Inside India’s post-Covid workplace

On a busy day, the lift that could easily seat 15 had only two when this writer arrived on October 18. In any case, the developer nowadays does not allow more than five people in the lift. And before you enter an office, shoes must be cleaned in the ‘footbath’ tray. It’s the simplest precautions other than the usual hand sanitization- there are more geeky things going on inside the office and at the back end.

In short, the offices where employees are returning after 18 months Work From Home Not exactly like what he left in a hurry in March 2020. With a third, big wave of Covid-19 at risk, companies are taking steps to ensure that the office environment is as safe as possible from an epidemiological point of view, changing infrastructure to suit. New safety considerations and sanitation upgrades.

But companies now appear more confident about office-of-work systems. of India on 21st October Anti-Covid-19 Vaccination The drive for single jabs crossed the 1 billion mark. The moving weekly average of Covid-19 cases declined from its peak of around 400,000 fresh cases in a day in early May to around 15,000, the lowest since the beginning of June 2020. Not surprisingly, offices across the country are rapidly reopening. last month, or are all set to do so.

Tata Consultancy Services For example, the country’s largest private employer (TCS) with 525,000 employees has directed all its employees to go to their planned places by November 15. Senior employees are already working from office two-three times a week. Similarly, its rival Infosys already has senior members coming to office once a week, and has now instructed junior employees to come once a month. In fact, even for employees, the novelty of working from home has long worn off. A recent survey by real estate services company JLL revealed that employees would ideally prefer to be in the office twice a week for five days. “Earlier, workplace safety primarily meant fire safety,” said Shriram Khattar, managing director of rental business at real estate giant DLF India. the protection.”

The Well Building Standards Guidelines, issued by the International Well Building Institute (IWBI), set out health and safety measures within a built environment, covering aspects such as air, water, lighting, nutrition and comfort. It has been updated to include Covid-19 related protocols as well as an emergency plan to guard against future health threats.

‘De-densify’

There is a new mantra in Corporate India – ‘De-densify’. “Tenant partners are reviewing the extent of de-densification for employee comfort,” Khattar said.

Various means are being used to increase the per capita work space from 80-90 sq ft to at least 120-150 sq ft. The easiest way to do this is also the most expensive, though some companies, including some of DLF’s tenants, have opted for it by increasing the overall office space. This can increase the operating cost by up to 30%, but few corporates are ready to bear it.

Others are trying alternative measures of distancing within the existing location, such as instructing employees to attend the office on rotational basis so that on any given working day, the number of employees within the office is less than a certain percentage of the total workforce. are. They’ve also started using shorter, fixed times for their cafeterias, along with a staggered attendance system. In many corporates, ‘hot-desking’ is now the norm – no dedicated desk, with multiple employees using the same workstation on different days of the week.

Companies that want the full office to be present on a daily basis are making deals with co-working and flexible working space companies nearby to accommodate their spillover employees. The employees have no objection.

A JLL survey showed that 64 percent of respondents were willing to work from third parties or co-working spaces. For example, co-working firm WeWork, based in six Indian cities, has seen its enterprise portfolio grow by 10% since the pandemic, with new clients including Khaitan & Co, Tata Sky Broadband, 3M and Colliers India. .

one more work together Company Smartworks has made its presence in nine cities and the occupancy has increased to 50-60% in the last few months. Harsh Binani, Co-Founder, SmartWorks, said, “Flexible workspaces have got a booster shot. The last six to nine months have been phenomenal for us in terms of sales. We expect our revenue figures to double in March 2022. In April 2021.”

Offices are adopting different means to ensure the necessary physical distance. Feather we workPotted plants are being used as a design element to keep any two sitting workers at a stipulated distance apart. Some offices are trying diagonal seating. Some have installed translucent partitions between desks and protective screen guards at food counters in cafeterias. Indeed, office designers are under pressure to come up with elements that ensure distance without increasing the space requirements.

Along with imposing distancing, companies are also monitoring the health of the employees daily. In addition to installing personal temperature checks at entry, some companies are installing thermal cameras that can capture the temperature of a person entering the premises from 20 feet away. To prevent the spread of infection, fingerprint system for registering attendance is being replaced with facial recognition system in many companies. Elevators can be a potential source of infection, especially during times of overcrowding. Therefore, the maximum number of users per trip is being reduced, with smart-voice controls and foot-activated buttons replacing finger-activated buttons, while employees are encouraged to use the stairs. And touch-free sanitizer dispensers are being installed at many places. Washrooms can easily spread disease, so cleanliness is being taken care of here too. Like sanitizer dispensers, soap dispensers are also being made touch-free and washroom fitting sensor-enabled.

