There was a time when employees were being treated as cogs in the machine and their lives were nothing less than a hamster on the wheel. I guess monotonousness, tiresome, daunting days are one of the most crucial reasons why employees tend to switch their jobs. And did you know what was the worst part, during those days, the employees did not care about it at all. Well, Today, on the contrary, the scenario seems to have changed to a great extent. The employees are being treated as valuable assets, due to which more and more businesses are found looking around for ways to encourage employees to return to the office.
After the COVID pandemic, employees are seen enjoying the perks of working from home a lot lately. In fact, when asked whether to continue working from home or return to the office, most of them support working from home. Since they have already adapted and fallen in love with the concept. Turns out that convincing your employees to return to the offices could be easier said than done. No matter how tricky this part is, encouraging your valued assets is a doable job. Read away the following post and I am sure you will find “How”?
Disadvantages of Working from Home
Of course, work from home opens a wide new range of possibilities for both businesses as well as employees. The outbreak of the pandemic has compelled most of the employees to continue working from their homes. Now I am sure you must have come across several posts emphasizing on the advantages of working from home such as flexibility and agility, enhanced employee retention, attracting new talent, increased productivity, convenience, healthy staff, less sickness absence, financial perks and whatnot! However, did you know that working from home offers a wide range of disadvantages as well.
#1 Monitoring performance is not easy
Lastly from the business perspective, it is very difficult to manage remote teams. Here managing staff performance is pretty tricky. Businesses are often found concerned about home workings and their distractions. In addition to monitoring performance, maintaining team spirit is also difficult while working from home.
#2 Isolation
Another disadvantage of working from home is that you are isolated which is certainly not good for your mental health. The feeling of being disconnected from your workspace and colleagues can be extremely daunting and depressing. Of course, you can schedule catch-ups or communicate on a regular basis with your teams but counterattacking the feeling of isolation is not easy.
#3 It is not suitable for everyone
You see, not every person would be well-suited when it comes to working from home. There are people who do prefer working under specific circumstances or routines. Some staff would love to have some kind of personal interaction with their colleagues and work face-to-face with their seniors. So yes, for them working from home could be a very difficult option to consider. Apart from that, if you have a small kid in the house then concentrating on your work is something that is next to impossible. Toddlers being unknown to their boundaries tend to cause unnecessary interruptions, especially during skype calls or virtual meetings. Unless you have a dedicated work space at home.
Now let’s get to the other side of the coin, further, I would like to mention certain benefits of working from the office.
How Working from the Office is Beneficial?
No matter how much this concept is being conflated these days, working from the office is way better than working from home. Here’s how?
#1 The work culture
One of the obvious reasons is “the work culture”. You see every organisation has a culture of its own and that’s extremely important to increase revenue growth, productivity, creativity, etc. In fact, having a particular office culture can create a great impact on people’s well-being and ensures to keep everyone together.
Also, culture is needed for an adequate amount of support and development. Having a unique office environment won’t just enhance professional relationships but also create more and more development opportunities.
#2 Seamless Communication
Another interesting reason to work from the office is you are bound to conduct seamless and effective communication. Yes, there is no scope for any misunderstandings or gaps since you can deal with the issues face-to-face. Not to mention communicating personally can strengthen relationships and rapport with your colleagues. Whether you are sitting next to each other or even bumping into the coffee machine, a 5-minute chat can be counted as bliss.
#3 Management
Last but certainly not least is management. Of course, in every business, there is a hierarchy in particular. I mean you are answerable to your seniors and proper management is possible when you all are present in the same workspace. As the manager, you can easily keep an eye on what’s going on or spot errors and fix it right away, basically regulating the workflow easily are perks of working from the office.
And the most important of all is the work-life separation. It has been observed that with the encouragement of work from home culture, employees are facing potential burnout to a great extent. By convincing them to work from the office, you can assist them in maintaining their physical and mental health.
How to Encourage Employees to Return to the Office?
So by now, you are firm that making your employees return to the office is the best thing to do, right? Well, to help you with that I have mentioned certain tips and tricks to keep in mind. Let’s get started!
#1 Make them feel comfortable
One of the obvious and easiest things to do is make them feel comfortable. For starters do not ask your employees to get dressed up in a suit or professional attire every day. Understand, the lockdown period was large and obviously, people have got accustomed to the concept of working while wearing comfy t-shirts and pyjamas. Yes, I am not encouraging the concept of pyjamas but comfy jeans and t-shirts might do. By doing so, you are encouraging the level of casualness and your employees won’t find it different from working from home.
#2 Offer Personalization
Another way to encourage employees to return to the office premises is by allowing them to make personalized connections with their coworkers. Of course, here I am not suggesting lovey-dovey relationships but creating a healthy interpersonal relation is no harm at all. By doing so, people will be much happier when they will have the privilege to develop deep connections, bond or rapport with their colleagues. Also, not to mention there are several team bonding exercises, potlucks, picnics and other activities available to make everything work seamlessly.
#3 How about providing a hybrid model?
Making changes all of sudden could be a huge problem. So what can be done is try creating a win-win situation by preaching a hybrid model where they have to work from the office premises only three-days a week and apart from that they can work from home. Getting the best of both worlds is exactly what we crave for, right?
Final Words
Working from home vs Working from the office is the new apple vs orange. Each one has its pros and cons, but of course, working from the office is a way better option. All you as an employer have to do is create such an atmosphere that encourages employees to start working from there and encourages teamwork. I hope now you know what the future of work culture will exactly look like.
So that’s all for now! I hope the following post surely did some help when it comes to encouraging employees to return to the office. In case, if you still have any doubts or queries, regarding the same feel free to mention that in the comment section below.
