How Leaders Can Entice Workers Back to the Office

August 1, 2022

The Lure of Remote Work

The pandemic taught us that when push comes to shove, most of us can work successfully from home. But as restrictions lift, workers aren’t keen to go back to the office. They’ve enjoyed not having to commute, having more free time, being more productive, and working according to their own schedule. In fact, roughly 3/4 of workers want to keep working remotely at least part-time, and 1/3 say that they’d rather quit than be required to come back to the office full-time.

Organizations have adapted to the new work-world and roughly half are prepared to offer a hybrid model to workers, requiring them to come into the office some of the time while working from home for the rest. Still, almost 1/3 leaders plan to have workers come back to the office full-time. They recognize the benefits of being on-site, such as easier collaboration, better career development, more focused environment, stronger company culture, better work-life separation, and the creation of stronger bonds with colleagues.

Regardless of how often workers are expected to be on-site, leaders are still faced with a delicate task: How do you ask workers to come back without losing them to other companies that offer remote work?

Six Suggestions to Encourage Workers Back to the Office

Communicate – A very important first step. Start with ‘why’ you want them to come back and clarify that it isn’t punishment or to monitor them, emphasizing whatever your primary reason may be (spontaneous collaboration, increase workflow efficiencies). Acknowledge and honour the challenges of the previous two years and show empathy and gratitude for how your team pushed through. Ask what could make being in the office better, act on it, and regularly ask for this kind of feedback in the future.
Emphasize benefits of the office – Milk the most out of in-office time by planning activities that are done best live with the whole team in the same physical location. Activities such as collaboration on projects, brainstorming sessions, improving workflow efficiencies, career development and training, and building personal connections with coworkers (team bonding activities, workshops, group lunches, ice cream truck, informal problem-solving sessions). Emphasize the importance of these activities to the team.
Broadcast safety – As we transition from a pandemic to an endemic, safety measures need to be emphasized for workers to feel safe. Some are worried about the safety of the office, and they need to be reassured. Tell them about any safety protocols (enhanced cleaning, masking, checking vaccines, symptom checks/tests), changes to physical spaces (moving desks for social distancing, capacity limitations, air filtration system) or scheduling (staggered). Show that the physical and psychological safety of all workers is a #1 priority.
Offer a hybrid model – Most workers want this, and most companies have adopted this, with an ‘at-will’ policy being the most popular. This added flexibility allows the worker to decide how many days they will be in-office and when, but it has its downfalls. Picture this: You wake early, shower, pack your lunch, battle the morning commute, and then find yourself all alone at the office. If you want to emphasize the benefits of the office (see #2 above), it is much better if everyone can agree on which days to come in. On those days, plan team activities and work that requires everyone, and on remote days workers can complete independent tasks. Your task as a leader then becomes deciding how much time you need together as a team per week, and then let the team choose which days.
Emphasize psychological safety – You want everyone to feel safe expressing their needs/feelings about being back in the office, and leaders need to be empathetic. Organizations with a highly positive, employee-focused workplace have had better luck getting workers back to the office without losing them to competitors that offer remote work.
Offer incentives – 88% of companies are using incentives to get workers back in the office, and these include things like free lunches, better desks, awesome break room, better parking, professional cleaning, relaxed dress code, and gym membership. The goal is to make being in the office as comfortable as being at home.

How Leaders Can Entice Workers Back to the Office

The Lure of Remote Work

Six Suggestions to Encourage Workers Back to the Office

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