Main image of article Technologists Want Masks, Vaccinated Co-Workers for Return to Office

Companies are gearing up to admit employees back to the office. But what will it take for employees to feel totally comfortable about returning to their old desks? Blind, which anonymously surveys technologists about a range of current issues, recently asked that question.

When it comes to precautions, it’s clear that significant numbers of technologists want their co-workers vaccinated against COVID-19. In fact, that desire for vaccinations generally outpaced a desire for masking and/or limited people in the office. Check out the full chart: 

As you can see from the percentages, technologists ultimately want their employers to enact a variety of precautions simultaneously, which makes sense. For months, virologists and other health experts have pushed the “swiss cheese” model of pandemic defense, in which multiple precautionary measures—from masks to vaccines to rapid testing and tracing—are utilized in concert to drastically limit the chances of infection. 

Even as many businesses figure out how to re-open their offices safely, just as many are giving their employees the option to work remotely full-time. Others are embracing hybridized schedules, with plans to come into the office only a few days out of the week. Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce and Google have announced these kinds of policies over the past several months

Companies are also re-arranging office space in ways that potentially minimize the spread of viruses. Salesforce, for example, has pledged to replace its offices’ “sea of desks” with more collaboration and “breakout spaces.” Until COVID-19 is successfully repressed, entry to the company’s physical offices will also depend on temperature screenings and “home wellness attestations,” a policy echoed at other companies across the country.

In any case, it seems clear that technologists want their companies to employ a variety of anti-virus techniques when it comes time to finally unlock offices again. Managers should take note.