Some companies are applying antimicrobial coating on washroom surfaces. “For our clients, we have used steel on floors and walls instead of regular ceramic tiles, as droplets tend to deposit better on steel surfaces,” said Karun Muthanna, co-founder of Archlane, a design firm. The office plumbing system is also being investigated. Legionella, bacteria that breed in pipes, go unused for long periods of time, and can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia.

clear the air

But is this enough? Experts claim that this is not the case – it is imperative that the air in offices is kept clean, regardless of the number of people inside. “Limiting density alone does not reduce infections,” said Barbal Sinha, associate professor of environmental science at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali.

“Even if a sick person enters a particular environment, even if he is not coughing or showing any outward symptoms, the viral aerosol will fill the entire area in time. Think of it as a chain smoker entering closed premises, or someone holding incense sticks (incense sticks). Wouldn’t that place be filled with smoke after a while? Similarly, having fewer people present will only speed up the build-up of aerosols, it will not stop it,” Sinha said. There is a need for efficient and well-monitored filtration and circulation of air from outside through high quality Real estate companies that run heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and several properties such as DLF India, Bharti Realty and Brigade Group have gone ahead to provide them.

“At our commercial and retail properties, we have found that the primary concern of our customers is centralized air conditioning systems,” said Subrata Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, Brigade Group.

Many companies are using the air filtration benchmark set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Gautam Dey, Executive Director (Engineering Services), DLF India said, “There are many solutions in the market that claim to kill 100% air borne viruses, but we have chosen to go with proven technology as per ASHRAE standards “

Filter effectiveness is assessed by its Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value or MERV, while ASHRAE recommends HVAC systems with MERV of 13, DLF India has installed MERV 14 systems at its premises. MERV 14 filters are said to capture 75% of the particulate matter present in the air with a diameter of 0.3–1 µm, and 90% of them are larger. Although the size of the COVID-19 virus is estimated to be only 0.1 microns in diameter, it does not travel on its own. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is trapped within droplets that are typically 1 µm and larger in diameter.

Bharti Realty also has electrostatic precipitators with MERV 14 rating in some of its prime properties in Delhi and Gurgaon—Worldmark Building, Bharti Crescent and Bharti Airtel Center—and MERV 13 filters in others. Proper air circulation, ensuring adequate entry of air from outside, is a different consideration.

ASHRAE recommends HVAC systems with ‘air change per hour’ (ACH) or the rate at which outdoor air replaces indoor air, 0.35 for homes, 2-3 for offices and 6 for hospitals. -12. DLF has increased the ACH of HVAC systems in its buildings from 1 to 2 and aims to increase this further to 2.5. Bharti Airtel has claimed that it has already touched the level of 6-12 on its properties along with ensuring 5 cubic feet of air per minute per person. To reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in an enclosed space, realty companies are also installing HVAC systems with CO2 dampers.

Sinha of IISER Mohali testified to the effectiveness of MERV14 systems, especially if they are used with carbon dioxide dampers. “Agarbatti experiments can be done using these high-efficiency filters,” she said. “If they clean the fumes in a room, they’ll also clean the viral aerosols.” However, she was skeptical about the extent to which the dampers were being used. “The CO2 limit should be 1,000 parts per million (ppm), and if it exceeds that figure the dampers should be activated,” he said. “But many dampers are set to switch on ventilation only when CO2 levels rise to 5,000—7,000 ppm—to reduce the cost of air conditioning,” she said. At 5,000 ppm CO2, each breath is an aerosol exhaled by 2-3 others, unless one wears a well-fitted N95 mask.

questionable choice

Air filtration and circulation technologies are not new, but are now widely employed at workplaces in India. Unlike some chemical and biological solutions that are being marketed after pandemics and claim to completely eliminate both bacteria and viruses in the air, their efficacy is proven. These include silver ion coatings in paints, devices using ultraviolet (UV) light, and filters containing hydroxyl radicals. Some of the leading realty companies have installed UV solutions on their properties.

Some scientists defend these solutions, others ridicule them. Khushboo Rakha, who was part of the team at the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar that designed the UV-based disinfectant, said UV radiation has been effective in killing the Covid-19 virus. “Any UV filter that can kill fungi can also kill viruses,” she said.

Sinha of IISER Mohali protested, claiming UV radiation was also dangerous. “It generates ozone and other reactive volatile compounds that are harmful to human health,” he said. While this seems to be an endless debate, what is clear is that the office, as we knew it, has changed many since the last time we moved in. The pandemic has certainly turned them into far smarter places.