The Awkward Hell of the Post-COVID Office

Or... how North American office culture will become even worse.

I just read a great article about post-COVID offices. Over at the New York Times, Natasha Singer wrote about Salesforce’s plans to reopen their US offices; it reads a little like this.

Employees filling out health surveys at home and having their temperature screened when they arrive at the office. Receiving digital entry tickets for access to the lobby and for working in the office, just like a corporate version of making a restaurant reservation on OpenTable. TSA-style socially distanced lines to wait for the elevator, and markings on the elevator floor about where you can and can’t stand. Glass and plexiglass partitions everywhere. Workstations removed. Strict capacity limits on conference rooms. Masks in the conference room. And no more bowls of free snacks and candy.

(Via)

Office work was weird pre-COVID anyway; open seating plans reduced privacy and reduce productivity so businesses can save money on office space and more closely monitor employees. There were the social rituals of …