'The world has lost its confidence': Qualtrics is trying to help companies and consumers feel safe again

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PROVO — On Thursday night, Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith slowly walked through his company's empty headquarters trying to envision what it would look like when employees began working there again.

How could he distance the work stations over there? The breakfast bar and communal coffee pots? Yep, those are going to be a problem. How will employees navigate through entryways and exits? Not to mention the restrooms.

Suddenly, creating a safe space seemed pretty daunting.

On Friday, Utah began its first step in reopening the economy, dropping the coronavirus risk rate from high to moderate. That means restaurants can do dine-in service again, barbershops and salons can open their doors once more, and even gyms have reopened. But there’s still apprehension from employees and from consumers.

According to a recent Qualtrics survey, 66% of people feel uncomfortable with the idea of going back to the workplace right now. In order to help businesses know how to quell those fears, Qualtrics has launched two solutions — The Return to Work Pulse and Back to Business — that will give companies the data from employees and patrons. Both will be free for a period of time.

“Every business and organization needs to do their own consumer testing and pulsing,” Smith said. “Are people willing to come back to work? Are they willing to sit down at my restaurant? Are my employees willing to come back? And what actions do I need to take right now to make it so that people are comfortable and that the perception that we're prepared is actually real?”

Because, as it turns out, the comfort level isn’t very high; which might be the reason why 48% of people surveyed didn't expect to return to work until August.

“Right now, as of this week, two-thirds of people are very uncomfortable going back and are not willing to go back,” Smith said. “How do we get around that? Well, we need to gather the data around what's gonna make them be willing to go back.”

The survey said 62% of people want policies in place about coming to the office when sick after recently traveling, 61% want to maintain social distancing, and 57% want everyone to be required to wear a mask at all times.

“That changes how I'm going about setting up our reentry program,” Smith said.

For Smith and Qualtrics, that means removing desktops, altering conference rooms in order to maintain distancing, and creating a protocol for entryways and exits to avoid gathering together.

But what works for Qualtrics might not work for other companies.

What will it take for patrons to feel comfortable going to a movie again? Or to a comedy club? Or how do universities make sure teachers are comfortable? That’s what Qualtrics is hoping to help answer with the two new solutions, allowing other companies to plan ahead to help ensure their consumers and workers feel safe.

“The world has lost its confidence and you have to take visible, measurable, perception type action to help people get their confidence back,” Smith said. “And it's not going to be just, ‘Hey, the state's open again’ — that just not going to do it. You need to say the state's open again and here's what we're going to do so that you're comfortable to work at my organization and participate as a customer.”

According to the survey, 71% of people say they would be uncomfortable going to the gym, 77% feel unsafe riding public transportation, 68% say they wouldn’t want to eat at a restaurant. The state may be opening up some of the economies, but the comfort level to resume activities isn’t there yet. And with a second wave expected to come in the fall, if not sooner, confidence may be hard for many to find.

“We are anticipating a second surge in cases to coincide with flu season given that they are both respiratory viruses and spread in the same way,” state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn said Friday. “I think the challenging piece will be the element of social distancing. Will we need additional social distancing restrictions come fall, when or if we see a second peak? That’s going to be something that we as a state and society have to decide what the tolerable level of social distancing is going to be if we do indeed see another peak.”

According to the survey, people might be more willing than previously thought.