In the past year, millions of Britons have been called back into the office on a flexible or full-time basis. Big names such as Boots, Santander and ASOS are just some of the companies switching up their working from home policies in favour of more face-to-face office time. However, these new changes are not always met with positive employee sentiment, according to Entec Si CEO Eman Al-Hillawi.
Despite fully embracing hybrid or remote working post-Covid, last year’s State of Hybrid Work report found that 26% of workers said their company changed its remote or hybrid working policy in the last year, signifying definite change within the workplace.
In the past five years, flexible and hybrid working has been championed by Gen Z and Millennials, offering a better work-life balance, higher levels of productivity and cost savings from a reduced daily office commute. However, working from home takes trust, and recent buzzwords such as coffee-badging, hushed hybrid and fauxductivity are all having negative impacts on a business leader’s ability to trust their workforce.
Most return to office policies are fuelled by the need to operate at maximum capacity and efficiency, therefore requiring employees come back into the office to monitor levels of productivity. However, the same report found that 78% of managers have experienced no issues with productivity when managing remote teams and therefore returning to the office may not be the answer.
If employers feel as though they are experiencing productivity issues within the team, it’s always best to approach the issue head on, identifying pinch points and conducting an investigation into why this particular area is underperforming. Taking this initial step will ensure the team understand the levels of expectation when working from home and allow time for change before leaping to a new working structure.
Should the issue persist, employers can then begin to approach the idea of a new return to office policy with evidence to back up the claims of low levels of productivity.
One concern facing workers returning to the office is the need for adequate equipment, additional screens, keyboards, laptop stands, for example. In the UK, 56% of employees reported that their offices are now run on a hot-desking policy as a way for businesses to save money on larger office spaces. New return to office policies need to take the needs of workers into account and may require management to reconsider such policies such as hot-desking to ensure peak performance in the office.
The most important part of rolling out a new return to office policy is to carefully consider communication. Ensure a level of sensitivity to the situation is adhered to at all times when discussing the new structure and explain exactly why the change needs to happen. It’s essential for a business to expect and plan for initial resistance to the new policy and work with individuals on a case-by-case basis to ensure a successful return to the office.
Increasing office days or implementing a full return to office policy is becoming more common, with even more household names expected to call everyone back this year. However, for the new structure to be a success it’s essential for businesses to understand the benefits of hybrid-working and consider how this will affect employees going forward. Before jumping into a new return to office policy, management needs to consider, if working from home really is the productivity killer?
Eman Al-Hillawi, CEO at business change consultancy, Entec Si.