Wearable social-distancing buzzers, masked blackjack dealers and drive-thru electronics purchases — from cubicle farms to factory floors and cafes to clothing boutiques, businesses around the world are dreaming up creative ways to reopen, attempting to start revenue flowing again while minimizing the risk to customers and employees.
The global economy is riding on their ability to pull off that delicate balance. A new flare-up of COVID-19 cases could shutter offices, stores, restaurants and manufacturing plants once again, further choking off the flow of goods and services, and threatening more jobs.
Some governments, such as China, are providing rigorous oversight of the process. Others, including US President Donald Trump’s administration, have offered looser guidance and are entrusting businesses to monitor their facilities.
Illustration: Mountain People
Scientists are still studying how the virus is spread and whether having people keep 2m from each other is enough, adding to the risks.
The companies’ plans rely on a steady supply of masks, gloves, thermometers and testing kits, which is likely to strain budgets and manufacturers’ ability to keep up. Social distancing would be built in, with people divided by barriers and kept apart from colleagues and customers, a U-turn after years of movement toward open floor plans.
Some companies would monitor employees more closely than ever before, while others would let workers choose how much protection they need.
The way that we work, shop, travel and eat during this year — and probably beyond — is being plotted out in boardrooms around the world.
Here are some of the changes that companies are contemplating for their workplaces in the coming weeks:
THE OFFICE
Seats on the shuttle bus to Unilever’s Shanghai offices can be reserved using a chat group. Employees must be masked to board and they sit on alternating sides, one person to each four-seat row.
Upon arrival, each worker scans a QR code and fills out a health status report to get a daily pass to enter, then comes the temperature check and the hand sanitizer.
Inside the office, movement is tightly regulated. Employees keep their masks on and are encouraged to use the stairs instead of the elevator, with spritzes of hand sanitizer before and after touching the regularly disinfected handrail. In the canteen, a single person is allowed at each four-seat table.
Such measures might seem predictable in a centrally controlled society such as China, but some version of them is starting to appear in the West.
At a call center for British telecoms giant BT Group, workers sit 2m apart and walkways are designated as one-way to keep people from brushing past each other.
Temperature checks are becoming routine at the Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema, which also said that it has developed its own two-hour test for COVID-19.
Employees who come to the office have been tested in the past couple of weeks, although as many as half of the call center workers at MTS, a mobile network controlled by Sistema, are operating out of their homes.
MORE ROOM
Flexible space operator Knotel, which runs offices for corporations including Uber and Netflix, said that workplace design must change.
Offices are likely to be less densely populated and altered to make them “antiviral,” Knotel CEO Amol Sarva said.
“Things like ventilation, ultraviolet light, density screening, video monitoring, temperature monitoring and cleaning protocols — those are all going to have to change,” he said. “Certainly there’ll be more space.”
In China, Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s largest privately owned real-estate services firm, has helped move nearly 1 million workers back into 74 million square meters of office space.
The company is creating a recovery readiness manual for landlords and tenants, based in part on its experience in China, that includes colored carpets to create visual boundaries around desks, Plexiglas shields between desks that face each other and signs that direct walking traffic in a single direction.
FEWER MEETINGS
Even when people do come back to the office, meetings would be limited and large gatherings would be out of the question.
This week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg canceled all physical events of 50 or more people through June next year. The vast majority of employees are required to work from home through May and those who need to carry on doing so could work at home through the summer.
The road to normalcy might be much longer than that. At Abcam, a British protein research company, 40 out of 300 China-based employees started returning to work in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hong Kong on Feb. 14.
Two months later, the company is running split shifts to maintain distancing for the about 50 percent of employees based in manufacturing, logistics and essential lab work.
THE FACTORY
On Feb. 10, Winly Automotive (Wuhan) was assigned a checklist from the Chinese government. To reopen, the company would be required to have a one-month stock of masks and sanitizer, take a photograph of the supplies, and send it to officials before submitting to a detailed inspection.
“The policy has been constantly changing,” said Wang Xuepan, one of the plant’s managers. “It’s very difficult for us to handle.”
In the Seattle area, Boeing has worked with the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries on a plan to reopen its factories. It would dole out cloth masks to most workers, while saving the gold-standard N95 masks for a select few in more hazardous jobs.
Unlike office drones, factory workers have to show up in person to get the job done. Figuring out what basic protections they would need is part of the challenge.
