Rethinking How We Work
This project was an investigation into the feasibility of physically returning to the office during the pandemic. I was recruited to join a small cross functional team comprising of leadership, HR, and myself to complete this project. I was tasked with leading the conversation on this issue, which involved researching the problem space, ideating solutions, and communicating recommendations to the team.
Role
User research
Ideation
Solution
Non-Digital
Tools
Photoshop
Defining The Problem
Can We Return to the Office?
The Problem:
At the time being in the midst of a global pandemic and having all returned to our homes to work remotely, the question was posed the question “Can we return to the office safely?”. I wanted to dig deeper and ask the additional question “Should we?“. My design challenge was to uncover the true problem and to discover the appropriate solution to improve work conditions and meet business goals.
Constraints
Physical limitations of the building
Limited to no budget, so need to utilize existing infrastructure
The Solution:
Before creating a solution, I needed to confront and understand the problem. I needed to make sure that a return to the office was the best solution. I went through factors of the design thinking methodology to best understand my users and their needs. I determined that there was a mixed desire for in office versus continued remote/hybrid work. So I went ahead with determining what working in the office would look like, but with recommendations to continue the conversation around what work life would look like in future.
Design Process
What Did I do?
My role was to undertake the project from research, evaluation, ideation, to design, and iteration. In the figure below you can see how I implemented The Design Thinking Model. As this was early stages, there was no testing done at the time.
Empathize
Understanding The Problem & The Competition
Interviews
I interviewed my colleagues both in the office and virtually to determine their needs and wants.
Looking at the interview data we can see the importance of carefully considering whether or not to bring people back to the office physically. Interview participants directly related their experiences and/or desires for being in office or continuing to work remotely. There were clear indications that continued hybrid work would benefit this workforce.
Some Interesting Findings
It was interesting too, though not surprising, that one seeming correlation was that more extroverted colleagues had a stronger preference for working in person.
A number of individuals noted that the office could be distracting due to socialization and noise.
Contrarily individuals with less ideal work from home setups also desired more in person days.
Likewise individuals with longer commutes had a stronger desire to remain remote.
There was also disproportionately more individuals from the leadership that wanted to return to office.
Some individuals had job functions that didn’t allow for consistent remote work, namely technical creatives and those who had special equipment in the office.
Secondary Research
Digging further into this problem space I wanted to look further into working remotely vs in office. Granted the intent of this project was to determine how to return to the office, but I wanted to make sure to still advocate for those of my colleagues who desired to continue to work remotely/hybrid. I think it was important to continue the conversation about working flexibility.
Key Findings
“Today’s employees appreciate the flexibility that comes with telecommuting and are more productive and less stressed when working from home.” [src: Productive Leaders]
“One study showed that if a company allowed an employee to work from home just half of the time, it would save on average $11,000 per employee.” [src: Global Workplace Analytics]
Sun Microsystems did a study in 2007 that showed the company saved $225 million over four years from telecommuting. [src: Global Workplace Analytics]
80% of employees want to work from home at least some of the time [src: State of Remote Work 2019, Owl Labs]
Only 12% of federal employees say they would not want to work from home at least some of the time [src: Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey 2018]
35% of employees would change jobs for opportunity to work remotely full time [src: State of the American Workforce, Gallup, 2016]
Flexibility is one of the highest ranked benefits by Millennials, even higher than student loan or tuition reimbursement. It ranked high for Boomers too although the percentages were 15-20 points lower. [src: State of the American Workforce, Gallup, 2017]
More than a third of workers would take a pay cut of up to 5% in exchange for the option to work remotely at least some of the time; a quarter would take a 10% pay cut; 20% would take an even greater cut. [src: State of Remote Work 2019, Owl Labs]
Managers who have worked remotely are more likely to support their employees/reports to also do so. [src: Global Workplace Analytics]
Synopsis
In short, individuals want the flexibility to choose how they work. People have varied personalities, work styles, home situations, wants, desires, and needs. Long term allowing employees to choose whether to work in the office or remotely, could possibly lead to decreased costs to the business, savings for employees, as well as increased job satisfaction and productivity.
Define
What Would This Look Like?
To address the question above I needed to further explore what solutions currently exist.
What Solutions already Exist
For my competitive analysis, I dug into if any companies were already beginning to find solutions to this complex situation. This was still early on in the pandemic and not many companies were publishing solutions yet, but I did find Cushman and Wakefield a global commercial real estate services firm. Images were circulating of their solution to the return to office.
