CLEARING THE AIR

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen many office purchasing habits change – and one of the most pronounced has been the desire for air purification solutions.

Making offices as safe as possible for employees to return to has been a challenge for business owners and office managers across the UK for the past few months. While hand sanitisation has been at the top of many do-to lists, buyers are also thinking about cleaning the air too, and this is presenting opportunities for air purification manufacturers in the sector such as Fellowes.

“Like everyone else, some of our more traditional office categories took a large downturn as many businesses closed, or reduced in capacity, during lockdown but we have seen growth in other areas - none more so than our air treatment category,” says Tim Browning, head of sales – business development at Fellowes. “Sales of our AeraMax brand has grown more than 10 times as a result of people’s heightened awareness of the need to create a healthy working environment for staff, customers or patients.”

Tim adds that, from an early stage of the pandemic, many people were educated about the need to have a good hand sanitisation programme in place, and enhanced cleaning regimes in offices. “But as things have progressed people have recognised there is an airborne threat as well and, as a result, there is a need to clear the air of harmful germs and viruses.”

Having an air purification system can also help reassure employees who are nervous about returning to the office, Tim explains. “AeraMax models with PureView technology have a digital display screen that informs you how clean the air is. It is a real morale booster – having that positive reinforcement that you can see that the air you share is clean is of massive benefit.”

But it isn’t just about removing germs and viruses; air purifiers can also remove things like odours and volatile organic compounds – particles that can cause allergic reactions or trigger an asthma attack.

The AeraMax Professional brand has been in operation for four years but has been most widely used for washroom environments because part of the filtration process removes odours. “Since COVID-19 it has become more universally accepted in non-washroom environments such as offices. People have a heightened awareness of the need to provide a happy, healthy working environment.”

Fellowes has recently made its AeraMax Professional

commercial-grade air purifiers available to dealers on the Fusion Data platform. These commercial air purifiers provide maximum protection and ultimate peace of mind with True HEPA filters that can capture 99.97% of all airborne contaminants, including airborne viruses and germs - and, in the current climate, there’s certainly no shortage of demand for this line of products.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

However, the emphasis on providing a healthy working environment extends to more than just air quality, with the ergonomics of workstations under serious consideration, especially for those working from home.

“The industry has come a long way in terms of healthy working habits and the need for employees to be as productive and as happy as possible in the workplace, as demonstrated by things like regular sit-stand intervals. One of the things we have focused on is ensuring that those positive habits that have been instilled in recent years aren’t lost as more people work from home. We don’t want people working at the dining table, or on their sofa, hunched over, as we know this can cause a lot of health and productivity issues.

“As a result, we have seen an uplift in sales of our sitstand workstations, height-adjustable desks, monitor arms, monitor risers, wrist rests, mouse mats and supports – all the ergonomic solutions that can make a positive impact. What is right for one individual isn’t necessarily right for the next, so being able to make your working environment specific to your needs is critical.

“There are lots of nuances between working from home versus working in a commercial office. For example, a lot of people will have a different desk at home to that in the workplace, so having the ability to have free-standing monitor arms that can sit on your desk or be taken into work, if need be, is important. It is simple solutions like this which can have a positive and lasting impact.”

Being able to recreate their office space at home, and vice versa, with portable equipment is also important. “Having that consistency about your work in both the commercial and home environment is of great benefit.”

OPPORTUNITIES

Tim says that, in common with many organisations in the industry, Fellowes is taking an agile approach and reacting quickly to changes in customer demand – although some changes may turn into long-term trends.

“In the air treatment category we think there is massive opportunity for continuing growth - not just because of the ability to remove germs and viruses from the air - but long after COVID has been dealt with there will be heightened awareness of the need to clean the air that we share. People may also be concerned that there may be another pandemic. Rather than offices being reactive, if they already have robust air purification solutions in their facilities they are going to be on the front foot in terms of defence against any future issues.”

Likewise, Tim believes that homeworking is set to stay. “Short-term, throughout COVID, people have had to work from home, but it has been well-publicised that a cultural shift has taken place, and more organisations will have people working from home permanently - or at least some of the time - when they didn’t before.

“Companies have a responsibility to staff whether they are in the office or at home, and a duty to carry out a display screen equipment assessment wherever they work. We can help educate organisations on their responsibilities to their employees and, by doing this, we can help provide the right solutions to enable their employees to be as happy, healthy and productive as they can be, whether they are working at home or in the office.”