At Boeing, industrial engineers are analyzing the sequence of work on its assembly lines to find ways to spread apart workers.
TEMPERATURE READINGS
European aviation giant Airbus has divided employees at its plants into red and blue teams, who do not see each other because they use different routes to enter and exit buildings.
German auto giant Volkswagen is allotting more time between shifts and reducing expectations for production, because it takes longer for people to move around each other at a safe distance, while US automaker Ford Motor is experimenting with wearable devices that would buzz workers if they get too close together.
While the virus can be transmitted by people with no symptoms, many manufacturers are doing temperature checks, whether with thermometers, thermal imaging cameras or — in the case of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in the US — reusable forehead strips.
Fiat Chrysler, whose chief executive, Mike Manley, is one of the corporate heads talking with Trump about reopening the US economy, is requiring workers to fill out a health questionnaire two hours before reporting to work each day.
Employees must either bring a hard copy or scan a QR code with their smartphone to prove that they are not displaying signs of illness and have not been exposed to the virus, company documents showed. The workers cannot enter the plant without it.
Some companies are closing cafeterias in favor of vending machines.
Dongfeng Motor in Wuhan is handing out prepared lunchboxes to employees, who must eat at least 1.5m apart with their backs to each other.
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group said that chairman Li Shufu (李書福) wrote a song to keep workers motivated through such dreariness: “A world full of expectations / Turned to dust of yesterday / Their sorrow flowing into the sea / But the flower of love is quietly blooming.”
THE AIRPLANE
When air travel resumes in earnest, hand sanitizer, masks and thermometers are likely to become standard at most major airports, International Air Transport Association medical adviser David Powell said, adding that all three have shortcomings, but can also reassure passengers.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets global flying standards, wants to establish a “public health corridor concept.” Under such a plan, major airlines, airports, public authorities and other parties would adopt common protocols for screening, boarding, in-flight procedures, arrivals, customs and baggage claim.
“We cannot all just stop flying,” ICAO Aviation Medicine Section chief Ansa Jordaan told a Web cast on Wednesday last week.
Emirates Airline said that it was the first to conduct rapid COVID-19 blood tests, with results available in 10 minutes for passengers flying on Wednesday last week from Dubai to Tunisia, while chief operating officer Adel Al Redha said that the airline plans to extend the procedure to other flights.
Other carriers are attempting less invasive measures. Etihad Airways, another major airline in the United Arab Emirates, plans to deploy touchless self-service devices at its hub airport in Abu Dhabi to identify travelers with medical conditions, including the early stages of the coronavirus.
In the US, American Airlines Group plans to continue spacing customers apart during boarding and flights, conducting extensive cleanings of aircraft, and reducing food and beverage service to limit contact, CEO Doug Parker said in a video message on Wednesday last week.
“When you do fly, aircraft cleanliness and social distancing matter greatly,” Parker said.
THE STORE
In China, it has become standard to have your temperature taken any time you want to go shopping. Visitors to the Wuhan International Plaza luxury mall are checked for a fever at the door, before they line up to be served one at a time at Louis Vuitton.
Levi Strauss disinfects its Chinese stores three times a day and requires temperature checks for customers, who are expected to wear masks before entering the store. Fitting rooms and products that have been tried on are disinfected after each use.
It is unclear whether practices implemented in China would make their way to other parts of the world, although several companies have said that they would learn from their experience in Asia.
DRIVE-THROUGH SHOPPING
Another technique is to keep shoppers out of the store altogether. Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone is considering plans for contact-free “drive thru” style stores to limit the risk of contagion for staff and customers.
Shoppers would park outside, call the store to select items to buy, use a contactless system to pay and then open their trunks so that staff could deliver the products.
Salespeople at luxury retailers in China were already using social media to engage with customers before the pandemic, but they have increased their efforts since, adding clients on WeChat and sending them information about the latest trends.
Louis Vuitton tried showcasing its summer product line in a livestream show on March 26 featuring a social-media star, but was ridiculed for the quality of the video. Sometimes there is no substitute for personal contact.
THE RESTAURANT
Buffets and salad bars would be redesigned and self-serve drink stations might be “a thing of the past,” said Taco John’s CEO Jim Creel, who added that other changes are afoot at the 387-store chain.
Taco John’s popular salsa bar — a fixture for the past 15 years — might be axed.
