As workers begin to trickle back into the workplace, the logistics around health, hygiene and visitor management must be reviewed. Here are the tech solutions businesses are embracing

While working from home is still widespread, offices in countries where it is safe to return are cautiously welcoming workers back for the first time in months – or even over a year. Despite the ways in which Covid-19 has challenged the workplace, technology is rising to the occasion: from touch-free sensors to AI-empowered camera systems, here are a few of the innovations getting us safely and positively back into the workplace.

1. Touch-free buildings

To avoid physical contact with frequently used surfaces, landlords and businesses are introducing ‘touch-free’ navigation of buildings. Apps such as Proxy grant users access to buildings using their smartphone; instead of tapping in a pin or swiping a pass, a sensor detects the user’s device and opens doors.

Lifts have proved particularly tricky to make Covid-safe. Some offices are exploring solutions such as gesture detection technologies: Ultraleap’s Stratos product uses infrared sensors to track hand movements and can be adapted to button panels. Similarly, in China, startup EASPEED helped retrofit lifts with holographic buttons using a glass mirror and an electric sensor to detect finger movements in the air.

Voice-enabled devices and appliances can also help to reduce physical contact when entering workspaces or setting up meeting rooms – something that Zoom recognised when it introduced the feature for their video conferencing software.

2. Occupancy sensors

With social distancing likely to continue for some time, building managers will need to rely on real time footfall data in order to make better decisions about how a property functions, and help minimise contact between its occupants.

Sensors can be fitted to lifts and escalators to measure the occupancy of an entire building or individual floors at any given time. This capability can be supplemented with occupancy analytics that allow the measurement of people in specific areas of a building – some technology even sounding an alert when the maximum number is exceeded.

For example, VergeSense’s AI-powered sensors track employees on the job, allowing landlords, building managers and employers to see in real time who is in an office, what areas are in use and whether occupancy capacities have been reached. This will help companies strategise around who is using their property and when, ensuring they are making the most efficient use of it.

3. Hybrid communication tools

Firms of all sizes are embracing a hybrid model of working, which retains an office but allows employees to spend a portion of the week working remotely, often from suburban or rural workspaces nearer to their homes. In response, meeting and conference rooms will need to be transformed to ensure collaboration and communication can still continue seamlessly, with colleagues beamed in on video screens to join in-person teammates.

Meetings software GoToMeeting has tackled glitchy company-wide meetings by supporting smoother, part-digital gatherings or training sessions with up to 3,000 people attending remotely. To minimise disruptions in the remote working experience, Microsoft has developed an AI-powered noise-reduction feature for Teams that automatically mutes ambient sounds during meetings.

For many, video conferencing tools fall short of physical, in-person interaction: some remote participants report that it’s harder to read non-verbal cues in meetings; others that it’s more difficult to contribute or make their ideas heard via video link. With this in mind, Microsoft has also introduced a 'raise your hand' feature to indicate when a meeting participant wishes to speak. On the HR and management front, manager-to-employee platforms such as 15Five create an ongoing dashboard of career development and feedback, to ensure remote workers get the same level of mentoring and support as their colleagues in the office.

4. Autonomous cleaning

Autonomous cleaning machines have been on the rise since the pandemic, with hospitals around the world deploying them since last spring. Some radiate ultraviolet light to kill germs and viruses, while others work as ‘foggers’, spreading a mist of disinfectant around the area. It’s easy to see how they could be used in offices too.

While motion sensor hand sanitisers and wipes are likely to increase in communal areas of the workplace, higher-tech products such as the UV Angel Adapt uses light treatment to clean surfaces like monitors and keyboards whenever they are not in use.

Hygiene in bathrooms is also crucial to limiting virus transmission. Idaho-based company Washie has created a toilet seat that dispenses cleaner from a sensor, allowing employees to clean the seat before use. Occupancy sensors, such as those offered by Tooshlights can also alert people to when the facilities are in use and control the amount of people entering the bathroom. Data collected can also help with planning for cleaning by showing when the busiest times are.

5. Health and safety screening

Keeping staff healthy and reducing the transmission of Covid and other viruses is likely to continue being a top priority. There will therefore need to be an effective screening process before people enter the office.

One way to do that is a temperature check. But manually checking the temperature of everyone who walks in the door is not only impractical, it can lead to contamination of thermometers. Instead, contactless devices can be easily adopted: as well as handheld infrared devices, thermal imaging solutions can be used to detect and measure staff temperatures as they enter and exit.

Health and safety technology doesn’t end there: to ensure safety measures such as social distancing and PPE protocols are being followed, some companies will employ AI-powered ‘computer vision’ technology to aid their existing security cameras around the workplace. Using facial recognition, this type of software can track and measure compliance with health guidelines such as distancing and mask-wearing, collecting data through workplace camera systems to produce daily reports and correct recurring problems along the way. Algorithms are trained on image libraries to identify objects with confidence of 80% or higher.

Flexible workspace is the fastest-growing sector of the global workplace market. Find out how IWG can help transform your property into a hybrid workspace.