Head of People - Grey Group NY.
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More than three years after the Covid-19 pandemic sent most office employees home, corporate executives are making a push to bring them back to the office—at least part-time. But it's no surprise that employees, having reconfigured their lives around working remotely, are pushing back.
Studies have shown the push to return to the office is one of the leading causes of attrition, and these office mandates are making recruitment more difficult. While there are times when in-office work is beneficial for all, the challenge for employers is finding ways to ensure hybrid work drives engagement and productivity.
Here are a few things to consider to make the hybrid model work best for employers and employees.
One Size Does Not Fit All
If you want employees to start coming back into the office, they need to understand the value. For example, if their work is largely autonomous, there's no need for them to be in the office to do it. So asking an employee to endure an hour-long commute just to do heads-down tasks doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Instead, you should allow department heads and managers to determine the best schedule for their teams. It should take into account the work activities and tasks that are better suited for being onsite. Maybe all team members will come in one week per month to work on collaborative tasks or once per quarter to review output and outcomes and plan for the future. Whatever the cadence, the value proposition should be clear for employees, which will make them feel like coming into the office is a benefit to them and their work.
Make The Office Great Again
Pre-pandemic, many offices shifted to open floor plans to help foster collaboration. However, this typically created a loud workplace with distractions aplenty. Employees wore headphones, hid in corners or squatted in conference rooms so they could focus on their tasks.
Many employers have reduced their office spaces since 2020, but that may only compound issues with distractions if employees are returning to the office. Asking employees to come to the office without providing comfortable places for them to work can lead to employee dissatisfaction and attrition. So leadership must assess their space and layout, ensuring there are sufficient quiet work areas and enough conference rooms for people to meet.
Ditch The Nine-To-Five Workday
When bringing employees back to the office, you must understand that returning to set hours for office work won't win any popularity contests. For three years, employees who fulfill childcare needs or other personal responsibilities have been able to build schedules to accommodate them. So you must offer the ability to maintain those schedules.
If an employee needs to come into the office, allow them to determine the hours that work best. Don’t require them to stay the full day if they're only attending one meeting or event. This is especially important if the rest of that day is going to be spent on heads-down work. Allowing employees to be flexible about their onsite hours gives them the ability to balance their lives and their work without compromising either.
Listen To Employees
Before implementing a mandate, take the time to survey your employees. Make sure you understand both the challenges they face working remotely and the obstacles they navigate in the office. Because leadership is often removed from day-to-day operations, this leads to making bold—and often incorrect—assumptions about work and how it’s done.
According to Envoy, 80% of executives say "they would have approached their company’s return-to-office strategy differently if they had access to workplace data to inform their decision-making." Ensuring employees have a voice in the return-to-office conversation will help avoid blindspots and embarrassment.
Be Flexible
Even with the best of intentions, you may not get hybrid working 100% correct. Executives who understand this and are willing to pivot toward better options will have the best response from employees. It may be helpful to pilot ideas before implementing them fully. Get feedback from employees and managers on what works and what doesn’t, then be willing to make changes. Continue to survey your employees at regular intervals to ensure policies and processes are still viable. Flexibility will be key to the success of any hybrid program.
As an employer, it's important to make the effort to look beyond the previous office norms. This will help your employees get on board with the shift back to in-person work. Overly rigid mandates will drive the best and brightest employees—those with the most employment options—away. The future of office work is hybrid, and the winners will be those who work with their employees instead of making demands of them.
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