How To Encourage Employees Back To The Office

The lingering COVID-19 pandemic has changed many ways of living and working all around the world. After months of working out of homes and being in their comfort zone, employees are finally returning to offices, and many are finding it challenging to reacclimatise into an office routine.

This presents a dilemma. If your company wants to return to a traditional office model, but your employees want to stay working from home, what's the right play? If you take a strict "come back or you're fired" type of stance, your employees might just leave for one of the millions of businesses that now work remotely full time.

So what can you do to naturally attract employees back to the office?

Offer Flexibility or a Hybrid Model

If most of your workforce wants to stay remote but you're interested in a traditional model, your best solution could be some kind of compromise. You could work to establish a hybrid model or simply offer more flexibility for your employees.

Some examples of how this could work are as follows:

• Split between office days and remote days. If you're not hurting from remote work, consider allowing remote work on certain days of the week. For example, you could set office days as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with remote days Tuesday and Thursday.

• Incorporate flex hours. You could also incorporate flex hours, allowing employees some degree of flexibility when coming to work. It could help them avoid the pain of rush hour traffic and allow them to spend more time with their families.

• Use remote work as a reward. Consider offering remote work as a reward. For example, it could be a privilege for people with a certain amount of experience or be a temporary reward for exceptional work.

• Design role-specific models. You might also devise different setups for different roles--as long as you're prepared for potential jealousy between departments or positions.

Make the Office Itself More Attractive

Items that you could consider:

• Furniture and amenities. Investing in more robust offices, better desks, and a decked-out break room could make your office put any home office to shame.

• Cleanliness and upkeep. You'll also need to invest in cleanliness and upkeep since most of us are happier and more productive in a clean environment. Hire a professional cleaning staff and make sure they're equipped with the right cleaning tools for the job.

• Other perks. Can you improve the office environment with other perks for employees? For example, can you design a better parking solution? Shower facilities for those who cycle?

• A company gym. By offering facilities that employees may not have at home it gives them a reason to make the commute to the office. It is also a great place for teambuilding!

Rebuild the Culture

Your next job will be rebuilding the company culture. What kind of environment and values do you want for your employees? What's going to keep them together? This is a great opportunity to re-evaluate your company's core values, collaborate with leadership to set better examples for employees, and brainstorm about ways to encourage more bonding and camaraderie. For example, can you host more team building events? Can you encourage more frequent breaks?

Prioritize Mental Health Of Employees

Mental health is an extremely important subject for working professionals and organizations must make sure they keep their employee mental health in check. Positive reinforcement is essential to keep work stress free and acts as a great way to reinitiate the office culture. It is not of any use if an employee is mentally stressed and he’s unable to give his best at work.

Work will be fruitful only when the team gives its hundred percent and puts their heart and soul into it. Mental health should be a prerogative in the competitive corporate framework and is quintessential for organizations to keep it in check. After all, employees are the greatest asset for an organization.

Therefore, organizations must focus greatly on mental wellness, and make sure their employees have a stress and pressure free environment to work in and they can talk about anything that concerns them with the management at all times.

Getting people back to the office might be a difficult task, especially if your team is thriving in a remote-work environment. But if you want to have a closer, more personally interactive culture, it might be the right move.