After nearly three years of working from home, what kinds of incentives does your company need to offer to bring your people (happily) back to the office?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is one of the biggest questions on the minds of people managers the world over. After all, it has significant implications for employee engagement and retention. And yet, it doesn\u2019t have a one-size-fits-all answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The right approach will vary based on your business and your people, but it will certainly call for a mix of both monetary and workplace culture perks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are a few things you can consider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one hand, there are some key monetary incentives you can offer to your employees to offset some of the costs incurred by foregoing work-from-home and heading back into the office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shifting back to in-office work can pose challenges for parents, especially when it comes to childcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an employer, you can ease this stress with incentives focused on childcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While most organizations can\u2019t provide daycare in their workspace, you can support your staff with complimentary access to nearby daycare centers or by helping to subsidize their childcare costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the pandemic, 25 million households in the United States added a dog<\/a> to their family. For context, that\u2019s nearly one in every five homes in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now, these new dog parents are trying to figure out how to handle their pandemic pups as they begin to return to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While it might seem like a small thing, it can weigh heavily on the minds of your pet-owner employees, and you can help alleviate their stress with perks like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n While this won\u2019t necessarily benefit everyone in your company, it\u2019ll go a long way for many of them. It\u2019ll also act as an attractive benefit for potential future hires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Working from home provided employees with the ultimate convenience when it came to their workday lunches\u2014they no longer had to pack food to bring to the office or pay to dine out if they forgot their own food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While paid lunches might seem like a simple incentive, they can be an effective way to generate enthusiasm for the return to in-office work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This can include things like catered breakfasts and lunches, whether daily or on a weekly basis, as well as upgrading your office kitchen to have high-quality coffee and healthy grab-and-go snacks and meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you work at a flexible workspace<\/a>, you\u2019ll typically have many of these things included for your staff\u2014at no extra cost to your company. At iQ Offices, we offer complimentary snacks and beverages and a breakfast program as well as happy hours where your staff can socialize and unwind as a team and with an extended community of professionals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The daily commute is one of the biggest uphill battles when it comes to bringing your team back to the office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Research has shown that 79 per cent of employees feel eliminating their commute was a big plus<\/a> of remote work\u2014and this is no surprise when you consider it saves them an average of 72 minutes each day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why providing commuting benefits is more than a nice-to-have as people return to work. It\u2019s essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can consider perks like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also consider your employees\u2019 geographic locations and think about setting up satellite workspaces for local teams that either may not have access to your central office or who might face an extensive commute to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While monetary perks are valuable incentives for bringing your team together in real life, it\u2019s infinitely more important to prioritize long-term initiatives that support employee engagement and align with your team\u2019s expectations of their workplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of it this way: in the past few years, your team got used to the flexibility of working from home. That is to say that they\u2019ve been able to work when, where, and how it suits them best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, they could start their day at their desk, head out to their patio for an hour to get some fresh air while they work, then wrap up their workday on the couch as they comb through their emails or tie up administrative loose ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The point is that they\u2019ve been freed from the confines of sitting sedentary at a desk all day\u2014and you need to reimagine your workplace accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to incentivize your team to come back to in-office work, then your office needs to align with their expectations by providing a diverse array of spaces where they can work how it suits them best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, since isolation has been a big challenge for remote employees during the pandemic, your workspace should also be designed for engagement and collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it can be tough to overhaul your entire office, considering new options\u2014like private offices<\/a> or serviced office suites<\/a> at a flexible workspace\u2014can provide you with access to a full suite of turnkey amenities and a variety of workspaces for your team to utilize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research has found that 64 per cent of employees<\/a> would be more inspired to go into the office if they knew their team would be there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This goes to show the value of team events, like happy hours or group wellness events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than viewing your office as just a place where work gets done, think of it as a place that provides your team with the much-needed social interactions and interpersonal bonds that help them live a happier, and more fulfilled life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Serviced office spaces often provide these social activities for their members, meaning your team can enjoy social events on a regular basis without any planning required by your company\u2019s leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After years of virtual meetings, nearly a quarter of employees<\/a> say their Zoom fatigue is at extreme levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, as you bring your team back to the office, you can\u2019t ask them to settle for monotonous, energy-draining meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, rethink the way you meet with your team. This can include things like booking fully-appointed meeting rooms<\/a> with best-in-class technology and incorporating whiteboarding sessions into your company\u2019s repertoire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A whiteboarding session is an interactive meeting where your team uses a physical whiteboard to visually discuss and illustrate ideas, plans, or problem-solving strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike static, one-way meetings, these sessions encourage collaboration, creativity, and effective communication by allowing your team to sketch diagrams, write notes, and create visual representations together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t have to<\/em> bring your employees back to the office full-time, you can consider implementing hybrid scheduling for your team<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In doing so, you allow your employees to come into the office when they want or need to while offering them the flexibility and convenience of working remotely that they\u2019ve grown accustomed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s long been theorized that working from home can hinder professional development due to a lack of hands-on leadership and in-person interactions with senior team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Paid lunch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Commuting benefits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Workplace culture incentives for long-term in-office success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Reimagined workspace <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Team events<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Whiteboarding sessions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Hybrid schedules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Development opportunities and facetime with leaders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n