines published on 24 June for offices and contact centres in England (other nations are likely to follow). There is quite a lot to think through with the new guidance, but I suspect that for most companies, once they have re-visited their risk assessments, there will be little change in their approach other than allowing more people back into the office.

Firstly, the risk assessment remains at the centre of the approach and determines who should return to the office as well as the social distancing, protocols and cleaning regime controls that are necessary to mitigate risk of virus transmission.

Secondly, people are still asked to work from home when they can, Employers should consult with staff and decide whether it is viable for them to continue to work from home or come back to the office, whereas previously only people who could not work from home, due to individual circumstances or the nature of their role, were being permitted back The government continues to advocate managing occupancy levels to enable social distancing.

The workplace social distancing guidelines remain unclear from a practical implementation perspective. The new guidelines are 2m or 1m plus with mitigation factors such as not sitting face to face or screens. The practical reality is that not sitting face to face means a social distance of somewhere between 1.5m and 2m for the vast majority of businesses. Most disappointingly the government has not used this opportunity to distinguish between shared desking and hot desking explicitly. The distinction is important as soon as you increase occupancy to say 40-50% the level of staff needing to come back into the office then shared desking is typically the most effective solution to manage occupancy levels whilst applying social distancing. It is impractical or not possible in the vast majority of cases to move desks apart. So for most companies the choice is:

a) Screens between work stations, both in front of people and to their side, advocated by the government as a mitigation factor to enable companies to return to work with a 1m plus social distancing regime

b) Managing occupancy levels whilst applying social distancing, which would mean a 1.5 -2m social distancing regime, not sitting face to face, and some kind of rota and shared desking regime limited to small groups, with rigorous cleaning regimes between shifts

Companies should re-visit their risk assessments, and determine what are the risks of the different options and balance this against what is the most effective approach for the business but also having consideration to equality legislation, and ensure people are consulted and treated fairly having consideration to their individual needs and characteristics.

Knight Frank have developed a Social Distance AI Planning tool that enables floor plans to be revised very quickly and effectively for any social distance criteria. See this in practice at ace-platform.com. For more information contact ACWorld@knightfrank.com.

RE-OCCUPANCY EXPERIENCE AND STRATEGY

Knight Frank is one organisation that has returned to work, opening its Baker Street headquarters on 9th June, and other offices throughout the UK in the following week. The re-occupancy remains within the government guidelines enabling people who can not work from home effectively or who have been struggling because for example they live alone to return to work. This means about 200 of the 1,300 people in Baker Street have returned, but most of them blending working from home with a return to the office.

Joanna Dixon who has returned to the office form Knight Frank says “The experience is nothing like the office as we know it. You arrive to the now familiar smell of disinfectant, making sure to squirt some hand sanitiser and rub between your palms before passing through the security gates and entering into a lift (there are at least 4 waiting empty so no need to press the button). Upon exiting you have to remind yourself to follow the counter-intuitive circulation around the floorplate. It is eerily quiet. No humming of photocopiers, no chatting at tea points, no whirring of coffee machines. The odd head raises itself to peer at you from above a screen as you pass. Occasionally a distant voice can be heard, but it is not close or clear enough to discern what is being said. But it is great to see some colleagues in real life and the air conditioning is a godsend with this heat”.

The challenge at Knight Frank has been to put some fun back in the office, which has included socially distanced cream teams and ice creams on the terrace.

Chris Richmond, Head of Real Estate at PWC says “6 out of our 20 offices have been open now for just over 2 weeks now on an invitation basis only. We have a capacity limit of 15% and it is working well, as we have clearly communicated to staff the new set rules and conduct. What strikes me is the reluctance of other office occupiers to open their doors - even to small select groups, and some are not planning to open until this autumn”.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) kept their HQ office open throughout the lockdown period to support the Greater London Authority, LFB and London Ambulance Service COVID response teams. “The fact that our office stayed open has meant LFB have needed to be at the forefront of good practice in office occupation, applying office protocols where many other organisations had all staff at home" confirmed Laura Birnbaum (Head of Property) “Working out the optimal occupancy and considering inclusivity issues were both important factors for us to get right. It has been an opportunity to raise the prominence of good workplace design and management across the organisation".

Law firm Stephenson Harwood have been planning a return based upon the government’s guidelines setting social distancing at two metres. Paul Toomey, the firm’s head of FM services, said: “While we continue to follow the government’s advice – that anyone who can work from home should continue to do so – we are planning for a phased return. We expect up to 20% of our people in London to return to the office – on a voluntarily basis – when the guidelines allow. Following the government’s announcement earlier this week, and the possible introduction of a one metre plus option, we’ll wait to review the detailed guidance before making any changes to our current plans”.

Clive Wanstall, Travel Demand Management Planning and Delivery Manager at TfL, said: “We are working with businesses across London to help them find ways to ease any pressure on the transport network that may build as lockdown eases. The social distancing measures laid out by the Government mean that the number of people we can carry on our network at peak times is significantly reduced, so we’re also asking businesses to encourage employees to walk and cycle where they can. This, along with flexible working hours and remote working, will help reduce the numbers of people using public transport at the busiest times. Each of these measures help those who have to travel to stay safe on our network”.

Paul Johnson, Joint Head of Property and Workplace at DLA Piper “The transport challenge is very much on our minds as we open our offices from 6th July across the UK. This is why we are making it a voluntary return, focused on those who need to return, and will anticipate no more than 15% of the workforce”.

G4S have taken a very different view. “We see this as an opportunity to review how we are working and have made the decision not to re-open our Global Headquarter, whilst we review this. We anticipate migrating to a very different real estate platform going forward” says John Reed, Global Head of Real Estate.

Chris Richmond says “the remainder of our offices will open on 6th July. This sends a signal that we have a desire to welcome our staff, clients and visitors back and resume some sort of normality as long as it is safe to do so. It is also vital that our people start to support local businesses around our offices as soon as possible or else they may disappear. We have therefore worked closely with all our Landlords to enable this to happen safely and put in measures that meet government guidance and often exceed it”.

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