The post-pandemic workplace will hardly look like the one we left behind

The Washington Post writes, “As Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and other states took steps to reopen their economies this week, and Boeing workers came back to their jobs after a three-week furlough, businesses, design firms, real estate developers and corporate advisers are starting to envision how a return to the office will work.”

In the article, titled “The post-pandemic workplace will hardly look like the one we left behind,” Chief Operating Officer Robert K. Burger highlights Sterne Kessler’s commitment to continuing best practices in innovative and efficient office design. Weighing the impact of the virus on office layout, Burger said, “‘I don’t think people are going to want to work sitting two inches away from each other.'” In looking forward to the firm’s future office space, he noted that “‘Everything is now on the table.'”

By way of background, the firm successfully adapted its full 400-person workforce to remote work as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the US and achieved 100% operational status on March 16, 2020. The success of the transition shows the viability of furthering alternative work arrangements that were already underway at the firm prior to the current crisis, which may result in a reduction of the firm’s brick and mortar footprint.