While it certainly has been a struggle, businesses have been working on ways to maintain safety in the work environment during the outbreak of Covid-19. It has changed the landscape of meetings and how they operate and this has led to a redesign of conference rooms for the future. Now, all teams must be brought together as one and this is where it can get tricky.
In some offices there will be workers that will be coming to work every day, some employees that will still be working from home and there may be hybrid workers that do both. The need to conduct in-person and virtual meetings must be looked at as a whole while keeping safety in mind. The right office conference table must be chosen that can meet all the requirements for different types of workers.
Office Furniture for In-Person Meetings
In-person meetings offer a number of different benefits including less distractions, better engagement and more opportunities to collaborate. Relation-building and brainstorming amongst team members can be done easier when members are meeting face-to-face in most cases. Virtual meetings have become much better over time but many workers believe they can never replace face-to-face interactions. This is why so many companies are encouraging workers to get back into the office on a full-time basis.
Of course, in person meetings must be kept safe and the right Toronto office furniture must be used to meet this goal. A larger office conference table may be required to facilitate these needs. When you keep social distancing in mind and consider that spacing between employees will be an important guideline to follow for many years ahead, your company may need a larger conference table for meetings.
Online Virtual Meetings
Many companies will still hold online virtual meetings with some employees working from the office while others are working at home. This means that there must be enough space on the table to hold multiple computer screens for these meetings to take place. Determine how many people will need to be accommodated, the distance required between them and the number of computer monitors that the conference meeting table will need to hold.
When you consider that there must be spacing now between employees anyway, this doesn’t turn out to be a huge problem. You’ll just need to make sure that your office conference table is large enough to accommodate spacing and extra computer room at the same time. Many businesses have found that the time has come to not only update the conference table for the office but the rest of the Toronto office furniture as well.
Another thing to take into account is the ever-changing landscape that we are living in. If there is a time when Covid-19 is not problematic like it is now, all workers may return to the office and there may not be the need for social distancing. This is hard to think about right now, however, and you’ll need to take a look at what the future holds in store both long-term and short-term.
Office Furniture and Flexibility for the Future
One thing that we could never have predicted was the pandemic and the effect it would have on businesses. Who would have thought that it would lead to complete office restructuring and the discussion about an office conference table? Knowing that things can change rapidly such as they have been the last couple of years, it’s important to keep flexibility in mind when designing an office with Toronto office furniture.
When you need to restructure the office take a look at furniture that can be moved easily from one area to the next. This may include the need for smaller cubicles, chairs with wheels, Toronto office furniture storage solutions that can be moved easily and much, much more.
Flexibility has always been important since businesses are expecting to expand in the future and to experience huge growth. This pandemic has also taught us that flexibility must be accounted for in terms of office furniture since we never really know what the future has in store for us.
Office Furniture for a Safer Conference Room
While we are still working within the confines of the pandemic another idea that will help make your conference room even safer is to set up Plexiglas barriers between individuals. These Plexiglas shields help prevent the spread of the virus. The clear look they provide gives the room an open feel while at the same time providing each worker with safe privacy.
Office dividers can also be used to section off areas of the room as required. Policies can be put in place for usage of the conference room with certain departments or teams using the space at different times. The ventilation system in the room should be checked as well and a filtration system can be set up to limit the amount of germs that may be floating around in the air.
Use screens, dividers and panels to encourage social distancing in all areas of the office. These furniture pieces provide a constant reminder to employees that social distancing is required at all times. A healthy workplace has never been more important than it is now. It’s time to align your office furniture in Toronto with certain guidelines to keep employees as safe as they can impossibly be.
The conference area should be kept as open as possible to encourage circulation and to prevent germs from congregating as much as possible. If there are any windows in the office space they should be kept open when at all possible when meetings are taking place. As well, cleaning of the conference room and all the Toronto office furniture should be done either after every meeting.
When you need office furniture in Toronto to create a safer work space think of GW Furniture first. If you require a larger office conference table to accommodate the demands of the post Covid-19 era or new Toronto office furniture, visit our website at www.gwfurniture.ca.