Physical proximity as pleasure or pain? A critical review of employee–customer proximity in sales and services settings

This paper presents a critical review of published findings pertaining to the physical proximity between employees and customers in various sales and service settings. Following an overview of this stream of research, reflections are then offered on how the concepts of personal space and physical proximity may have changed in terms of their financial and well-being-related effects as a function of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the risk of infection in interpersonal interactions, and despite the affiliative aspects associated with physical proximity, recent recipes for success—as advocated by academics—may eventually have a negative impact on multiple crucial metrics in a post-pandemic world, such that employees' physical proximity to customers may soon come with a wide array of costly consequences. The article concludes with a set of future research directions.

Shaping a New Shopping Experience for the Post COVID-Era

As cities worldwide are striving to cope with the ongoing crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, switching to digital platforms has sparked interest in many stakeholders in response to pandemic recovery. The uncertainty of such future shocks questions our way of addressing urban issues at a micro and Macro-Level. The virus makes physical proximity vulnerable to risks. Hence, urgency is required to shift operations to an online mode to ensure COVID-19 safety norms, maintain continuity in operation and productivity at a distance. It may indicate that worldwide, e-commerce giants have grown during the pandemic for their ability to operate through contactless platforms. On the other hand, local stores and markets suffered due to such giants' growth and Covid restrictions. This research explores challenges in the local retail sector caused by the pandemic and proposes a Design-Based solution. Considering Industry 4.0, mobile apps hold the potential to ease workflow and are easily accessible to all. Our final proposition would be to design a mobile app prototype (which would also be co-designed with the users). Methodologically, we have followed a Bottom-Up model approach and performed exhaustive user research and a heuristic evaluation with a probable user group. Only through understanding and accommodating the ‘larger' community can we all cope with the after-effects of this crisis. This research presents an opportunity for consumers to show solidarity with the small Indian retailers and shop the old, local and sustainable way again. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

On not 'being there': Making sense of the potent urge for physical proximity in transnational families at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper investigates transnational families' experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and the accompanying sudden and unexpected travel restrictions. Our data consist of written stories collected in April-June 2020 from migrants with ageing kin living in another country. For many respondents, the situation provoked an acutely felt urge for physical proximity with their families. By analysing their experiences of 'not being there', we seek to understand what exactly made the urge to 'be there' so forceful. Bringing into dialogue literature on transnational families with Jennifer Mason's recent theoretical work on affinities, we move the focus from families' transnational caregiving practices to the potent connections between family members. We argue that this approach can open important avenues for future research on families-transnational or otherwise-because it sheds light on the multisensory and often ineffable charges between family members that serve to connect them.

A QGIS Plugin to monitor proximities in surveillance videos

Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) is a topographical system that processes spatial data. Popular spatial algorithms such as spatial join, clipping, area computations and visualizations are implemented either as a basic support or through additional Plugins designed with Python modules. These features are not yet available for video input in QGIS. With the current Covid-19 pandemic outbreak the non-pharmaceutical precautionary measures suggested by the World Health Organization is to wear mask and maintain minimum physical proximity between the two individuals. The proposed system processes the surveillance video captured through CCTV cameras from college campus, detects the persons from the video and computes the physical proximity between people in the captured spaces. The proposed approach also provides important information about individual person getting in contact with how many other people in the given time duration thereby identifying hotspots in the overall spatial expanse. The module is integrated as a plugin in QGIS which is a contribution to the open source software. © 2022 IEEE.

Financial information, physical proximity and COVID: The experience of Asian sell-side equity research analysts.

The need for physical proximity and face-to-face communication in financial information flows is contested. But the movement restrictions imposed across Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic, together with the elevated information needs as financial markets became stressed, provided the unique circumstances for a natural experiment to test the extent to which physical interaction is important in the origination and distribution of financial information. Drawing upon 70 interviews undertaken across Asia during 2021, primarily with sell-side analysts who act as information intermediaries in the financial ecosystem, this article provides evidence that physical proximity and face-to-face communication remains highly valued, particularly when accessing information embedded in informal local networks and originated through reciprocal client relationships. Analysts physically restricted from contacts at corporates and within their associated operating environments, reported a degradation of knowledge, especially versus more proximate competitors. The enforced physical separation also weakened previously strong social and reciprocal relationships with clients, even those co-located in the same city. Although these trends may be gradual and incremental rather than dramatic, they are persistent and self-reinforcing, and demonstrate the continued benefits of proximity and face-to-face interaction, with longer-term implications for financial geographies.

The work characteristics and social distancing at the manufacturing workplace

The spread of new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections shows no signs of stopping. Therefore, we must consider how to deal with this disaster well. The practice of social distance is one of the powerful tools for that purpose. Therefore, in this paper, we analyzed the factors that influence physical proximity in the manufacturing industry, which has a large impact on the economy given the scale of employment. As the method, first, exploratory factor analysis is performed using the US occupation information site O*NET information, and the extracted 7 variables, sitting work, work conditions, information processing, task significance, interdependence, response to aggression, and autonomy, are used in the regression analysis. As a result, it was shown that interdependence and response to aggression, which are categorized as "social characteristics", and work conditions and sitting work, which are categorized as "context characteristics", showed a positive correlation with physical proximity.

