Rieke Office Interiors Now Making Protective Shields For Office Spaces
CHICAGO (CBS)-- How will your office or workplace change after this pandemic?
CBS 2 is Working for Chicago, highlighting innovation to get people back to work as COVID-19 reshapes the way we all do business.
A local company is making protective shields for office spaces. Rieke Office Interiors is designing and manufacturing Safespace Sneeze Guards in Elgin.
They're essentially panels made of plastic for side-by-side or-face to-face interactions, like you would have with a co-worker in a cubicle or conference room.
Melissa Kehl, president and owner of Rieke Office Interiors said employees want safety.
"No one is going to want to sit with the low panels anymore, Even after COVID is done, even with flu season," she said. "I think this culture is going to be with America now."
The company usually designs and builds custom office furniture, but their orders started to cancel during the pandemic. Now, Rieke has been able to bring their whole manufacturing team back and get 100% manufacturing up and running.
As for the cost, the safe guards range from $99 to $500.
"Trying to help America get back to work, we all want to get back to work, especially social people," Kehl said. "We want to be back face-to-face with people we want to see people's smiles.
They're also making shields for restaurants, libraries, even animal shelters
The biggest shield is for gyms. One of the designs is for a treadmill so people can work out in their gyms again.This guard is 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide.