The Secret to Enticing Workers Back to the Office - Don't Force It!

Don’t Force It - The Secret to Enticing Workers Back to the Office

80% of workers don’t want to go back to the office full time.?According to a May 2022 survey of over 10,000 knowledge workers by Future Forum.?This may not be a surprise.

Having been forced to work from home during the pandemic, over time they became comfortable. A 2021 survey conducted by OnePoll, found that sixty-four percent of people working from home have upgraded their home offices. They stopped working at their dining tables, bought new height adjustable desks, and invested in comfortable chairs.?Now, they no longer want to return to the hassle of a daily commute, worry about what to wear to the office, and leave their pets alone all day. They also feel that they can focus on individual work better at home.?A study of over 16,000 workers by Stanford University reports that workers experience a 13% productivity increase in focus work by working from home.??Despite worker preferences to work from home, nothing can replace being in person for social cohesion and collaboration.?Maybe ten years from now, when we are working virtually in the Metaverse, this will change. Today, company culture and connection, are better established in person.?Companies want their workers to come back to the office.??

The solution most companies are turning to is hybrid work, a balance between working from home, and working from the office.?People that work full-time in the office have lower employee experience scores than employees who work from home part of the time, reports Future Focus. A flexible hybrid work policy that allows staff to work from home 2-3 days a week, and work from the office 2-3 days a week provides a happier work environment. Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University reports that 70% of all companies plan to implement some form of hybrid work. They are, however struggling with worker resistance.?How can companies entice workers, who are comfortable working from home to come back to the office, at least part-time, to collaborate and be part of the corporate culture???

There are three key considerations that companies can use to strike a balance between working from home, and working from the office: give workers autonomy, provide inviting spaces for collaboration, and provide excellent technology.?

Hybrid work is good, but don’t try to force it. As you incorporate hybrid work, consider giving employees the autonomy to decide when to work from home and when to work in the office. CNN reported that workers at Apple objected when they were told they must come back to the office 3 days a week by September 2021.?The company was forced to retract the mandate and delay its return to the office.??

In 2021, Reisinger and Fetterer published an article in the Harvard Business Review summarizing their survey of over 5,000 office workers. Sixty-one percent reported that they prefer to choose when, how, and where they work. Mandating when employees must come to the office can cause stress and employee dissatisfaction.?Keither Synder, CRO of Omnia advises companies to trust their employees to make the right decisions.?Let them coordinate with each other when to meet, and what day and time to come in each week.?

The flexibility of hybrid work is a huge benefit, but could it be better when employees are given autonomy to decide for themselves when it makes sense to come to the office.? After all, they are adults. Now, let’s look at the office space itself.

?The CEO and President of HP, Enrique Lores, proclaimed that the “office will no longer be the place where you turn up daily for work”. “You will go to the office to collaborate…exchange ideas…build the future.”?How do companies create an environment that supports collaboration, and encourages employees to get off of Zoom, and come to the office in person??Recently, I participated in a meeting with a large client. There was an option in the meeting invitation to participate remotely or in person at their office. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me and a colleague who was visiting from our HQ to build a closer relationship with the client. We went to their office for the meeting.?The other 13 participants chose to participate remotely, and we were the only people in the meeting that came in person.?The conference room that the meeting was in, was a sterile environment.?There was no coffee or water. We had to go through a rigid security process to be allowed in. There was no natural light, no views, and no hint of nature. No wonder the other participants chose not to come. They would have had to drive 45 minutes to over an hour to meet in this environment, versus staying in their comfortable home office.?

Providing a space that supports collaboration, that is worth the drive, is a key to the success of hybrid work. Jan Johnson of Allsteel suggests that “organizations are collectively staring at a giant RESET button but are not at all sure what will happen if we push it”. She encourages companies to push the button, and use this opportunity to make changes in the work environment that support social cohesion, diversity, and inclusion.?

Many of the technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area are leading the way with changes in the office. They are removing workstations and adding different types of meeting and collaborative spaces.?Open, closed, small, medium, and large.?Some meeting spaces will have lounge seating, others conference tables of various styles, shapes, and types. The point is to give users a choice based on the type of meeting, the length of the meeting, the number of people, and the level of formality of the meeting.??

