I think ...

Despite some companies going all in with work from home, the likelihood is that even most information workers will return to the office, so what might need to change?

Ninety-five percent of my adult working life has been in information technology.  I also managed a microfiche photography lab and was also a teacher, both for a short time.  Of those teaching has, and likely will change the most but maybe a "think" for another time.   

I watched the tail end of an interview a CEO of a large REIT that was asked about the impact of COVID on his business which is leasing office space.  Some of his customers are Google and Facebook and other tech companies.  He said the expectation his tenants have is that working from home for the majority of their staff will be a near term thing and that in time they will return to full occupation of their office space.  Now its in his best interest to say that, but lets think about what has to change to make that a reality.

The offices I have been in while working have varied greatly, from sitting in a room with a million dollars worth of servers and other equipment, almost alone, to almost the exact opposite which I dubbed "Gophertowne".  I called it that because of the half-height cubicles which allowed you to see all the employee heads sticking out.  We looked like a bunch of gophers or prairie-dogs.  I wonder how the managers who insisted on that set up are fairing no that can't see or watch what's going on in the office.  It must feel like a new world order to them.  Those offices will all need updated - any bets on shortages of plexiglass once offices are free to have more than 10 people in them?  Even the cubed work areas I have worked in might have issues as one side was always open and the isles were just large enough to accommodate a wheelchair being able to turn around.  I wonder if they will put curtains across the entries and will that still allow for adequate ventilation, which is another big issue.  If restaurants are being asked to insure adequate airflow wouldn't you expect offices to do the the same?

Think about all the other places space can be an issue in an office.  Lets just start with the elevator. We may loose more folks to heart attacks from out of shape works getting to the 12th floor by using the stairs because we can't put more than 3 or 4 people in an elevator. In New York they already stagger starting and ending times to mange elevator traffic, now everyone will probably need to do that. The doorman may come back just so that we can enforce the rules and no one else has to touch the buttons which means someone would have to clean them constantly, Then there are the sometimes less required spaces... the coffee room, the coat closet, the lobby/reception and lets not forget the water closet (for millennials that is a bathroom and lets just say ladies have the advantage here).  All will require significant changes.

Now lets think about what normally happens once you get to the door on the 12th floor.  How many have security and does it require punching a code?  Even if it is a coded badge your still going to have to grab the door handle in most places.  Will we see a door person whose job it is to open and close the door all day or will that become a rotating duty for an hour a week for everyone who doesn't sit in an office all day.

Oh, never mind, looks like somebody has made one already.

One company I worked for had the concept of "hoteling" for office space.  So many folks traveled or moved from project to project they didn't have a place of their own per say, they just checked into a cube for a power connection and a LAN line.  The phone calls that didn't come to their cell phones were directed to them wherever they sat.  How will they be impacted, my guess is they would told "The customer doesn't need to see your eyeballs to know your on the job. Stay home so you don't accidentally spread anything around."

Hmmm, maybe that guy in the interview is in trouble because there is a distinct possibility that 'the things he thinks he knows just might not be so'.