One thing Cushman and Wakefield did successfully was having very clear visual aids in maintaining social distance. One thing that was unsuccessful though was a misunderstanding of Health Organizations recommendations for maintaining 6 feet of social distance. They had created 6 foot circles which would technically only provide 3 feet of distance with how they show their design being utilized.
Key Takeaways
I gained some key insights/ideas from Cushman and Wakefield. Namely that we should make sure to have clear visual aids about social distance.
Clearing up the Misunderstanding
I also learned that the misunderstanding concerning the amount of distance needed to meet health guidelines was pervasive. Within my own company their was the same misunderstanding that each workstation only needed a 6 foot circle, so I worked to create graphics to communicate what 6 foot social distance really entailed.
Firstly I wanted to communicate the concept that the 6 feet are from the edge of a person, not their center. I made a graphic to show how that circle would look with different people.
This was critical in understanding the implementation of work spaces. I looked into optimum seating space at a desk/table to inform my recommendations or at minimum a 2 feet concentric interior circle for the individual with a radius of 6 feet. This would indicate a total circle with a diameter of 14 feet.
Ideate
Let’s Find The Solution
Having explored the problem space, I brainstormed what the solution would entail.
How Might We
Next steps, lets formulate the primary big questions.
These were the most critical questions:
How might we maintain 6ft minimum distance to another person?
Tangentially: How might we do meetings?
How might we ensure safety measures are maintained?
Time for Ideas!
Maintaining Social Distance
Lanes of traffic to reduce interaction
Parking lot circles for meetings
Tape out circles on the floor for work spaces
Consider utilizing more entrances and exits to the building
Do we consider the use of plexiglass/barriers like at grocery stores and hospitals?
Ensuring Safety Measures are Maintained
Greeter to make sure people are wearing masks
Mask bin in case forgotten
Temperature check
Clear signage
Prototype
Look, Feel, Function
Let’s Map Out Work Spaces
With the research at the forefront of my mind, I began determining feasible solutions in the office for how people could socially distance safely, while taking in business goals of getting more people physically in office.
Solution 1: Can the Current Floor Plan work for Social Distancing?
I had a request to see if I could move cubicles as little as possible initially, for ease of setup and from a conversation with facilities. Through mapping out social bubbles, to ensure that people would have enough social distance, it was clearly illustrated that this wouldn’t allow for safe flows of traffic through the office. We would need to reconsider our floor plan to better account for flows of traffic through the hallways.
* Identifying business details redacted
Solution 2: A More Ideal Spacing
Reducing the number of people in the office and rearranging the office furniture allowed for a maximum of 34 people working at a time. This allowed for reduced overlap. I also noted that having two people in an enclosed office would not be ideal, due to low air circulation.
* Identifying business details redacted
Solution 3: Can Business Goals and Safety Concerns Coexist?
I was requested to see the maximum number of people that could fit in the office while maintaining social distance. The below plan allowed for a maximum of 43 people in the office
* Identifying business details redacted
Takeaways
Successes, Reflection, & What’s Next?
The result of this project was a detailed map of our office space that showed how we could safely return to office if needed and my recommendation for the safer and less congested option: Solution 2.
Another result was a much deeper understanding after I communicated my findings to the team of a need for a continued work flexibility. This also lead to greater conversations within the company about what work looks like. I’m very proud of this project and was glad to be able to help lead the conversation.
I made recommendations for utilizing visual aides to indicate social distancing bubbles, and directional traffic. We determined the need for clear procedures and best practices around ensuring safety at the office.
Some Updates
Some of this work did get incorporated during our peak time when we were all required to come back to the office for short stints during the holidays to get product out the door.
We did utilize visual aides in the form of arrows on the ground for directional traffic.
There was significant signage to communicate procedures and best practices.
Our design department even created fun and engaging posters to remind people of safety protocol.
We did have a greeter and temperature checks as well as spare masks.
This also may have been a catalyst for some later work that was done to make the office more desirable for colleagues to want to work in person.
Key takeaways:
I didn’t “rebuild the wheel”, but let existing solutions and ideas inform my solution.
Considering the confusion around the primary social distancing rule of 6 feet, the need to have shared understanding of requirements was reinforced.
It was important that the conversation continue around work flexibility.