Biggest Hurdle to Bringing People Back to the Office Might Be the Commute

[mahatmakanejeeves]

It's in Tuesday's paper. Your library may have an online subscription. If so, you can read this online.

BUSINESS

Biggest Hurdle to Bringing People Back to the Office Might Be the Commute

Companies planning how to return workers to skyscrapers, office campuses warn of difficulties in large cities

By Chip Cutter
Updated April 27, 2020 2:37 pm ET

As corporate executives plan how to safely bring employees back to work in the office, a thorny issue has arisen over which they have no control: public transportation.

The mass transit systems that allowed some of the world’s most densely populated financial capitals to grow and flourish for a century, including New York City and Tokyo, are emerging as a major concern because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Challenges with commuting could keep offices in those locations shut for longer than other places where people can...

TO READ THE FULL STORY
SUBSCRIBE SIGN IN

[e-mail]

https://twitter.com/ChipCutter

[unblock]

1. even the elevator is a problem

social distancing is impossible in an elevator car. limit one person at a time?

that may be possible if companies are only allowing a small portion of their workforce to return, but still....

[JenniferJuniper]

2. Elevators, stairwells, break rooms, restrooms, cafeterias,

customer service rep-type set ups where people sit close together in open spaces without barriers.

Really, pretty much everywhere.

I accepted a full-time, work from home position last week so I will not have to return to any of the above. The old company was chomping at the bit to get everyone back in the office asap.

[unblock]

3. some office set-ups can allow for social distancing

cubicles are the worst (for many reasons), but you could leave every other spot vacant, no one directly opposite anyone, etc., so everyone has some distance, though of course the company might be staffed 50% or maybe even less.

[JenniferJuniper]

4. True, space is needed

unless you can keep some people out of the office. But that's a cluster too, especially in big cities with expensive or long commutes. Who works from home, who doesn't? Rotations are tough because having two offices can lead to inefficiencies. I know I can't do it.

Where I worked up until 2 weeks ago, you'd only be able to fit about 25% of the employees in the space allowing for proper distancing. No cubes, just long tables with little 6 inch high dividers between each employee's "desk" space. Extreme open concept for "collaboration", they said. In reality, it appeared they'd run out of space in the building.

And then you still need to deal with all of the other areas of the office world from restrooms to the water cooler.

I can do what I do from home for the rest of career and I've decided I'll never return to an office. Getting too old for this. But I am lucky. I have fast internet, dedicated office space, no little kids at home. Many people aren't as fortunate.

It's hard to imagine where all this will lead.

[unblock]

5. i'm very fortunate in that our business is based on phone/email and technology

so really the whole company can work from home. we planned for this to handle things like hurricanes and such, but never expected people to have to work from home for more than a few days. but all our arrangements are holding up fine.

we're talking about incrementally returning to the office at some point with staggered spaces and such, but i don't really see the point until the whole crisis is really "over" in a meaningful way. i don't see why we wouldn't just wait it out and be the last company to return to "normal".