The Role of Employee Engagement in Transitioning Your Workforce Back to the Office

The pandemic has accelerated the already fast-growing trend of remote working. What’s more, when everyone started working from home, a significant portion of people found advantages to it that they did not want to give up, and a job market that is allowing them to choose that more than anything. As such, if you are paying for office space and you want the advantages of having your team working together in person, then you might have to negotiate it with your team. Here are a few ways to do it.

Compromise with them

There are certainly advantages to being able to work in the office with your team. It can help you develop your team culture much more coherently, it can be a lot easier to communicate organically with your team as and when you need it, and, let’s not beat about the bush, accountability is precisely what some team members need to get the best out of them. However, there are definitely advantages to remote working, as well. Finding the combination between the two, making flexible working a positive movement in your workplace, could be the compromise that you need. Allow them more time at home, perhaps with a choice of hours when they come into the office, and perhaps one day or half-day each week that the entire team is in, for team meetings, touching base, and keeping that closer connection.

Create an office that they want to be in

If you’re offering a cramped, poorly furnished office that offers little advantages to the type of work they’re doing, your team members might be right to prefer working at home. It might be an environment that’s more conducive to the work they want to get done. Talk to your team about the workplace, itself, and whether they require more privacy, more collaborative spaces, or what other needs it currently is not fulfilling. Invest in high-quality office furniture that is ergonomic and helps create a positive environment by not having a depressing design. Understand how much the physical space of your office plays into the experience of working in it.

Incentivize their return, don’t threaten their absence

Rarely does the approach of “I’m the boss, what I say goes” work unless you’re a large corporation that can stomach the high churn rates. As such, the carrot is more effective than the stick, in most cases.? For instance, you can offer work incentives like more in-office training, team building, and work-life support services for those who come into the premises. You can also make it part of your employee’s contract that those who come into the office more often can gain access to perks such as help with their transportation, or memberships to a local gym. If you really need people to come in, enforcing existing contacts is an effective final option, but it shouldn’t be the first one.

How much of your team is willing to return to the office, regardless of what you offer, is never a certainty. If you can’t encourage them to come back without threatening their livelihoods, you might have to consider other options, yourself.

JULY 1, 2023

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