Workplace Distractions/Designing for Back to Work

If your teams are working from home to stay safe during the pandemic, you have the chance to update your office without creating inconvenience. You’ll also want to create a back to work strategy that limits the risks of transmission and helps everyone transition back to the office. Here are a few ways you can cut office distractions and create a safe environment for returning employees.

Provide Desk Dividers
The dreaded cube farms of yesteryear may have been visually unappealing, but they did offer one benefit—privacy. In an open office layout, visual and auditory distractions can make it difficult for your employees to focus. Using Ghent’s Acoustic Desktop Surround, you can give each employee their own distraction-free zone while maintaining the community of an open office. These dividers are easy to clean and disinfect, as well as absorb noise making it easier to ignore chatter and other distractions.

Put Up Acoustic Panels
Take an extra step toward dampening noise by putting up Hex Acoustic Panels. These pieces of functional art hang on the walls and absorb noise so your office won’t echo. Hex panels are also available in glass, fabric, and powder-coated steel finishes. Your employees will appreciate the quieter, more functional workspace, and the colorful geometric segments will blend right in with your office’s design.

Add Protective Shields
While the pandemic lasts, it’s important to protect your employees. Ghent offers a wide range of products to protect workers and customers alike while maintaining your business’ professional image.  Provide extra protection between workstations with Panel Extenders, protect cashiers or receptionists with a countertop protective shield, and partition waiting areas or break areas with a Mobile Divider. No matter how your office is laid out, Ghent can help you adapt to these unprecedented times.

Rethink Your Office Space
At its core, adapting to the pandemic requires a rethinking of spatial relations in your office. That means spacing out workstations, reducing conference room capacity, and providing workspace dividers in areas where providing greater distance isn’t feasible. If your workforce is large enough, you may consider an alternating work schedule, where roughly half of your teams come in to work certain days and the other half work remotely.

However your office needs to adapt, Ghent can help you create a safe, socially distanced workplace. Their products are custom-made in the USA, ship fully assembled, and are easy to install. Learn more about their full line of back to work products as you reimagine your workspace.