Jamison Cush: In-office work or remote work -- a
e we ever even going back into the offic
Kevin Nanney: That's a great question. I mean, the
answer is yes. Like, I, we will be going back into
the office, will it be like it was before? No.
Like, it's gonna be different? And, you know, to
answer that question, the answers will be
different depending on the company, depending on
the industry, the type of work you're in. I mean,
obviously, there is a central workers, there's not
a central workers for the software that not
essential worker, you know, what's the, what's the
policy going to be for being in the workplace,
you're seeing a lot of, you're seeing a lot of
companies do the right thing and approach this
with a learning mindset. So meaning it's going to
be hybrid for a while, you know, work from home
part of the time come into the office, if you're
ready to come into the office for part of the
time. And then I think there's going to be this
learning curve to really gauge which employees are
ready to come back which or not, how much time is
it going to take, you know, is our workplace setup
and ready to handle this return to the workplace?
So I think there's a whole lot of variables that
go into answering that question.
Jamison Cush: I think a lot of us have even forgot
what an office looks like, or what it's supposed
to be like. So from your perspective and your
expertise? How would you describe the differences
between like an ideal office in 2019, versus an
ideal office in 2021?
Kevin Nanney: Um, I think you're going to see,
well, the ideal office in 2020, one's going to
have less people in it, right? The main thing that
that we're going to want to do is we're going to
want to relieve employee anxiety with going back
to the office. Now, you know, there's, there's
vaccinations coming out, people are starting to
feel a lot more comfortable, you're seeing it out
in the world, people are going out a little bit
more, maybe they shouldn't, they shouldn't. But
now you're in an office workplace for certain
amount of hours over the day. And so how do you
create that physical distance in the workplace,
it's going to look different, whether it's spaced
out desk, whether it's non reservable, desk, and
people are, are spread out a little bit more. You
know, there's some companies that are sending
people to the same place every day that for those
employees that will go back to the office every
day. There's some that are just setting up
neighborhoods and ups and they're setting up
capacities within those neighborhoods within those
office floors to say, Hey, we can fit 80 people in
here, we're going to open it up for 20. And so it
gives it gives people and sharing the fact with
the employees, that that's what the company is
doing. It's it's relieving that anxiety, it's
engaging with the employer to make sure that that
everyone's comfortable with the situation that
they're in for returning to the office.
Jamison Cush: And one thing we've we've heard a
lot about is health check technology. How does
that look? In a real life situation? Are we
talking someone standing by a door with a
temperature gauge on my forehead? How do How are
companies managing that are implementing that?
Kevin Nanney: Yeah, I mean, it's it can be that
it's, it's temperature checks at the door, you
know, that temperature check will come in, they
will, they will take that temperature, it will
activate or deactivate your security badge, it
will keep or cancel the reservation that you've
made for the workspace for the day. So we are
seeing different technologies. The cool thing is
these technologies are being tied together. So
whether it's a health check at the door, or the
employee is doing a, like an online health check
the night before. So using there, there's a lot of
companies that are using technology to to engage
with the employee to say, Hey, are you ready to
come back to work? Would you mind answering a few
questions and really getting through some of the
the policy for you know that green checkmark that
that employee, one is ready to come back to work
and two has sort of passed, whether we call it a
Health Attestation or some type of health check to
come back to work? And then once they physically
get there? Is the company going to take
temperatures? Are they going to pass out face
masks? Are they going to you know, have hand
sanitizer all over the place? So we are going to
see these changes in the workplace? And, you know,
is it necessary? Is it not necessary, it's
necessary to relieve the employee anxiety for
returning to that office? You know, I feel and
you'll see companies, you know, have different
opinions on this.
Jamison Cush: I can also imagine that contact
tracing is one of the technology or a process that
will play into that as well. I mean, what role do
you see that playing as we return to work?
Kevin Nanney: Yeah, that's actually a big deal.
Um, contact tracing is in in the role that I made.
I talked to a lot of customers about returning to
the office on what that workplace we're talking
about space management and utilization. But the
one thing that everyone does bring up is contact
tracing. Hey, someone has raised their hand and
said, I'm sick and I came into the office. Yes.
Today, I'm so sorry. Yeah, it's gonna happen. And
so it's on the onus of the employee to say, okay,
you know, Kevin came into the office yesterday,
and now he's sick. What meetings was he in? Where
did he sit? Where did he go in the office? Did he
show up for that reservation, who had reservations
around there, who else was on that floor, everyone
needs to be contact traced, and there needs to be,
you know, I go back to this communication phase,
there needs to be over communication so that
people are aware, so that they can quarantine for
14 days. I mean, the one thing we want to do is,
is we want to stop the spread of, you know, people
getting sick, because it's a dangerous situation.
And so this is a huge deal for for making people
aware and and preventing from that from happening.
Jamison Cush: I'm guessing that air quality is
also an issue that's helping or something that
would also help stop the spread or, you know, h
vac systems are making sure ensuring proper
airflow in a in a business. I mean, what role do
you see that playing with companies as they
reopen?
Kevin Nanney: Yeah, um, you know, I don't hear
that talked about as much as things like contact
tracing or physical distancing in the office. But,
you know, I do see companies saying, Hey, we're
not going to use these conference rooms that are
glassing close, and you close the door and
everyone sits in there for an hour or two, we're
going to make these conference rooms or these
collaboration areas more out in the open, you
know, they are thinking about airflow, they are
looking at their h back systems. But it's not as
hot of a topic has contact tracing physical
distancing, help active station vaccination status
tracing. So you know, a lot of these topics I hear
more than I do, you know, is our h vac system
purifying the air correctly? Or do I need to leave
all these windows open so that the air flow is
what it should be? You know, even
Jamison Cush: I'm thinking outside of the office,
when we're talking about new normals, it's a lot
of it's mask wearing and social distancing is, you
know, it's what we're being told. What does the
new normal look like from the office from that
perspective from the employee returning to work
perspective?
Kevin Nanney: Yeah, and obviously, there's going
to be a new normal that people will be wearing
masks inside the workplace for a foreseeable
future, the layout of the office is going to be
different, the cafeteria might be closed, there
might be more outdoor seating. There's just going
to be a lot more attention to the workplace and is
it set up for safety? Are are we set up to know
what people are doing when they are in the office?
Are we set up to really trace things like
occupancy of certain areas, vacancy of other areas
utilization of space? And then, you know, can we
take that data and do something with it so that as
as time goes, you know, as as we evolve in that
return to the workplace, and we look at all this
information, we can make decisions around real
estate planning around workplace planning, to
ensure safety or to ensure that we're properly
utilizing our facilities in the situation of post
pandemic.