Genesee News

As companies begin to reopen after the COVID-19 shutdowns, the “new normal” will be dramatically different than what existed during the pre-pandemic days, Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of Startup Nation, told WJR's "The Paul W. Smith Show."

“For the significant majority of companies, the great migration back into offices and work spaces around the country is underway,” Sloan said on the program. “Returning to work in some capacity is picking up momentum among some companies in the U.S.,” he told Smith.

The new buzzword for office reopenings is “de-densification,” according to Sloan.

Jeff Sloan, CEO StartupNation | LinkedIn

“The trick is going to be how to get people to work together in a way that increases collaboration but decreases the fear factor of being on top of one another, or too close to one another, as was the case during the ‘old normal,” Sloan said on the radio show.

Before the pandemic hit, open floor plans were popular in offices, but that is going by the wayside.

“Companies are having to rethink the merits of that, and at a minimum, companies are having to do extensive retooling of existing space to meet these requirements,” Sloan told Smith.

Get ready for walls, Sloan warned the audience.

“Both permanent and for cubicles,” he told Smith. “And certainly, spacing of each worker will be expanded.”

Workers will likely have the same amount of work space as before COVID-19, but there will be fewer people in that space at any given time.

There will be strict capacity guidelines for all rooms and spaces, as well as “physical demarcations in large conference rooms telling people where they can and can’t sit."

“Temporary dividers will be erected to keep people intentionally apart from one another, and there are even conversations around getting rid of the idea of a centralized headquarters and going with a series of smaller satellite offices instead,” Sloan said on the program.

The goal is to optimize productivity while still ensuring employee safety.

“Get ready for the great coming de-densification of the American office workspace,” Sloan told the audience.