Editorial Staff

Study: Safely Reopening Office Buildings Will Require Planning, Innovation

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Managers need to enable efficient operations, follow social distancing guidelines

BOSTON – Safely bringing employees back into workplaces presents a significant challenge for employers located in office buildings, particularly when it comes to elevator operations and building entry and exit.  To address the challenge, managers must develop plans to control the flow of workers, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

“Balancing necessary social distancing guidelines and the need for employees to efficiently access offices will require innovation and careful planning,” said Rebekah Paxton, author of “Going Up: The Challenge of Reopening Shared Office Buildings in a COVID-19 World.”

May 25 was the official opening date for most Massachusetts office buildings—albeit with considerable conditions set forth in government guidance documents, while Boston buildings reopen on June 1.

Looking internationally, the One Canada Square building in London anticipates it can accommodate the expected volume of tenants and guests by moving up to 7,500 people per hour.  To do so, building managers have developed a system of designated doorless entry and exit to the building, elevators operated by PPE-equipped staff, and an estimated four-to-six-person elevator occupancy limit.

One Canada Square, with its 32 elevators that serve 50 floors, underscores a challenge for some of Boston’s most iconic properties. Boston’s Prudential Tower, for example, has 18 elevators serving 52 floors, according to a database compiled by The Skyscraper Center.  This may result in bottlenecks in the time of COVID-19.

Massachusetts’ reopening guidelines call for a limit of 25 percent of maximum workplace occupancy to limit the number of people entering office buildings and minimize back-ups in hallways, stairwells and elevator banks.  State recommendations specific to general office buildings advise managers and employees to “minimize use of confined spaces (i.e. elevators) by more than one individual at a time.” On Friday, May 29, the City of Boston released a “Return to Workplace Framework for Commercial Spaces,” which encompasses existing guidelines provided by the state for office buildings, and additionally limits elevator capacity to no more than four individuals at a time.

Employers are also developing a range of ways to manage reopening challenges.  Qualtrics, which has 25 offices across the United States, is identifying volunteers to take the stairs.  New York City-based Interpublic is taping social distancing blocks on elevator floors to show how many people can safely ride at once.  But a company official cautioned that this would translate to “two-to-three hours” to get all employees to their desks at one Interpublic location.

Technology can help address the challenge, and the report highlights examples of how various technologies can help facilitate the safe movement of individuals in multi-story buildings.  For example, Otis, an elevator technology company in London, provides apps that allow customers to call elevators with smartphones. QLess, a California-based app developer, provides apps that facilitate remote line formation, where users can be given an elevator wait time, during which they can be outside the lobby or even in their cars.

For social distancing and workplace efficiency to coexist successfully, Paxton urges that all those who can work from home continue to do so, and that employers implement flexible in-office days and staggered scheduling for those needing to access physical offices.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebekah Paxton is a Research Analyst at Pioneer Institute. She first joined Pioneer in 2017 as a Roger Perry intern, writing about various transparency issues within the Commonwealth, including fiscal policy and higher education. Since then, she has worked on various research projects under PioneerPublic and PioneerOpportunity, in areas of state finance, public policy, and labor relations. She recently earned an M.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Political Science and Economics, from Boston University, where she graduated summa cum laude.

ABOUT PIONEER

Mission

Pioneer Institute develops and communicates dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond.

Vision

Success for Pioneer is when the citizens of our state and nation prosper and our society thrives because we enjoy world-class options in education, healthcare, transportation and economic opportunity, and when our government is limited, accountable and transparent.

Values

Pioneer believes that America is at its best when our citizenry is well-educated, committed to liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise, and both willing and able to test their beliefs based on facts and the free exchange of ideas.

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Posts

Alzheimer Breakthrough Disillusionment: Confusion on FDA’s Approval of Expensive and Possibly Ineffective Drug

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with precision medicine expert Hannah Mamuszka and Pioneer Institute's Bill Smith about the promises and pitfalls of the newly approved Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, and the challenges presented when new, expensive drugs of dubious benefit are introduced to the nation’s formulary.

Umesh Bhuju Seeks a Fair Deal for Immigrants, Farmers & the Environment

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Umesh Bhuju, owner of Zumi’s Espresso in Ipswich, Massachusetts, about how a business model based on selling nothing but fair-trade products can thrive in a world driven by profit. He describes his early experiences in his homeland of Nepal, where he witnessed child labor, and how that has shaped his pursuit of the American dream.

New York Times Best Seller Paul Reid on Winston Churchill, WWII, & the Cold War

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and guest co-host Kerry McDonald talk with Paul Reid, co-author, with William Manchester, of the New York Times best-selling biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965. Reid shares how he was enlisted to complete William Manchester’s biographical trilogy on the greatest political figure of the 20th century, which became a best-seller.

Comparing Covid-19 Vaccination and New Infection Rates in Suffolk County: Is Vaccination Working?

0 Comments
/
Massachusetts ranks fourth nationally for the highest percent…

The People’s House The U.S. House Representatives – 40 Resources for High School Students

American schoolchildren need to know more about the basic civics and history of our key democratic institutions. To remedy this, we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and high schoolers:

Dr. Babak Movassaghi on Winning in Football & Healthcare Innovation

0 Comments
/
This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Dr. Babak Movassaghi, founder of InfiniteMD (acquired last summer by ConsumerMedical), which connects patients with top U.S. medical professionals through second-opinion video consultations, guiding patients to better care. When the world shut down due to COVID-19, Dr. Movassaghi's company was already prepared to serve patients via telehealth. In this episode, they discuss his fascinating pivot from physics and professional football in Germany, to healthcare and innovation here in the U.S., an extension of his ability to navigate multiple identities as an Iranian-German living the American Dream.

COVID-19 and Unemployment Rates in the Cape and Islands 

0 Comments
/
  The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on unemployment…

Nina Rees on the 30th Anniversary of Charter Public Schools in America

This week on “The Learning Curve," Gerard and Cara celebrate the 30th anniversary of charter schools with Nina Rees, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

This Is No Time for a Tax Increase

This is no time to threaten Massachusetts’ prospects for an immediate economic recovery and the long-term competitiveness of the Commonwealth’s businesses. As Massachusetts lawmakers prepare to vote on whether to send a proposed constitutional amendment that would impose a 4 percent surtax on residents who earn $1 million or more in a year to the statewide ballot in 2022, Pioneer Institute urges them to recognize that tax policy sizably impacts business and job location decisions and that jobs are more mobile than ever.

The Spirit Enlightened Celebrating Classical Music – 50 Resources for High School Students

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Celebrating Classical Music.

Putting in the Extra Hours: The Spike in Mass. Department of Public Health Overtime Pay during COVID-19

During the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) payroll data presented a 29.09% increase in the average employee’s overtime pay from the previous year. Pioneer wanted to dig deeper into the Department’s compensation trends to put the $5M bump in 2020 DPH overtime pay into perspective.

Jitka Borowick on Starting a Small Business during COVID

0 Comments
/
This week on JobMakers, Guest Host Jo Napolitano talks with Jitka Borowick, Founder & CEO of Cleangreen, a cleaning service committed to environmentally-friendly practices, and Nove Yoga, launched during COVID. Jitka grew up under communism in the Czech Republic. Determined to learn English, she made her way to the U.S., initially with plans to stay for only one year - but ended up making it her home. Jitka shares the difficulties of learning another language and culture, her pathway to entrepreneurship, her courageous decision to open a new business during a pandemic, and how her companies have successfully adapted to the challenges so many small businesses have encountered over the past year.