Coronavirus: coworking as a recipe against greater spread
The coronavirus is spreading epidemically, and there is currently no end in sight. On the one hand, this unsettles employees; on the other hand, employers have a duty. The coronavirus also poses a business risk. Corporates consider office splitting and coworking as part of business continuity management to be an effective means of combating the rapid spread.
Enforcing protective measures is a huge challenge for companies. Everyone finds it hard to resist habits like shaking hands. And what if, despite all the protective measures, several people in a department are flu-ridden at the same time or catch the corona virus and are put out of action for a while? This is a horror scenario for any company, because it disrupts work processes and supply chains and seriously jeopardizes productivity and the ability to maintain business operations. Which also puts jobs at risk.
Office splitting: a remedy for the spread of coronavirus
No employer wants to run the risk of entire departments coming to a standstill. Since cross-collaboration is a challenge for teams when working from home over a longer period of time, companies have to look for solutions. For example, according to Credit Suisse's NZZ employees in business-critical functions are split into different offices. Step by step, office splitting is to be extended to other departments.
Coworking: 20 % more requests due to coronavirus.
Social distancing can be implemented in the office through office splitting. This way, if one employee is infected, all other team members are not immediately at risk - and business operations are maintained. Companies split teams by having half of the employees work in non-owned office space to minimize the risk of contagion. Since not all companies have appropriate physical structures to split departments, coworking providers are currently in high demand. According to Roger Krieg, CEO of Switzerland's largest coworking provider OfficeLAB, demand for coworking space has already increased by 20 % in recent days.
High Security Rooms
With companies under extreme pressure, Krieg says flexibility and agility are needed across all locations. Krieg continues, "Companies want to split their premises immediately - overnight." One is even able to set up individual security rooms - a so-called war room - in a very short time, he says.
Author:
Roman Probst is a communications and sales professional with BA in Corporate Communications and Journalism and CAS in Digital Marketing. Experienced in company building and development up to sales. Multiple awards in marketing communication and as an entrepreneur.
www.marketing-probst.ch