Shaping a New Shopping Experience for the Post COVID-Era

As cities worldwide are striving to cope with the ongoing crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, switching to digital platforms has sparked interest in many stakeholders in response to pandemic recovery. The uncertainty of such future shocks questions our way of addressing urban issues at a micro and Macro-Level. The virus makes physical proximity vulnerable to risks. Hence, urgency is required to shift operations to an online mode to ensure COVID-19 safety norms, maintain continuity in operation and productivity at a distance. It may indicate that worldwide, e-commerce giants have grown during the pandemic for their ability to operate through contactless platforms. On the other hand, local stores and markets suffered due to such giants’ growth and Covid restrictions. This research explores challenges in the local retail sector caused by the pandemic and proposes a Design-Based solution. Considering Industry 4.0, mobile apps hold the potential to ease workflow and are easily accessible to all. Our final proposition would be to design a mobile app prototype (which would also be co-designed with the users). Methodologically, we have followed a Bottom-Up model approach and performed exhaustive user research and a heuristic evaluation with a probable user group. Only through understanding and accommodating the ‘larger’ community can we all cope with the after-effects of this crisis. This research presents an opportunity for consumers to show solidarity with the small Indian retailers and shop the old, local and sustainable way again. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

COVID-19 and the labour market: What are the working conditions in critical jobs?

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused public attention on occupational groups that ensure the maintenance of critical infrastructure, provision of medical care and supply of essential goods. This paper examines the working conditions in critical jobs based on representative data from the German BAuA Working Time Survey 2019. Our analyses reveal that essential workers are more likely to perform unskilled or semiskilled activities and work in cleaning, transport and logistics, health care occupations as well as IT and natural science services. Regarding the working conditions, essential workers are paid comparatively less and are more physically proximate to others at work than nonessential workers. They more often work atypical hours, such as day and night shifts and on weekends, and have less autonomy in their working time. Additionally, critical jobs are characterised by muscular and skeletal strain due to working positions and carrying heavy loads significantly more often. Thus, our findings strongly suggest that work-related risks accumulate in critical jobs. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12651-022-00315-6.

Effectiveness of Interventions for Controlling COVID-19 Transmission between Construction Workers and Their Close Contacts

The insufficiency of continued nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and ongoing vaccination programs continues to pose challenges in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Before herd immunity, controlling at-risk and vulnerable groups in combination with vaccination plans is strongly recommended. The construction industry is especially vulnerable to the negative impacts of COVID-19 as illustrated by frequent relevant clusters globally and given the manual labor performed by construction workers in close physical proximity, which increases the likelihood of exposure. To gain insights into the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 to inform the establishment of effective and targeted NPIs in the construction industry, a dual-community model was developed that includes the susceptible-exposed-infectious/asymptomatic-hospitalized-recovered-pathogen (SEI/AHR-P) model for construction workers and the susceptible-exposed-infectious/asymptomatic-hospitalized-recovered (SEI/AHR) model for their close contacts. The results of our sensitivity analysis corroborate previous findings that close contacts are significant participants in the spread of the infection. However, the contributions of indirect transmission pathways at a construction site were found to be weak, suggesting the need for further study given conflicting results in other research. Based on the parameters identified as significant in the sensitivity analyses, 28 NPI scenarios were devised to analyze the total attack rate (TAR) and duration of an outbreak (DO). The scenario in which exposed individuals are controlled in terms of close contacts performs best, reducing the TAR with 25% absolute efficiency (AE) and decreasing the DO in the whole population by 1.8 days. In addition to NPIs, both construction workers and their close contacts are suggested to get vaccinated. Vaccination of all construction workers would lead to a lower TAR compared to vaccination of only 15% of both construction workers and their close contacts. Vaccination of all construction workers along with at least 67% of their close contacts can extinguish an ongoing wave. © 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Operation and Student Perceptions of a Large-scale, In-person Unit Operations Laboratory Course During the Covid-19 Pandemic

In the fall semester of 2020, many universities moved to fully online learning due to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. Even at universities where some in-person or hybrid instruction was permitted, many Chemical Engineering Unit Operations Laboratory courses moved online. At The Ohio State University, Unit Operations continued in-person throughout Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. The Unit Operations course at Ohio State is one of the largest in the country, with an average enrollment of 190 students every semester, making the logistics associated with lab density and physical distancing especially challenging. Several new strategies were implemented to make in-person lab possible, such as reducing lab density, scheduling lab experiments based on their physical proximity, strictly enforcing 6-foot distancing, working around student and TA absences due to illness or quarantine, and developing best practices related to requirements for personal protective equipment. Overall, in-person Unit Operations lab at Ohio State was successful, with students conducting a total of 1,820 person-hours of experiments in the lab under COVID-19-related safety protocols. No major problems were encountered related to compliance with COVID-19 policies or precautions, and there was no indication that any students, TAs, or instructors contracted an illness as a result of attending the lab. Results of a survey of student perceptions of the lab experience indicated that students felt safe attending lab in person and preferred it to potential virtual options. The purposes of this paper are: 1) to provide guidelines and best practices to Unit Operations courses which have not yet returned to in-person instruction, 2) to record experiences and strategies from the COVID-19 pandemic to inform future instructors and administrators in the event of another pandemic or similar event, and 3) to present and discuss student perceptions of the lab experience. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

The Impact of Work Characteristics on Social Distancing: Implications at the Time of COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread globally. While social distancing has attracted attention as a measure to prevent the spread of infection, some occupations find it difficult to implement. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between work characteristics and social distancing using data available on O*NET, an occupational information site. A total of eight factors were extracted by performing an exploratory factor analysis: work conditions, supervisory work, information processing, response to aggression, specialization, autonomy, interaction outside the organization, and interdependence. A multiple regression analysis showed that interdependence, response to aggression, and interaction outside the organization, which are categorized as "social characteristics," and information processing and specialization, which are categorized as "knowledge characteristics," were associated with physical proximity. Furthermore, we added customer, which represents contact with the customer, and remote working, which represents a small amount of outdoor activity, to our multiple regression model, and confirmed that they increased the explanatory power of the model. This suggests that those who work under interdependence, face aggression, and engage in outside activities, and/or have frequent contact with customers, little interaction outside the organization, and little information processing will have the most difficulty in maintaining social distancing.