How will COVID change the workplace?
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 12:41 last edited by
I can see some changes coming up not only to deal with this pandemic but to prepare for the next one - to vaccinate our economies so to speak.
There will be ongoing changes in the workplace to assure social distancing. This may change industrial engineering, commercial real estate, HVAC and office furnishings dramatically.
If any of this gets done manufacturing facilities will have to be larger, not people side by side. In HVAC I can see more aggressive airflow that draws exhaled air up or down - powered air returns.. Office cube spaces will change. Commercial real estate in general will have to be larger.
What can you envision?
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 12:43 last edited by
For office workers, the smart companies are going to invest hard into telework. Win for them, win for whom they hire. Related technology will boom.
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 12:52 last edited by Mik
Yep. Telemedicine too. Actually, teleeverything that can be done that way. I can see law offices, insurance, car buying to a degree
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Yep. Telemedicine too. Actually, teleeverything that can be done that way. I can see law offices, insurance, car buying to a degree
wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 13:08 last edited by@Mik said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
Yep. Telemedicine too.
Mrs. George was pushing telemedicine back in the mid 1990s. The technology was awful, but it was an area that was just beginning to take off.Remember CU-SeeMe? That was fun on dialup...
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 13:09 last edited by
Hmm. Can't say as I do.
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 13:12 last edited by
Wonder what will happen to all those "shared space" businesses (e.g., WeWork and the like).
Free lancers and big companies alike have figured out that they can just work from home, and it's hard to imagine "shared space" facilities supporting the sort of work that cannot be done from home anyway. The whole "shared space" sector is going to shrink significantly even after we have effective vaccines. -
wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 13:36 last edited by Mik
That was always a rather limited market. A lot of the purpose was to give the illusion of substance to rather diaphanous enterprises. Both MFR and I looked into them but thought them too expensive for what they provided. Some of the incubator spaces were interesting.
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That was always a rather limited market. A lot of the purpose was to give the illusion of substance to rather diaphanous enterprises. Both MFR and I looked into them but thought them too expensive for what they provided. Some of the incubator spaces were interesting.
wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 13:58 last edited by@Mik said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
That was always a rather limited market. A lot of the purpose was to give the illusion of substance to rather diaphanous enterprises. Both MFR and I looked into them but thought them too expensive for what they provided. Some of the incubator spaces were interesting.
Many of them touted "collaboration" and "meeting people across industries." But a ton of folks who were signing up for these places were freelancers: coders, graphic designers, writers, etc. So okay, you're working for a client on a website refresh, and the two folks sitting across from you are making infographics and editing white papers. Just what in the hell is so great about you three sitting across from one another? What could you possibly provide one another in that setting that you don't get from LinkedIn?
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@Mik said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
That was always a rather limited market. A lot of the purpose was to give the illusion of substance to rather diaphanous enterprises. Both MFR and I looked into them but thought them too expensive for what they provided. Some of the incubator spaces were interesting.
Many of them touted "collaboration" and "meeting people across industries." But a ton of folks who were signing up for these places were freelancers: coders, graphic designers, writers, etc. So okay, you're working for a client on a website refresh, and the two folks sitting across from you are making infographics and editing white papers. Just what in the hell is so great about you three sitting across from one another? What could you possibly provide one another in that setting that you don't get from LinkedIn?
wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 14:43 last edited by@Aqua-Letifer said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
@Mik said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
That was always a rather limited market. A lot of the purpose was to give the illusion of substance to rather diaphanous enterprises. Both MFR and I looked into them but thought them too expensive for what they provided. Some of the incubator spaces were interesting.
Many of them touted "collaboration" and "meeting people across industries." But a ton of folks who were signing up for these places were freelancers: coders, graphic designers, writers, etc. So okay, you're working for a client on a website refresh, and the two folks sitting across from you are making infographics and editing white papers. Just what in the hell is so great about you three sitting across from one another? What could you possibly provide one another in that setting that you don't get from LinkedIn?
Social interaction?
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@Aqua-Letifer said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
@Mik said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
That was always a rather limited market. A lot of the purpose was to give the illusion of substance to rather diaphanous enterprises. Both MFR and I looked into them but thought them too expensive for what they provided. Some of the incubator spaces were interesting.
Many of them touted "collaboration" and "meeting people across industries." But a ton of folks who were signing up for these places were freelancers: coders, graphic designers, writers, etc. So okay, you're working for a client on a website refresh, and the two folks sitting across from you are making infographics and editing white papers. Just what in the hell is so great about you three sitting across from one another? What could you possibly provide one another in that setting that you don't get from LinkedIn?
Social interaction?
wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 15:19 last edited by@Jolly said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
@Aqua-Letifer said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
@Mik said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
That was always a rather limited market. A lot of the purpose was to give the illusion of substance to rather diaphanous enterprises. Both MFR and I looked into them but thought them too expensive for what they provided. Some of the incubator spaces were interesting.
Many of them touted "collaboration" and "meeting people across industries." But a ton of folks who were signing up for these places were freelancers: coders, graphic designers, writers, etc. So okay, you're working for a client on a website refresh, and the two folks sitting across from you are making infographics and editing white papers. Just what in the hell is so great about you three sitting across from one another? What could you possibly provide one another in that setting that you don't get from LinkedIn?
Social interaction?
Dude just go to a coffee shop. (Yeah yeah I know, not today. But we're talking about why shared workspaces became a business, not what to do today about COVID-19.) Be much, much cheaper. Or even better, team up with actual colleagues and start a collective.
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Yep. Telemedicine too. Actually, teleeverything that can be done that way. I can see law offices, insurance, car buying to a degree
wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 15:23 last edited by@Mik said in How will COVID change the workplace?:
Yep. Telemedicine too. Actually, teleeverything that can be done that way. I can see law offices, insurance, car buying to a degree
My wife works for a law firm and is working from home just fine.
The big losers in all of this will be commercial builders and owners of commercial real estate.
Most companies will find they can downsize their office spaces if telework actually does take off.
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 15:43 last edited by
Yeah, Improv, but I have a sneaking suspicion that office space might have to expand for distancing, so all that real estate lost to telework may be taken up by new space requirements. The question is will American business take heed and try to make a pandemic-proof workspace. It is an investment, but certainly better than shutting down next time.
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 15:44 last edited by
Good point. May be a wash.
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wrote on 22 Apr 2020, 15:55 last edited by
Currently, our office building is partially leased to a health-care clinic - we own the building, but it's shared with a medical group.
I can see that being considered a little less attractive as a business arrangement than it once was.
