The COVID-19 pandemic and statewide stay-at-home order has countless people wondering when things will return to normal. But an equally important thing to think about is how things will return to normal. Experts say that life will be very different after stay-at-home restrictions are lifted, and getting back to normalcy may be a slow and delicate process.
For many people, normal means returning to the office and getting back to work. But there’s more to it than simply opening the doors. Business leaders need to act carefully in order to protect the health of their employees.
Reopening will look different for every business, but Snap founder and CEO Evan Spiegel spoke with CNBC to give a sense of what it could mean for his company.
Snap — the parent company of popular social media platform Snapchat — is one of LA’s most well-known tech companies. While it has offices around the world, Snap’s Santa Monica headquarters is home to over 1,000 employees. With that many people in one place, ensuring proper social distancing could be a challenge.
Spiegel told CNBC that getting these employees back into the office will be a slow and deliberate process. He mentions that the company’s actions will be dependent on government policies and the comfort levels of employees, but he also proposes several changes the company may enact to keep people safe.
“We’re making changes to our floor plan. We’re thinking about how we’re going to be testing folks maybe for their temperature or other — you know, through a survey, through, you know, other health conditions,” Spiegel told CNBC. “There are so many little edge cases here to think about. And our team has really been trying to get ahead of the curve and execute on those changes, so we that, at a minimum, we can provide that as an option for people that would like to return to our offices. But this is going to take time and we don’t want to force it.”
The interview took place on Wednesday, which is the day Snap revealed its Q1 earnings. The company reported significant growth this quarter, and according to Spiegel, Snap employees have been able to work from home with relatively few setbacks. Still, reopening Snap’s offices is front of mind.
Startups across LA and the world will need to have similar discussions about reopening their offices, regardless of size. While there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it’s not one that can be rushed toward blindly.
