As we all return to the office after the impact of COVID-19, Zoom deeply cares about our customers' health and safety and would like to provide some guidance and thoughts surrounding the return to the physical workplaces, while providing some support for the future of hybrid in-person and remote collaboration.  The post-pandemic workplace will need to adapt to a digital arena of collaboration and communication at the forefront of space design.

In this article, we will provide design guidance and references as we create the hybrid, blended experiences that will be so crucial as we move from fully remote to more in-person experiences.  We will leveraging the Zoom platform to reduce physical contact and increase virtual contact and occupancy as we navigate options prioritizing the safety of all of our users.

This article covers:

• Zoom Rooms Digital Signage
• Zoom Rooms virtual reception / service desk
• Zoom Rooms enhanced home office setups
• Zoom Rooms inter/intra office system 
• Zoom Rooms production studios
• Zoom Rooms for education
• Temperature scanning systems
• Conference rooms and gathering spaces
• Fixed signage
• Resources

Zoom Rooms Digital Signage

Utilizing Zoom Rooms Digital Signage, displaying pertinent information throughout an office will be essential to maintain safe human capacities in the post-COVID workplace. With just a single Zoom Rooms license, organizations can deploy unlimited Digital Signages in and out of conference rooms. One of the supported content types that Digital Signage supports are URLs, which allows Zoom Rooms Admins to leverage secure cloud-based occupancy dashboards from organizations like Density.io, in order to display building capacity limits and human occupancy alerts through a web page across all Digital Signage displays in the office. 

Zoom Rooms always on reception / service desk

In an effort to reduce contact to minimize viral infection between people, a virtual receptionist can be placed at any entrance or service area within or around the office. The barrier of physical distance and walls between humans results in a much safer environment for everyone involved with the added benefit of a video experience, allowing any person of interest to join the call and say hi to their visitor before any face to face contact takes place.  You may also set up a small touch panel as a virtual receptionist with advanced call routing and rules for your team of receptionists.

Zoom Rooms home office setups

   

Remote work will remain as crucial as ever to optimize the blended environment of office and home workers to make communications seamless.  As we increase the amount of time in the office, the experience of the home from the hybrid office will still be crucial to the overall experience. Zoom Rooms at home can alleviate and simplify your office or home environment setups. An all in one touch device on your desk or offloading the screen experience to a TV that you have in your space will create a powerful Zoom Rooms experience, amplified with the needed features to increase your productivity.

Zoom Rooms inter/intra office system 

It will be essential to rethink physical interactions within the office space. Leveraging Zoom, we can add value and expand the footprint of the casual encounter. With two Zoom Rooms always connected, teams will become much more collaborative & connected across floors, offices, buildings, and even different geolocations. A window between office spaces reduces the need for foot traffic and builds a culture and community of connectivity. With always-on solutions, the office place begins to feel less isolated with increased synergy. The inter/intra office system in a water cooler or open office setting gives coworkers a more connected, barrier-less communication utility between those they need to see most often and also more connectivity with those they may not see as often, adding cultural value.

Zoom Rooms production studio

Rather than utilizing existing large gathering spaces with social distance in a blended office, try utilizing a smaller space with high quality production hardware, placing the technology between you and your audiences. Distance learning, all hands meetings, interactive broadcasts, and board meetings are just some of the use cases where a production studio for a high end Zoom Rooms experience will be beneficial.

Zoom Rooms for education

Hybrid classrooms will be crucial to success and comfort of learning experiences around the world as we move into the future. Here we will discuss the best utilization of features and Zoom Rooms experiences to provide guidance in creating the hybrid environment for learning and teaching over Zoom.

To create a frictionless learning experience, we recommend looking at our designs for existing Zoom Rooms and augmenting those designs with specific feature sets, such as touchscreen functionality and whiteboard or document capture systems. These features will improve the experience of and engage students beyond what is typically experienced in a learning environment.

Check out Education Using Zoom Rooms for a more in-depth look at specifics for education

Temperature scanning systems

Adding a temperature scanning kiosk or other system will be important to make sure symptomatic people entering your space are analyzed and refused entry.  These kiosks will typically use thermal and facial AI to meet or fail a set parameter for masks and fever recognition.

• Digital touch systems screening kiosk
• Tryten Screening Assistant
• Elo touch access control

Conference rooms and gathering spaces

It is important to understand the social experience of gathering places and conference rooms.  Each organization will have to modify these spaces to increase the safety of people using the spaces.  Below are some policies we recommend implementing to increase the safety of your conference rooms and gathering spaces.

• Capacity limitations
• Seat reduction
• Providing personal protective equipment
• Physical barrier
  • Steelcase separation screens
  • Poppin separation screens
• Frequent cleaning guidelines
  • Provide EPA recommended products
    
    • Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
    • Clorox Healthcare Bleach Germicidal Wipes
    • Clorox Commercial Solutions Hydrogen Peroxide Cleaner Disinfectant Wipes
    • Lonza Disinfectant Wipes
    • Lysol Clean & Fresh Multi Surface Cleaner (20% cleaner solution to water ratio)
    • Purell Professional Surface Disinfectant Wipes
    • Sani-Cloth Prime Germicidal Disposable Wipes

Fixed signage

• Floor arrows (hallways/cafeteria)
• 6ft distance reminders (waiting lines)
• Sanitation reminder (touch surfaces)
• Hand washing (bathrooms)

Resources

• CDC Return to Work Criteria
• CDC Guidelines for Infection Control
• CDC Social Distancing & 6 Foot Rule
• CDC Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers Responding to COVID-19
• OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19