How to ‘return’ employees to the office after working remotely

“The idea is that it’s comfortable, and you want to be here as much as you want to be at home.”

As the world moved to remote work at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability of employees to adapt quickly became apparent.

Large numbers of people, suddenly forced to work from home, are able to do their jobs just as well – or in some cases better – than they would in the office.

A survey of nearly a million employees at Fortune 500 companies (the largest US companies by total revenue) showed that productivity remained stable or increased after workers began working remotely.

In short, workers have proven that remote work is both possible and profitable.

Some of the big companies, especially in the tech space, including Facebook, Upwork, and Slack, are moving to permanently working remotely.

However, many other people are encouraged to return to the office, either part-time or full-time.

But now that we’ve seen how we can efficiently do our work from home, and find ways to keep in touch with our colleagues, what a really good office is — and is it possible to make employees want to be there?

It’s an imminent question that companies are trying to answer.

In terms of performance, the desk is not essential to productivity, says Ethan Bernstein, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School in the US.

But just because we don’t need to be in the office to perform work tasks effectively doesn’t mean they are useless.

He adds that there are many functions that an actual office space can perform, even if people are still doing a lot of work from home.

“If you think of the office as an add-on,” says Bernstein, “you’re not asking what offices can do, and remote work cannot, but how can we use the office to do what we do remotely more effectively? Telecommuting has become the norm, and may be The office is there to intentionally strengthen relationships, introduce people, and build relationships.”

After more than a year working full-time remotely, LendingTree’s Olmsted says the new office opened to a limited number of people just a few weeks ago.

Employees were asked to sign up to work from there any day they wanted, and Olmsted and his team didn’t know what to expect.

He reveals, “When we opened up these vacancies and said, ‘Come if you’re ready, in two hours we’ve all filled them up’.”

“There are about 550 people who are going back, and more than half of them are ready to go back now. We were surprised by this number, and the fact that many of the staff quickly said, ‘I’m ready,’ indicates that something is missing.”

Exactly what they miss in the office, Olmsted adds, “is different for everyone.”

For some, the main function of the office is socializing.

“I know people can achieve a lot of that in their home lives, but not everyone can,” Olmsted says.

For others, the office provides a distraction-free environment that a home office might not.

“One person said to me, ‘I have young children, a wife who also works, and I have been working in our bedroom closet for a year.

“For some people, being in the office is a matter of focus and a necessity to escape,” Olmsted says.

Some people simply work better in a rigorous work environment, adds Mark Dixon, founder and CEO of IWG (International Working Group), a UK-based office company with more than 3,500 buildings in 120 countries.

“Some people can work from home and are really good and disciplined. Others work better in the office,” he says.

“There are probably a lot of interruptions at home. Personally, I like going to the office because if I don’t go, I work day and night. Being able to leave the office is an important mental break.”

Bernstein says a lot of people simply don’t like working from home, or have living conditions that make it difficult.

“There is scope to allow some people, who for whatever reason are more comfortable in a place that is not their home, to work from somewhere else.”

“There are some people who would like to be in a co-working space or in an office,” he adds.

In other words, we still need physical spaces – some outside the home – to do our work.

“People and businesses need some kind of foundation,” Dixon says.

Although the office era is not over yet, the role the office plays in the lives of professionals is changing, and it seems only natural that space design will change with it.

Olmsted reveals that the main feedback LendingTree leadership received from employees “was their desire for a variety of spaces.”

“They wanted places where they could collaborate in different ways: booths, areas to sit down and have a cup of coffee. Places to sit and talk. Traditional meeting rooms. Places introverts could escape. Spaces where people could escape. Meet informally.”

The result was a radical departure from the “open office” scheme that had prevailed since 1906, when Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Larkin Administration Building in New York City, USA.

Instead of a large floor full of desks with professionals leaning on it, Olmsted says the staff who work on the building are spread out in a variety of rooms.

“Right now, I can look at workplaces and see about a third of our employees,” she says. “I don’t know if [o resto] You’ve been working from home, or you’ve been here and you’re at the gym or a library somewhere.”

Although the IWG has more than 8000 offices in its extensive network of offices, Dixon recognizes that the often distant future is not only possible, but probable.

“What really goes away is going to the headquarters of a big company and seeing hundreds or thousands of offices in a big building where people go to use a laptop and a phone that they can use wherever they are,” says Dixon.

“This discovery came thanks to an unprecedented scientific experiment that happened all over the world, once. And it worked! We know we don’t need this kind of office anymore.”

But this does not mean that companies do not need offices. In fact, according to Dixon, demand for IWG offices has increased by 43 percent in the United States alone, compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

Many companies are moving toaxle spoke‘,” he explains, with many small branch offices available to employees and a streamlined central office that serves as the company’s headquarters.

“Governments still require you to have a physical address,” he says. “There is still an analog world that requires that address.”

“But increasingly, it’s becoming a much smaller operations center, with a few people helping coordinate those who work in all the different places.”

Dixon says the idea of ​​such a physical headquarters will be around for a while.

In fact, he believes it will be one of the last remnants of a physical office as work continues to progress online.

“Right now, the purpose of the office is still to give the company its identity. The essence. Old-fashioned stuff,” he says.

“It’s a place with their name above the door. It gives people a sense of belonging. Getting rid of it is like having an army without a base camp. You need a place to assemble your army.”

And despite the newfound “ability” to use online collaboration tools, for people working together toward a common goal, spending time in the same physical space can be valuable.

“We think a lot of the best spontaneous collaborations happen when people bump into each other,” Olmsted says.

“I think it’s about connecting with other people who do what you do. You can only communicate to a certain extent via Zoom or over the phone. I think the creative flame shines more naturally when people are together.”

Dixon says there will always be benefit from sharing physical space with colleagues, but the way we design and use office space will need to change to complement rather than offer an alternative to working remotely.

This can come in the form of hybrid models that give people the flexibility to work wherever they are most productive and use the office primarily for social or collaborative activities.

Dixon adds that companies that think they can make a long-term return to the traditional model may refuse to see reality.

In a recent IWG survey, nearly a third of professionals said they would only consider working for companies that offer a flexible work environment.

“This is a fundamental change and it will affect all companies,” he says.

“I liken it to when email was first sent out. Some people said no, I would continue to use mail and fax machines. In the end, everyone had to emigrate; there was a period of low efficiency while resisting.”

He quotes the TV series the desk, from the mid-2000s, which has already taken on an outdated character.

“In 15 years, if I offered the desk For the young man, you have to explain to him what that scenario is,” says Dixon.

“It would be a bit like old movies set on steam locomotives.”

However, he expects co-workers to get together.

Just like now, we’ll be able to do most of our work on our own behind our screens. But no matter how digitally dependent the future may be, we are still social creatures, and the physical office – in a way – still serves a purpose.

“When someone says thank you on Zoom, it’s different than when someone shakes your hand, makes eye contact and says, ‘Thank you, I really appreciate it,'” Dixon says.

“You can’t do almost everything. People need people.”

You have seen our new videos on Youtube? Subscribe to our channel!