COVID-19 is not only changing the way we live, it’s changing the way we work. With much of the country, and world, facing uncertainty, remote working can feel like an added burden on top of an already stressful situation.

Deep. Breaths.

We are in this together and NELSON designers from across the country are sharing their favorite workplace tips, tricks, and recommendations to create an at-home office environment that feels comfortable, functional, and uniquely you.

It might not be ideal, but it’s the new normal, so let’s make the best of it!

Create a dedicated space that’s functional

Whether you have access to a private room or you’re working within 500 square feet, make sure to carve out a dedicated space to work (that’s not your bed), so you are able differentiate your work hours with your personal time.

• Try to create a space away from other activity (you don’t want this to be a multi-functional space, if possible).
• Make your space comfortable and ergonomic. Some furniture companies have even been loaning out ergonomic desk chairs to help the transition.
• Consider your table/desk and chair height. Your legs and arms should be bent at a 90-degree angle to prevent back aches and carpal tunnel.
• Use a stool under your feet (or box, yoga block, or whatever you have handy) if your chair is too high, to bring your legs to the right position.
• Your computer screen should be an arm’s length away from you and should be placed even farther if you have a larger-than-normal screen size.
• Your eyesight should be straight forward at the screen (your eyes should be at center or 1/3 from the top of the screen), not looking down to prevent headaches. Prop up your screen with books if it isn’t high enough.
• Consider your background for video calls. Try to avoid messy or busy-looking backdrops, instead look for bookcases, organized shelving, or solid colored walls. It’s also good to have a consistent light source, either a window or lamp to the side of you, but not behind you which will make you hard to see on camera.
• Try and keep your work surface clean and organized.
• Have a notepad handy to capture meeting minutes, reminders, and ideas as they come to you throughout the day, so you don’t have to get up.
• Choose a well-lit area and think about adding a task light for additional exposure.
• If possible, face a window so you have access to natural light and a stimulating view.
• Surround yourself with plants or flowers. If you don’t have indoor plants, pick greenery from your yard, purchase a bouquet at the grocery, or even utilize fake plants to replicate the feeling of the outdoors.
• It is also important to remember all our WELL initiatives when working from home… to learn more check out our latest post on how to stay WELL while remote!

Stick to a routine

Creating a routine and sticking to it can add normalcy during this time of uncertainty. Consider these tips to help you form a routine while working from home:

• Develop a new routine as soon as possible and stick to it! Developing new habits will help you adapt to and normalize your new work environment (this can also help other family members better adjust to the change).
• Make sure you wake-up and go to bed at your normal hours.
• It is easy to lose track of time, so think about setting an alarm for breaks, meetings, or quitting time.
• It helps to get ready for the day as if you were going into the office (get out of those pajamas).
• Set a hard schedule for a lunch break and make sure to get up, walk around, and disconnect from work.
• Just like a normal day at the office, make sure to stay connected – embrace video conferencing and webcams so you can see your teammates, clients, and partners.
• It is OK to schedule online social time to have conversations with no agenda (or better yet a virtual happy hour at 5:00) … everyone needs a break throughout the day.
• Finally, make sure to give yourself something to look forward to at the end of your workday – whether that’s a glass of wine, video game time, or walking your dog in silence, let that be a daily celebration.

Take advantage of the perks

While it might be hard to look on the bright side during this time, remote working allows us the added benefit of freedom. We have the ability to customize our work experience – whether that’s with music, scent, or location. Make sure you take advantage of it.

• Don’t underestimate the power of scent. Light a candle, get an oil diffuser, or use incense. Finding a calming scent can help you reduce stress, to create your own Zen moment in your day.
• Play music that inspires you, calms you, or energizes you.
• Walk around while on a conference call, go outside to write an email, or sit on a comfy couch while reviewing a document – we have the ability to customize our work environment.
• Exercise at lunchtime or take your kids out to play. Remember a healthy body equals a healthy mind, so don’t forget to get some fresh air.
• Write, draw, or express creatively about the experience. Someday, this will be the story you and your kids will tell their kids or grandchildren.

Stay inspired

Just because we’re trapped inside, doesn’t mean we should stop learning. Check out some of the great resources below to stay motivated, curious, and creatively inspired!

• Take up to 12 virtual tours of some of the world’s most famous museums.
• Check out MailChimp’s #SupportTheShorts, a project that includes free online streaming of short films that were due to screen at SXSW, but never had a chance due to coronavirus.
• Listen to a new creative podcast like Clever, Design Matters, or 99% Invisible.
• Thanks to Creative Boom, you can download and print a fresh, new coloring book from some of the biggest names in the creative community, to give your mind a break (adult-approved).
• Want more tips on how to successfully work from home? Check out LinkedIn’s new Remote Working Series with curated content to set yourself and your teams up for success.
• Check out our Creative Fuel posts for on-going creative inspiration from the entire NELSON Worldwide team!

