When COVID-19 hit, suddenly many of us had to adjust to an entirely new work atmosphere. Social distancing became crucial to slowing the spread, and within weeks, remote working arrangements became the norm for more than half of the country. Now, even with many businesses around the country reopening, many people have mixed feelings about returning to the office. As of mid-May, 7 in 10 American workers were still working remotely all or part of the time, and just 1 in 4 say that they would return to the office if it was up to them.¹

As they look to reopen, businesses may need to find innovative solutions that will reassure their workers that they are taking serious precautions to protect employee health. 

Masks and temperature checks may become more common in the workplace, at least for a while. But the increased desire to maintain social distancing, and the potential for future temporary regional lockdowns to prevent a second wave, may help fuel some bigger changes and modernizations in many offices. Here are some of the new technologies and services that can help businesses provide a safe working environment while also adding new conveniences and cost-saving opportunities.

Contactless Lobbies

Protecting against a virus that can easily spread through common interactions will mean limiting as much face-to-face communication as possible. That person-to-person contact often begins with a greeting in the reception area, but that no longer needs to be the case. Exela’s Intelligent Kiosks enable guests to check in with zero human interaction. Greet guests with a pre-recorded message rather than a living, breathing, potentially contagious human, and allow them to self-register, confirm their arrival, get directions, and print their guest badge. The kiosk will even send an automated notification to the host so that they know exactly where the guest is and when they arrived.

Of course, sometimes it’s nice to be able to interact with an actual human rather than a software system, despite the threat of transferable illnesses. If a guest requires assistance with the check-in process, the Intelligent Kiosk allows them to summon a Virtual Lobby Ambassador at any time via text, audio, or video chat. A Virtual Lobby Ambassador will assist your guests with their needs or answer any questions they may have.

Mobile Facility Passes

The fact that we all carry devices capable of receiving emails and image files without physical contact can make it much easier to continue to follow social distancing guidelines, even as offices reopen. For example, a Mobile Facility Pass, stored on a visitor’s smartphone, allows both employees and guests a contactless solution for displaying security clearance. It can also be used to share useful information like maps of the building or WiFi login information, all without the need for face-to-face interaction. 

Intelligent Lockers

As we all adjust to the constraints of social distancing, contactless delivery has become a popular option for those hoping to make purchases and support businesses without risking the trip to potentially crowded shopping centers or stores. Smart lockers enable contactless delivery in a number of ways, while also providing a convenient storage option for employees.

Exela’s Intelligent Lockers can be accessed through the built-in touchscreen interface, but they can just as well be integrated with RFID, QR code, or biometric recognition technologies for a fully touchless experience. Intelligent Lockers offer flexible layouts and designs, improved access controls, anytime availability, and complete chain-of-custody tracking. They provide an excellent contactless means of exchanging, shipping, receiving, or storing goods.

Digital Mailrooms

Intelligent Lockers are great at limiting face-to-face interactions in the delivery process, but a fully integrated Digital Mailroom can take it even one step further. With Digital Mailroom, your physical mail is rerouted to a secure processing facility where it can be scanned and digitized with advanced ICR and OCR technology for completely electronic delivery. This not only helps keep your workers safe, but also centralizes your communications, and enables remote workers to access important business mail from wherever they happen to be.

Final Thoughts

Exela Smart Office solutions like these make it easier for workers to return to the office with confidence. The convenience and security these solutions provide will help keep people safe, put minds at ease, and help everyone adjust to the next normal.

COVID-19 is impacting more than just the way businesses operate their physical offices. Learn more about how the pandemic is speeding up companies’ digital transformation.

1. https://news.gallup.com/poll/311375/reviewing-remote-work-covid.aspx

When Leo Tolstoy began his novel, Anna Karenina with the line, “All happy families are alike,” he wasn’t kidding...and he wasn’t just talking about families. The so-called “Anna Karenina” principle, which holds that successful organizations and endeavors have in common certain essential qualities (whereas failure occurs in myriad ways), has been said to apply not only to families but to all organized structures --from microbiomes¹ to the stock market². It applies equally to company culture as well. So what do all successful businesses have in common?

Hint: it’s a trick question

You wouldn’t be wrong to say that all successful businesses have happy customers. However, happy customers are only possible with happy employees. Happy employees drive growth, empower innovation, and engender creativity in the workplace.³ And what do all employees want? Well, a good 99% of them want to be able to work remotely at least some of the time, according to Buffer’s State of Remote Work Report. Luckily, Buffer also found that 91% of business owners support remote work, which, of course, means that 91% of businesses must be successful, right?

Yeah, no. So, what’s with the disconnect? According to Mark Fairchild, Smart Office president, the disconnect happens between supporting remote work and actually having the infrastructure to make remote work...work. In a recent article for Chief Executive, Mark offers three key best practices for supporting remote work:

Keep the lines of communication open

Did you know that only 40% of American workers think email is an effective form of communication? The overuse of email as the primary communication tool among employees has resulted in more than half of all professionals experiencing increased stress levels and nearly half missing project deadlines. “If your company hasn’t updated its means of internal daily communication, this is your next step,” writes Mark, who recommends using:

• Internal chat tools, which can help employees track down their mobile colleagues more quickly
• Video-conferencing platforms, which make face-time possible even remotely
• Document-sharing platforms to permit easy (but secure) access to data

Here is how Exela empowers global, mobile teams with secure, high-speed communications, including text messaging, video chat, web conferencing, file sharing, and mass notification capabilities.

Take training digital

“Once your company has the digital workflows in place to allow for remote work, you need to think about how you can effectively train new employees from virtually anywhere in the world,” Mark advises. “For onboarding and employee certification and retraining, digitized training tools offer significant value.” Such tools are in use within Exela (I used them in onboarding and continue to do so for periodic training). We make them available to our customers as well. Our Learning and Development solutions offer the ability to plan, publish, and deliver self-paced online courses for employees to keep them up to date on the latest information and certifications.

Manage your space

Although increasing your remote workforce reduces the need for fixed desk assignments, that doesn’t let you off the hook with regard to maintaining a positive, engaging physical space. In fact, a full 83% of employess surveyed by Buffer expressed a preference for working in the office at least some of the time. “Managing real estate with a varying occupancy rate can be challenging,” Mark notes. One of those challenges is in predicting facility usage needs. Outfitting facilities with sensors powered by the Internet of Things offers a viable solution, providing real-time occupancy details as well as long-term analytical reports to help effectively manage office space.

“As physical location becomes less relevant to business operations, digital communication and collaboration solutions will continue to grow more vital,” Mark concludes. “Companies that embrace this trend will have many new opportunities to save money, attract the best talent and increase productivity overall — now and into the future.”

1. https://science.oregonstate.edu/IMPACT/2017/08/anna-karenina-principle-unhappy-microbiomes
2. https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/the-stock-market-and-the-anna-karenina-principle-15075703
3. https://www.tlnt.com/the-next-great-employee-benefit-a-better-office/