‘A lot yet to be determined’ as businesses get back to work [WTMJ Roundtable]

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As more businesses begin to ramp up operations after shutting down for COVID-19, questions remain on what their workplace will look like moving forward.

It’s especially true for Graef, a Milwaukee-based engineering firm that just moved its headquarters to The Avenue downtown.

“We don’t want to completely throw out the playbook because we designed [the space] that way for a reason,” said Graef President and CEO John Kissinger. “It’s important for our business, in many businesses, for people to collaborate.”

Graef converted the former downtown mall food court into its own unique space at the end of 2019.

“We just don’t have the collaboration that we have when people are in work spaces together, so we’re going to need to get that back,” Kissinger said. “But we haven’t actually decided. I think there’s a lot yet to be determined with how the whole coronavirus pandemic is going to play out that will make that decision for us.”

Kissinger says they intend to bring back a quarter of employees in July.

“We’re going to slowly build up over some period of time, which hasn’t been determined,” he said. “There’s probably going to be more risk for people when they’re back at the office as opposed to being placed in their homes, and the question is what is a reasonable risk to take.”

Kissinger says they’re asking all employees who have increase health risks not to return to the office until they have a handle on their new operating guidelines.

Click in the player above to hear more of the conversation with John Kissinger during the WTMJ Cares Roundtable.