“We hope we don’t have to take them out — that we’ll be able to figure out a way to make them still work — but I’m afraid the fear factor out there will force us to go to a prepackaged option,” Creel added.
A trial of self-ordering kiosks might also get pulled back.
“It was a good idea three months ago, but not so good today,” Creel said.
PHONE PAY
Restaurants and even bars have opened back up in Shanghai, with varying limits on seating arrangements — some allow six to a table, others only one. In Beijing, restaurants are doing temperature checks. In Wuhan, most places are still delivery-only.
“In the short run, as dining rooms open back up again, you’ll probably see many restaurants space their tables a little bit further apart,” said Jack Li, CEO of menu researcher Datassential. “You’ll see more restaurants try to adopt phone pay, so you won’t need to hand your money or card to anyone. You’re certainly going to see more places continue to do things like contactless delivery.”
Starbucks is taking a store-by-store approach to resuming business activities in the US, with services limited to drive-thru, delivery and takeout via mobile orders and contactless pickup.
“As we experienced in China, this will be a journey,” CEO Kevin Johnson wrote in a memo to staff on Thursday last week.
THE MENU
Chains are cutting back menus, focusing on products that sell best and are easy to make.
Romano’s Macaroni Grill has pared down its menu to 70 percent of what it used to be, saying goodbye to pizzas and calzones, while McDonald’s all-day breakfast menu is gone.
Fazoli’s Italian-American restaurant chain is trying to secure Purell sanitizing stations — four for each store — along with “millions” of alcohol-based wipes for reopening the dining rooms of its 216 locations.
The company is also rethinking bathrooms and looking into touchless soap dispensers.
It is an investment, but a worthwhile one, Fazoli’s CEO Carl Howard said.
“I want to let the consumer know I’m doing everything I can to keep them as safe as possible,” Howard added.
THE ARENA
Large public gatherings are not yet at the forefront of people’s minds in China, but Trump and the people who run the US’s biggest sports leagues appear aligned in their thinking that live games, at least in some form, are a critical part of helping the country to recover.
“The progression needs to be open outdoor sports first — golf, tennis, swimming — so that we can start to test the waters. That I’m fine with,” Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said.
One obstacle might be local politicians.
When the mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship floated plans to host a no-fans event on tribal land in California on Saturday last week, it was pressure from politicians, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, that led to its cancelation.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has reportedly discussed the possibility of prohibiting large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events in the city for another year.
Billions of dollars are on the line for sports leagues, sponsors and media networks if the games do not soon resume, but National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert for the US, has said that the only way to do that this summer is to close venues to fans and keep all of the players, coaches and referees isolated from society.
THE MOVIES
Cinema owners are also waiting to see when health officials will give them the green light to open up.
Cinemark Holdings, the third-largest US movie chain, has been in discussions with major film studios about when to release blockbusters again.
The chain’s management thinks that they could begin bringing back employees starting in late June, then build up a marketing campaign for a broader reopening on July 1.
The experience would not be like it was before the coronavirus hit. The chain would either have to limit the available tickets for each showing, leaving about half of its seats open, or it might eliminate reserved seating so that customers can voluntarily spread themselves out when they arrive.
Cleaning would have to be ramped up and opening hours might be limited to accommodate the changes.
“How long that will take? We’re not completely certain,” Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi told a conference call with analysts and investors on Wednesday last week.
“We’re planning on anywhere from one to three months to light up that engine again and then to begin with higher profile, new product,” he said.
THE CASINO
Las Vegas casino executives have discussed opening with as little as one-third of their rooms available, with limited entrances where guests’ temperatures could be checked. Casino employees would wear masks and gloves, while gamblers would sit at least a chair apart at blackjack tables.
The moves are similar to what is occurring in Macau, where casinos were closed for 15 days in February, but have reopened under tight restrictions.
The companies are also discussing enhanced cleaning techniques, something that unions have requested.
FUN PARKS
The US$19.3 billion US theme park industry is making plans, although no one knows when gates might reopen.
When they do, employees might be wearing masks and temperatures might be checked not only at the entrances but inside as well, Cincinnati, Ohio-based theme park consultant Dennis Speigel said.
Operators might also institute virtual waiting line, where guests snag a place in line through an app and come to ride when it is their turn, he said.
“The theme park of the future is going to have to take a much different turn, from distancing to wanding to cleaning,” Speigel said.
“I’ve never heard such fear in people’s voices — nobody knows what they’re going to be doing,” he added.
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