Welcome back to the SERA Workplace series Silver Linings. We took a few months off to fully soak in the new year. And now that 2020 is officially in the record books and vaccines are available, we have nothing but a glorious, sunny, post-pandemic future to look forward to. Right? (gulp.) Rest assured, we will […]
Recently, a crack squad of designers and architects in SERA’s Workplace studio took part in an international design competition that asked competitors to envision different aspects of the return to work in an office building environment. (Spoiler alert: we won.) The specific area that we chose to investigate deeply is the first-floor lobby and shared […]
May you live in interesting times. — Dubious blessing of apocryphal Chinese origin As I write this, the US has surpassed 260,000 Covid-19 deaths, Oregon continues to hit grim milestones for new daily records for both cases and active hospitalizations, and new closures and lockdowns, necessary to contain the spread of the virus, are again […]
SERA has set our ever-tentative return-to-office date in mid-September (primarily so we can celebrate in-person our love of the oh-so-wonderful hyphen). No matter your industry or the size of your organization, returning to the work environment will require clear communication and experimentation with new ways to accommodate the high-value (and even the low-value) interactions that […]
In May, the CDC released sweeping recommendations for preventing the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace. While many of the strategies expectedly focus on social distancing, improving ventilation and modifying behavior in the office, one surprising admonition involves how employees actually get to and from work. The CDC suggests that employers provide incentives for workers […]
Covid-19 has profoundly influenced the planet, presenting deep challenges for people and businesses. Many people are stressed and even fearful — nervous about others‘ and their own health, and the state of the world in general. We face physical separation from our colleagues, clients, friends and even relatives. It’s hard to go from daily interaction […]
Recently the SERA Workplace studio had an informal town hall-style meeting over Teams. Each member of the studio was asked to think about the following questions and come prepared to share their innermost feelings (or at least speak candidly). ♦ What do you miss about being in the office? ♦ What brings value to you […]
Hey You. Y‘know, you’re really special. No, we mean it. Your collective experiences and skills polished over your lifetime make you uniquely qualified to do the work you’re doing. Maybe you’re an architect with an anthropology degree that makes you particularly adept at predicting behavior and use patterns within a building. Or perhaps you’re a […]
As we’ve sheltered in place and avoided social contact over the last few months, many of us have thought quite a bit about what the return to office life will look like. How do we share space and physical resources? How will we provide the mental and spiritual support for each other? How can we […]
At SERA, we come to work knowing that our offices are environments of respect, cooperation and collaboration. That’s not going to change when we return after working from home for so long. But it won’t be exactly the same office we left either. Social distancing, face masks, obsessively cleaned surfaces and a conspicuous lack of […]