COVID-19 has shaped work from all types of industries. The pandemic has brought a big shift to office workers and made them bring their work to their homes. But since the world is slowly opening, some offices are already welcoming their employees back. Working from home has many advantages. However, some things we see aren’t entirely workable. A Forbes article tackles the spike in productivity in a work-from-home setup and how it can easily dip with some factors involved. This only means that we cannot simply dismiss the importance of offices.
With this in mind, what can you do to convince your employees to set working-from-home aside? How can you persuade them to adapt back into working in the office again? Here are some tips that you can apply:
Give them enough time
Convincing your employees to get back to the office could be a challenge. That’s true especially when they’re hurried to do this action. It’s important to give them time to adjust. Shifting to a work-from-home setup was very drastic. Most workers have experienced the rush. So when it comes to asking them to go back to the office, you have to take it slow.
There are many things your employees have been accustomed to when they were working from home. These are the same things that they have to let go of. It’s not going to help if you won’t give them sufficient time to adjust. Some of your employees have children they had attended to while working from home. Give them time to hire someone to babysit for their kids. There are working arrangements within the family that need to be resolved. Have your employees settle them first before asking them to go back to work in the office.
Check their performance
Some said that working from home has improved workers’ performance. There was even research that points towards this finding. However, this may not be applicable to employees that need extensive monitoring. It’s undeniable that there are people who don’t work efficiently unless they’re micromanaged. They’re typically the ones who need extensive coaching. They couldn’t maximize their functions under minimal supervision. That’s why you can use their performances as leverage to convince them to go back to the office.
As the saying goes, numbers don’t lie. Review your employees’ performances. In this way, you can distinguish who may need to go back to the office with you. Inform them nicely about the change they have to go through again. Emphasize that their performance is vital to keep the company intact. And of course, don’t forget to give them enough time to prepare to go back to the office.
Make it conditional
Another thing you can do is make their options to return to the office conditional. Say you can give them a work-related task and whoever does it the best will have the chance to retain their work-from-home setup. There are a lot of activities you can give your employees to make them do their very best at work. This also promotes work productivity while doing their jobs at home.
This way, you can assure that they’re delivering efficiency even only under your virtual guidance. Some would perceive it as making work-from-home set up a reward. But it’s totally fine as long as your employees are going to be efficient when they do their job.
Explore other offices
Get creative and think out of the box. There are other innovative ways you can do to convince your employees to work outside their homes. You can temporarily rent shared offices or virtual ones for your employees. This option is applicable if your employees live too far from the physical workplace. It’ll help them work in an actual office set up without the burdens of a work-from-home structure. This could also prepare your employees and make them re-adjust to a typical workplace setup.
Make it similar to a work-from-home setup
Lastly, you can use make your office a second home to your employees. Working from home has made them do a lot of things that they wouldn’t be able to do in the office. Some examples are waking up shortly before clocking in, not commuting for work, wearing more comfortable clothes, and more. Why not give them similar perks when they start working in your office again?
You can give them flexible time schedules if applicable. Do this with your company’s performance in mind. Flexible schedules could somehow make up for the commute your employees had to endure to get to work. You can also have a day or two to allow your employees to wear more comfortable clothes at work.
Construct a daycare for your employees’ children. This way, they can bring their children with them while at work. It’s going to make them less worried about finding someone to take care of the kids in their absence. Your office may not be exactly as similar as their houses. But make your employees work comfortably just like how they felt when they were working at home.
A lot of employees enjoyed working from home because of the things they’re limited to do in the office. Imitate the comfort their houses have given them. Do this and your employees will surely exude the same enthusiasm to work in your office again.