They have baristas with a Starbucks-style coffee experience, and all-day cafes serving a variety of fresh and healthy food for free. They provide amenities that workers don’t have at home to make the experience more enjoyable and convenient.

There are open courtyards where meetings can take place outdoors on nice days. Plants and access to natural light are prevalent throughout the spaces.?Psychologist Rachel Kaplan of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, suggests that nature can help prevent and restore mental fatigue. Her theory is called the “biophilia hypothesis”.

?A transformation is happening with office spaces where they are a cross between an upscale conference center and an airport club lounge.??The thought is, that if you provide a space that employees want to visit, where they can connect in a comfortable and human-centric way, that reflects the culture of the company, they will come to the office to meet and collaborate.

The third consideration for an effective hybrid work program is technology.?The office needs to have better technology than employees have at home. Workers struggle with technology in their home offices. A survey by Stanford University found that only sixty-five percent of Americans have fast enough internet for video conferences.?Video call participants constantly face issues with connection, audio, lighting, and distractions such as barking dogs and children.?

Technology can enhance the workplace experience. Imagine arriving at the office and storing your backpack in a locker that recognizes you through an app. It detects your presence and opens automatically. After you store your stuff, it re-locks and closes.?You have arrived a few minutes early, so you select a desk, and walk over to work for a short while. It senses your presence and automatically adjusts to your preferred height. The light and temperature adjust to your preferred setting, and the chair height automatically adjusts to the pre-set height in your app.?You work for a short while, and then join your colleagues in a conference area.?During the meeting, the whiteboard notes are automatically saved online through a technology that allows remote participants to see them, as well as those in person.?The camera follows you around the space. Both remote and in-person participants feel included. The sound works perfectly and the lighting is always flattering.?Almost all of the technology I just described exists today and can enhance the workplace experience.

A work environment that has technology that works easily and intuitively, is an improvement over the frustrations workers face at home. It helps make the office a more convenient and efficient environment to meet and collaborate.??

If you face an issue with technology, while at home, it can be frustrating and difficult to solve. Many companies are establishing an IT service bar at the office, similar to an Apple Genius Bar in Apple stores.?They can solve problems, and work on equipment while staff wait in a comfortable lounge area. Solving technology issues easily and fast enhances the office experience. Technology is an excellent way to provide a great employee experience and draw workers to the office.

We’ve just talked about how to entice employees back to the office through a well-planned hybrid work program that incorporates three key considerations.?First is autonomy – give employees the power to decide when to work from home, and when to come to the office.?Second, provide inviting spaces for collaboration, that supports different meeting types and styles, in an attractive and comfortable environment with amenities such as free gourmet coffee and meals. Third, ensure that the office has superior technology and convenient technology services.?

Feel free to contact me if you would like to chat more about return-to-office strategies.

References

Bloom, N. (2020). How working from home works out. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Retrieved August 13, 2022, from https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/how-working-home-works-out

Bloom, N. (2021, May). Hybrid is the future of work. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/hybrid-future-work

Collins, B. (2020). The office as we know it is finished, say HP boss. Forbes. Retrieved August 13, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2020/10/15/the-office-as-we-know-it-is-finished-says-hp-boss/?sh=75a01d5bd478

Future Forum (2022, May). Future Forum Pulse Summer Snapshot. Future Forum. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://futureforum.com/pulse-survey/

Johnson, J. (2021). The enlightened organization/the emplowered worker. Allsteel. Retrieved August 14, 2022 from https://www.allsteeloffice.com/insights/blog/enlightened-organization-empowered-worker

Kaplan, R. (1989). The role of nature in the context of the workplace. Landscape and Urban Planning.

Synder, K. (2020). Micro-managing your employees – why it’s bad and how to stop. Omnia. Retrieved August 13, 2022, from https://www.omniagroup.com/micromanaging-your-employees-why-its-bad-and-how-to-stop/