How Businesses Are Enticing Employees Back to the Office
For many, many years, office working was the norm. Up and down the UK, millions of professionals would be in office environments fulfilling their duties. However, things changed dramatically in 2020. When the pandemic struck, remote working became commonplace. Even once we moved out of restrictions and lockdowns, many employees are still choosing to work from home.
While remote working does come with its benefits, you may need some employees back in the office. Understandably, the prospect of returning to the office may not appeal to every member of staff. However, if it’s a necessity for some to come back, you’re going to need to pull out all the stops to lure them back in. To ease the transition and excite staff to return, here are some tactics you can implement today.
Offer Hybrid Working
Most businesses aren’t expecting staff to come back to the office full-time. In fact, it’s believed that over 30% of full-time UK employees are currently working a hybrid working schedule. This means that the working week can be split between being in the office and working from home. Giving your employees more flexibility in regard to where they work can make them feel more swayed to coming back into the office, even if it’s only for a couple of days each week.
Speak to remote staff about how they feel regarding a hybrid work model. Offering a work-life balance while making sure they retain a physical presence in the workplace is key. If you need to hold an important meeting, this can take place when staff are in the office.
Revamp Your Office Space
Take a look around your workplace. Does it spark creativity? Do you get a positive feeling in it? If the answer is no to both, there’s no wonder why employees are hesitant to return. A poorly designed office can hinder productivity levels which isn’t good news for your business. Thankfully, there is the option to revamp your office space.
Plenty of companies have gone down the route of refurbishing their office. Take Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc for instance. Amos Beech helped the venture between Michelin and Dundee City Council to transform their office space for the better. This included creating a more open plan space, changing the positioning of desks, and replacing all internal doors.
Concentrate On Wellness
Your employee’s health and wellness should be your top priority as a business owner. As a reward for coming into the workplace, why not concentrate on their wellbeing by offering specialist classes? These could include body strength training, dancing, or yoga. Such classes are great for relaxing the mind and body. There are plenty of work-related benefits too, such as enhancing productivity levels.
Companies who care about their employee’s health are the ones who stand the test of time. You may even have space to house your own gym at work. This is a popular employee incentive. Should you put this in place, you may just find employees queuing up to get back into the office!
Provide Free Meals
Employees who work remotely can simply dip into the fridge to grab something for their lunch, whereas those in the office have to rely on other means. If you haven’t got catering facilities in the workplace, staff may be reluctant to eat out every lunchtime. Therefore, why not consider providing free meals?
You could also have a complementary snack bar at work that employees can take advantage of. There are lots of healthy snacks you can bring into the office that can do wonders for boosting work performance,
Reimburse Travel Expenses
If there’s one thing the average employee dreads, it’s got to be the morning and evening commute. While some people are lucky enough to live a stone’s throw from the office, others need to rely on their car or public transport to get into the office on time. One key benefit of remote working is employees don’t have to move a muscle, which can make it difficult to entice staff to come back.
One approach you can take is offering to reimburse travel expenses. We all know how expensive petrol is. What’s more, train fares have just increased by 5.9% too. When you factor in the cost of living crisis too, some members of staff just simply cannot afford to get to and from work. If you’re able to, reimbursing travel expenses will be a huge weight off your employees’ shoulders and make them more inclined to return to the workplace.
Many employees have warmed up and gotten used to flexible working arrangements. Unfortunately, this has left little reason for them to come back to the office. If your business requires staff to be in the workplace, you need to put actions like those above in place to enhance the attractiveness of the office and have incentives to bring employees back.
Using our suggestions will show how much you value and appreciate your team. Just make sure to keep these actions in place, otherwise, staff may itch to get out of the office and go elsewhere for work opportunities.