This post is a collaborative effort from NELSON teammates: Amy Leigh Hufford, Jenniffer Torres, Roslyn zumBrunnen, Holly Williamson, Hector Fernandez, Danijel Pocanic, Alan Dandron, and Nicole Keeler.

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Top Five Best Practices for Designing Small Healthcare Spaces

As more healthcare providers seek out leases in retail properties, what design considerations come into play – and is size everything? For part two in our series, we’re taking a closer look at the challenges of meeting the design requirements for first-rate outpatient facilities within the unique surroundings of retail and storefront property.

With the shift away from medical office buildings toward retail, healthcare tenants are looking to minimize higher lease costs by cutting back on space. The oft-repeated corporate adage of doing more with less becomes especially important for these facilities. Healthcare providers also must find ways to assimilate to high-traffic, retail-oriented areas to appeal to and capture needed patient volumes. And when those patients enter the facility, providers need to deliver on the promise of a positive healthcare experience in limited space.

In a consumer-driven marketplace, medical tenants can make savvy and strategic decisions about how they plan and fit out their ambulatory facilities to maximize quality and cost savings. Our top five recommended best practices are:

Maximize staff efficiency

This is just as important in small spaces as it is in large hospitals. Analyze how the staff works. Lay out the space to minimize workflow distances, remembering that personnel costs make up a significant proportion of operational costs. Understand points of movement – where do nurses go to get their supplies? Will patients travel far for diagnostic procedures? How do clerks handle registration and check-out? Being clear on workflow will make the best use of the space.

Utilize circulation space

Circulation space presents a good opportunity within smaller spaces to accommodate additional patient care and work areas. Creating alcoves in hallways to accomplish functions such as registration or queuing can maximize their efficiency and still provide pleasant areas for patients and staff.

Provide flexibility for expansion

Healthcare is always evolving – built-in flexibility and adaptability can address these changes. Allow exam rooms to serve multiple specialties. Strategically locate soft spaces such as office, storage rooms and lounges in areas where they can be repurposed for patient care areas. Plan for how the space could expand next door, but do not locate expensive plumbing-intense spaces such as toilets at ends of hallways that could serve as a connection point.

Take cues from other space types – your local small Starbucks is a start!

Waiting times can be long in medical facilities, and it’s important that the patient and family be given comfortable and practical areas to wait, especially with today’s technology. Small coffee shops and cafés have successfully created such spaces by introducing work tables, lounge seating and designated areas for conversation which can reduce anxiety and can shorten the perceived waiting times.

Introduce soothing and lasting interiors

The ambiance of smaller facilities should help in the healing process, rather than aggravate it. Color palettes from nature have been shown to calm and comfort people. In a small facility, creative use of lighting can also be used to maximize this effect with indirect exposure and natural illumination. Finishes that are easy washable not only provide a cleaner environment, but allow for extra cost savings with a longer lifespan.

Author:
By Jose Estevez
Principal, Healthcare Practice
NELSON Worldwide

When Truist Securities announced it would move its longtime headquarters in Buckhead to a new tower in The Battery Atlanta — a few hundred feet from home plate — it underscored a common theme emerging in commercial real estate.

Read more with Atlanta Business Chronicle here.

Hilton Garden Inn Camden Waterfront, the first new hotel in Camden, New Jersey in more than 50 years, is named best real estate deal for hospitality by Philadelphia Business Journal. Read the full article here.

Like many, I sense the looming anxiousness about returning to work in a few weeks as shelter-in-place policies are lifted. Although many are looking forward to reuniting with colleagues and returning to the office desk away from distractions at home, I have concerns.

These concerns mirror those of our employers, building owners, and landlords, as we all see clearly how a safe reunion is a shared responsibility. Will the office building I am returning to have procedures in place to keep me safe? Am I putting my family at risk by returning to work? How can I trust that everyone is doing their part today to make our workplace a healthy environment?

To combat these worries, I am putting trust in my employer, co-workers, and those that operate my building. So are most people around the world, according to this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report. The survey found that 63 percent of people around the world believe information regarding COVID-19 from employers, compared with 58 percent for a government website and 51 percent for traditional media. Let this sink in. The majority polled are putting their trust in their employers. So, how can companies make it easier for their workforce to trust them?

Here are just a few ways:

TRUST IN THE EMPLOYER

Employers will be the trusted guide employees look to before and after returning to work. Going beyond staggering the return of employees or off-setting work hours, companies will need to actively work toward a resilient environment for years to come.

Workers will also trust their employers are following vetted and globally adopted standards. Hosting reoccurring meetings, sending weekly communications, and posting signage throughout the office can help publicly display that these standards are being followed.

