The virus, the distance and the curve (cont’d)

…Workplace communications in the pandemic

Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Samsung and Norwegian telecommunications giant Telenor are but a few of the organisations that ensure that the office spaces are designed in such a way that employees get to “bump” into each other a lot more. In March 2015, Facebook opened the world’s largest open floor plan in the world, which is said to be 430,000 square-foot and it is designed to house 2,800 employees. That is staggering. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that it is said that Mark Zuckerberg has a desk right in the middle of the space.

According to the designers, the goal was to “create a space that’s eco-friendly and reflects Facebook’s mission to connect people.” According to Facebook’s Chief People Officer, Lori Goler, the new office “really creates an environment where people can collaborate; they can innovate together.” According to her, “There’s a lot of spontaneity in the way people bump into each other, just a really fun collaborative creative space.” She is then quoted as saying “You can’t really can’t walk through this space without bumping into people.” Right there is the main reason for the new designs of these firms—to get employees to “bump into” or interact more with each other.

Samsung’s new Silicon Valley offices tell a similar tale. The office space located in San Jose has a total of 1.1 million square feet and can accommodate up to 2,000 employees. The design of the office is said to encourage “impromptu, spur-of-the-moment interactions that are the genesis of many great ideas.” By the way, Samsung spent $300 million on that building. They must really know what they are doing.

It is clear from all this that “accidental” interactions among colleagues is now being made more intentional. These organisations know that the closer employees huddle together, the better the communications between them, and by extension, the more productive the organisation becomes. If companies with market caps and net worth in hundreds of billions of dollars are redesigning their office spaces to ensure that their staff get to communicate more frequently, then there is something they know that the average business might be unaware of.

This then begs the question; if productivity is directly affected by proximity within an organisation’s set up, what would be the implications of social distancing, as demanded by this pandemic, on the success of projects?

What will be the fallouts of the staff rotation policies that are deliberately meant to keep employees away from each for fear of catching the virus? In a time when sales are at historic lows across several industries, will it not be a double agony if productivity also begins to suffer due to social distancing among team members? How are businesses supposed to maintain social distancing protocols while ensuring that staff still get into greater proximity with each other to enhance effective communication? These are questions that every business needs to answer as we slowly trudge through this pandemic.

For starters, the Allen Curve asserts that communication drastically falls beyond 8 metres, therefore the current 2 metre-spacing required the COVID-19 protocols will mean that things are not so bad at present. Some level of proximity can still be maintained so that effective communication can still go ahead, especially if the directive on the use of nose masks is strictly adhered to.

The greater concern is for those organisations whose staff are actually not coming across each other at all. There are people who have not been laid off but they are not going to work at the moment. One can only imagine what effect this will have on communications among these employees and by extension, productivity of the organisation by the time the company resumes operations.

If organisations are being forced to rotate their workforce such that some are coming on certain days and others on other days, then the kind of proximity Allen called for, to facilitate better communications, will greatly suffer. And as communications suffer, it becomes more likely that productivity will begin to decrease, as predicted by Allen.

Beyond the effect on the lack of proximity on the communications between employees, it is critical to observe that even communication with customers is also being negatively affected. If regular communication has positive effects for colleagues in the same office, then it is not farfetched to see how regular communication with customers would also have positive effects on the relationship. However, the inability to regularly communicate with one’s customers means that customer service is also going to suffer during this period.

In the current dispensation, customers are having to wait longer for certain decisions to be taken. A decision that would have taken a day is now taking a week. This is because one of those in the chain of decision-making might be off for this week and will be available in a week’s or fortnight’s time.

If social distancing is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future, then organisations must begin to find new ways of ensuring that employee communication does not decline in any way, shape or form. In fact, the best advice would be to put in place structures and systems that will enhance communication even while employees are apart from each other.

While organisations are waiting for things to return to normal for all staff members to return to work, it is crucial that activities are organised to ensure that staff keep communicating regularly with each other. Since we have been cut off from interacting as we used to, we have no choice than to go for the next best thing—voice and video calls. Technology gives companies the opportunity to do just that. From Zoom, Google Meets, Microsoft Teams, etc., there is enough opportunity available for organisations to ensure that even though staff are at home, they get to communicate regularly among themselves. It will be helpful to hold regular meetings using these media of communication to ensure that communications among employees do not drop significantly.

Initiatives of this nature do not even have to come from top management, heads of departments and units can easily put together these virtual meetings. The task of ensuring that communications do not suffer during this pandemic should not be left to top management alone.

As a matter of fact, since small group gatherings have not been affected by the protocols of this pandemic, it should be easy for units to be able to meet regularly to ensure that the team bonds well. Individuals within a particular unit, department or section of an organisation can set aside a specific time when they will all log on or join a conference call to catch up. This will be most helpful in building the kind of effective communication that Allen alluded to.

It is true that to foster greater communication among colleagues during this pandemic, businesses might have to invest a little more into systems and machines that facilitate effective communication. Some new gadgets and equipment might have to be procured and individuals set up to communicate remotely. There will also be an increase in the amount spent on voice and data packages during this period. This should not be a problem, however, since the benefits according to Allen are quite pronounced.

As organisations grapple with the challenges of communication among employees during this pandemic, it is interesting to note that behavioural scientists have stumbled on a very fascinating phenomenon during this period. It is being discovered that people are communicating at a much deeper level these days. It has been discovered that even individuals working in the same organisation who would not have normally communicated with each other are doing so now.

Probably the thought of our own mortality is leading people to connect more intimately with each other. With the number of people passing away by the day, it makes sense to reach out to others. If a colleague at work calls you, regardless of the kind of relationship you had with the one pre-COVID-19, you are more likely to pick the call. Not knowing what the call is all about will even make you want to talk the one the more. Chances are, under these conditions, the conversation with that person might be even more meaningful than you might expect.

In thinking ahead, it is important to consider the fact that there is still not much known about this virus. There are claims that it is evolving and if that is true then our protocols might also evolve accordingly. We might have to hanker a little while longer than anticipated. The WHO might have to, and it actually does, review its notes on how to handle the virus regularly. The current protocols might be revised and with them, the distance recommended for social distance might also be reviewed.

It is becoming abundantly clear that even if a globally-accepted vaccine is to obtained before the close of 2020, it would still take quite a while before things will return to the pre-pandemic normal we were used to. It seems we have to make the best of the current situation, by observing the necessary protocols until such a time when things will change. Social distancing has always been with us but the kind of emphasis placed on it during this time has made it a lot more pronounced. This might be around for a while and so we have to psyche our minds accordingly.

The expectation is that by the end of the first quarter of the year 2021, there would be an effective vaccine to deal with the COVID-19 virus. However, even if this turns out to be true, it would take another couple of years for everyone on this planet to get vaccinated. When we get to that time, it is important for organisations not to lose sight of the importance of ensuring that employees get closer to each other and to communicate more effectively. Leaders must ensure that the re-entry and recovery of the entire organisation is done in such a way that communication does not suffer. Because when the curve is eventually flattened, the Allen Curve will still hold true.

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