With the arrival of the Omicron variant, and the possibility of a Covid resurgence, the prospect of mass reopenings for businesses across America remains unsettled. As vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson hindered the spread of Covid-19 throughout most of the spring and early summer, corporations, at times in lockstep with municipal directives, began planning for a business-as-usual future. But the return of the traditional nine-to-five workday was more of a trickle than a flood. In New York City, for example, less than 30% of the workforce has returned to office environments, and the Pittsburgh business community has been struggling with the question of office returns as well.
Whether or not occupancy rates ever reach pre-pandemic levels is uncertain. In grappling with a volatile situation that concerns corporate interests as well as public health, major tech firms and CEOs are responding as conditions change. Both Google and Apple recently rolled back mandatory office returns, and Facebook extended its work-from-home policy to all employees for the foreseeable future.
“Preferences are changing during this pandemic,” Tim Ryan, the U.S. chairman of the accounting and consulting firm PwC, told the New York Times. “We knew that there’s a segment of our people who would like not just to work flexibly, which we already had in place, but to work completely virtually.” PwC recently announced that its employees could work remotely on a permanent basis.
What is certain, however, is this: corporations can no longer afford to take the working environment for granted. Over the last few years, employers have recognized the importance of workspaces that emphasize the health and well-being of their staff, an approach that increases productivity and allows companies to retain premium talent.
One aspect of a healthy environment that has lagged behind holistic and ergonomic principles is indoor air quality (IAQ). Before Covid-19 hit, indoor air quality generally referred to managing temperature, humidity, and pollutants to ensure comfort. When it comes to air quality, employees have worked, generally speaking, under less-than-optimum conditions. Not only can poor indoor air quality negatively affect mood and cognition, but it can also aggravate pre-existing respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. Now, on the heels of the pandemic, indoor air quality is more important than ever.
Indoor air quality in the age of Covid can no longer be considered a cheap perk; it is now a critical factor to the bottom line, in more ways than one. As Joe Allen, author of the book Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity, pointed out in the Atlantic, “Beyond helping end the pandemic, better ventilation and filtration will make everyone healthier and more productive. Once constructed, buildings are slow to change, as owners put off upgrades that will yield long-term gains. But Covid-19 will prompt people to ask more questions about their workplaces—and will force the hand of employers and building owners.”
From now on, mitigating airborne pathogens will become a crucial aspect of the office environment. Indoor spaces with poor ventilation and low air change rates are prime vectors for the transmission of viruses. Exposure is another key factor in office settings. The average American workday—ostensibly eight hours, although many employees go far beyond that standard—means millions of people are gathered in enclosed spaces for extended periods of time that may inadvertently promote the transmission of Covid.
In addition, the possibility that an employee may test positive for Covid means that the entire staff is at risk of being quarantined, disrupting operations for days or weeks and contributing to anxiety levels for a workforce already frazzled from nearly two years of life under a pandemic.
Modifying office configurations (common areas, open plans, cubicles, etc.) can help reduce the spread of respiratory aerosols, but this low-fi approach is hardly a solution. And while there has been plenty of theorizing about the future office, most pre-existing buildings operate on codes that specify “acceptable” standards. That means retrofitting current spaces to ensure indoor air quality that not only offsets pollutants but minimizes the risk of contracting Covid.
High-performance buildings, for years the standard for healthy architecture and a design model that expands the concept of sustainability, are the likeliest answers to the question of office spaces and transmissible viruses.
Keeping an office completely free of pollutants is nearly impossible, but a sophisticated HVAC system, strategic ventilating schemes, and monitors that offer real-time monitoring can cut airborne pathogens considerably.
Given the probability that Covid will become endemic, an unpleasant aspect of everyday life in the future, upgrades in HVAC systems and ventilation will likely be as common as the office water cooler. Returning to pre-pandemic jobs in a healthy building—one where air quality supersedes minimum code standards—will keep employees safe, minimize turnover, aid in protecting the public, and maintain day-to-day cohesion for companies.
For corporations and employees alike, the development of healthy buildings focusing on air quality has become more than just an amenity or a long-term business investment: It has become a necessity.