Perceived safety will promote trust in the built environment as much as tangible improvements. For example, biophilic design that incorporates indoor greenery can help support wellness beyond mental health. Not only is this a tangible way to improve air quality and alleviate asthma, but it is a visual cue to employees that changes are taking place to improve their health and wellbeing.

TRUST IN THE CO-WORKER

It will be challenging to rely on others when returning to the office. There are small practices that can be put in place to help colleagues garner trust in each other and limit fears of the unknown. A few minor physical adjustments to the fixtures and furnishings can add some much-desired security.

Many corporate workplaces decorate their offices and amenity spaces with potted plants. These may be an aesthetically pleasing tool that can also serve as added barriers throughout the office, both in pathways and in alternating workstations. Moss can contribute to improved indoor air quality, removing particulates from the air throughout the day, offering acoustic buffers, and feeding the visual desire to maintain social distancing while inside the building.

Mobile partitions made available to occupants, within reasonable safety, can also provide some quick remedy to promoting space without isolating. Signage within the employer’s workplace can offer continuous reminders for best practices related to hygiene. Personal protective equipment, specifically face masks, may become a standard office supply, much like toilet paper and hand towels. These simple but effective measures can help initiate trust among co-workers while organizations work to budget toward larger-scale strategies.

TRUST IN THE BUILDING OWNER

Landlords and owners charged with operating office buildings have a huge responsibility to keep their tenants safe. For office buildings in bigger cities with higher foot traffic, they may need to close off certain entrances or regulate entry points by implementing and communicating a new wayfinding strategy that adjusts the traditional guest journey in the space. Landlords will need to pay attention to lobbies and communal areas by reducing capacity and implementing robust cleaning strategies.

Propping doors open that aren’t automatic and adding more hand sanitizing stations in common areas are other ways landlords and building operators can help employees feel more comfortable. Seeing precautions in place will allow employees to put more trust in the buildings they are entering each day.

Employers and landlords have the power to be a comforting and reliable source during this time of uncertainty. Implementing mitigation strategies fosters trust and dignity when returning to the workplace.

We’re thrilled to share that our project with the W Element Hotel was awarded second place on Philadelphia Business Journal’s Best Real Estate Deals of 2021. Read more here.

We are pleased to announce our project for Hilton Garden Inn Camden Waterfront has received a Best Residential/Hospitality Award for ENR’s New York Region. Congratulations to our partners at Intech Construction. See full article here.

“Tucked away inside The Interlock sits the Bellyard, a rustic-chic haven of industrial design dreams.”

We’re honored to share that our work with the Bellyard was named #1 Best Hotel in Atlanta by Jezebel magazine. Thank you to our talented teammates and partners! Read more here.

NELSON Worldwide was named one of the best hospital architects in the U.S. by General Contractors Magazine. Included on Inc 5000’s fastest-growing companies in 2019 and among the top 100 Interior Design giants, the firm specializes in architecture, interior design, and brand strategy and insights for a variety of market sectors including healthcare, industrial, workplace, and retail. Read more here.

As the needs of employees continue to evolve, it is crucial for the spaces that support them to adapt accordingly. Our aim is to create an environment that caters to individual requirements while fostering growth and development.

Recently, our Workplace Practice teammates, Chen Hui Spicer, Alexis Trainor, and Cam Pierce, served as jurors for NeoCon’s “Best Of” program, where they observed the latest emerging trends. These trends highlight a focus on comfortable sensory experiences to address neurodiversity and ensure that all individuals feel supported and included.

Choice Matters: Comfortable Seating

In the dynamic landscape of modern workplaces, prioritizing comfort and providing choices that cater to individual needs and preferences has become an indispensable strategy. The Hightower Flote Lounge Chair was not only named in NeoCon’s Best Of program, it is comfortable, yet supportive and functional. It emulates the comfortable seating people became accustomed to while working from home, recognizing the same sensory experience could be experienced when in the office.

Chen Hui Spicer, NCIDQ, CID, Regional Design Leader

Staying on Task: Flexible Focus Rooms

Traditional private office setups have given way to adaptable and employee-centric approaches. Flexible focus rooms and phone booths like Omniroom by Mute, are an ideal addition for flexible workspace concepts. Recognized for its innovation at NeoCon, it takes flexibility a step further, offering informal work settings that replicate the comfort and familiarity of being at home, promoting relaxation and rejuvenation.

Alexis Trainor, Senior Interior Designer

Sound it Out: Acoustic Excellence

Enhancing the acoustic setting cannot be underestimated in today’s workplace. By improving sound quality within the built environment, distractions can be diminished and stress can be eliminated for employees creating a balanced sensory experience. Gather Acoustical by Wolf Gordon was recognized at NeoCon for offering form and function. As a sustainable wall treatment, it effectively absorbs and diffuses noise, while boasting visually appealing textures, patterns and designs.

Cam Pierce, Interior Designer