Dauphin’s Gary Chin Quoted in ASID Article “Returning to the Workplace”

As part of the ASID Q&A series, The At-Home Front–Week 9 Returning to the Workplace, i + D Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer Quail, asked Dauphin President, Gary Chin, “How will office design—corporate offices, home offices, and/or your own office—change as a result of COVID-19?”  This was his answer:

In the short term, corporate office design will immediately incorporate the basics to offer employees a “safe” environment to return to:

How will office design—corporate offices, home offices, and/or your own office—change as a result of COVID-19?

• Cleaning/Sanitation stations will be posted in multiple areas and cleaning “rituals” will be the norm.
• Alternating schedules between stay at home and come to work, for those workers who must come to the office for specific projects.
• Staggered times for eating in the cafeteria/break rooms.
• Current workstations will be spread out, pending space available. If it is not possible to spread out the furniture, then alternating attendance by workers will solve the same problem.
• Screens/panels/barriers of non-porous materials will be placed to separate workers. These will either be on work surfaces and/or free standing.

In the longer term:

• Voice activated doors and tables, thus hands-free adjustments.
• Existing furniture to be reupholstered with anti-microbial materials, i.e. silver-ion woven into the fabric that is bacteria resistant.
• Hard surfaces to be specified that are easy to clean/disinfect, with built in bacteria resistance.
• UV lighting systems to be installed that will be turned on after hours to kill bacteria built up during the work day.
• Sensors to take temperature readings of workers prior to entering the offices.
• Sensors to inform how many people are present in a specific area.
• Work surfaces and collaborative lounge furniture with built-in front and side panels of non-porous materials that can be easily cleaned multiple times without scratching.
• Chairs will have adjustments without having to touch knobs/handles.
• One way direction hallways or paths.

In regard to home offices, when we sent our marketing, admin, and engineering staff to work from home, they immediately appreciated the ergonomic chairs they were accustomed to when working at our office, and we allowed our staff to take their office chairs home with them at their convenience.

Click here to read the complete ASID article.