A few years ago, the concept of working from home was foreign to most of us, who would wake up at 7:00 am from Monday to Friday to make the dreaded morning commute to the office. For some, this would entail braving the freezing dusk with a KeepCup of boiling coffee in hand to ensure a chipper entrance at 9:00 am. Others had to face rail strikes, city traffic, and screaming children all before making it comfortably to their desks.

This, however, is no longer the reality for many, if not most, of us. A pandemic followed by the emergence of workplace technology and a society forced to adapt to working remotely has fundamentally changed employee wants, needs, and expectations. And while the extra hour of sleep and short 'walk' to our home offices have great appeal, we quickly realized something was missing—human connection.

So now we are at a crossroads—do we bring people back into the office or not?

Many leaders have insisted on a team that is present in the office daily under the pretense that 'real work' cannot be done at home and cannot be completed as productively outside the office. Unsurprisingly, employees have pushed back on such measures in an effort to fight for their work-life balance and newfound comfort. But what we often forget is that these desires are not mutually exclusive. Happy, rested employees can exist alongside leadership that wants to bridge the gap between the home and the office. The key here, as many organizations have discovered, is hybrid work. But once this model has been implemented and established, how do you get people to abandon their low-effort mornings for a physically and socially exhausting day at the office? You have to frame it in a way that promotes trust and autonomy and makes the commute worth it. We are going to show you how.

How do people actually feel about going back to the office?

In terms of employee sentiment towards working remotely, it is clear that flexible work is the preferred model, whether that is a few days from home or fully remote. 57% of workers would look for a new job if remote working opportunities were not being made available (FlexJobs). More than half of employees have such a strong preference for flexibility that they would risk leaving their current job to find one that fits this expectation. This means flexibility is one of the key considerations in the job search. Research even shows that some would take a pay cut in exchange for the ability to work from home.

While remote workers have seen an improvement in their work-life balance (71%), they feel less connected to coworkers (53%), according to Pew Research. This work-life balance is difficult to achieve without work flexibility and allows people to prioritize other aspects of their lives, such as family and health. Asking them to relinquish some of these benefits and then come into the office might pose a challenge. There are also other factors influencing employees' willingness to return. If you relate at all with the narrative description at the beginning of the article, you understand the struggles of a daily commute. Remote work eliminates that struggle for many, saving them costs, energy, and time. Especially for those who live far from their workplace, commuting can be a major drawback of going to the office.

All this being said, getting people back into the office is not an easy sell.

Strategies to Get Your Hybrid Workers in the Office on More Days

Build a compelling case for in-office days.

Getting employees back into the office is mostly a matter of making it worth it.

This can mean different things to different people, but companies need to exemplify the value of working in person. Like the work-life balance offered by remote work, coming to the office is central to building relationships and community. It is also key for tasks that require innovation and brainstorming sessions. Therefore, when building a compelling case for in-office days, leaders need to highlight the collaborative benefits of meeting with other colleagues in real life. Along with improvements to the quality of work employees produce, they can also expect to see personal benefits. Show them how they can find community with other colleagues in the office and explain that it is the core of your organization's culture.

Provide flexible scheduling options.

If you want your team to fulfill your wishes, such as their presence in the office, you must also respect their needs. Showing your employees that you care about their work-life balance and their need for WFH days will make them more loyal to the team and more motivated to join in person.

Providing flexible scheduling options is the best way to do this, and it can take many forms depending on the needs of your organization and individual teams. For example, staggered work hours will allow each person to start and end work at different times. Not only will they feel like they have control over their own schedules, but they will also be able to work when they are the most productive and the least distracted.

Give employee incentives and perks.

While both remote and in-office employees should feel valued, having small incentives waiting for them at the office will provide an added push to get them in the door. These don't have to be extravagant and can help boost other parts of their lives, such as health and wellness. Providing a workout class or meditation at the office is a great way of not only getting people in but also ensuring that they feel relaxed and happy when they do so.

Additionally, the office should feel like a place conducive to work and with amenities not found elsewhere. For example, the perfect touches are large monitors or technology they don't have room for in their home office, a fully-stocked kitchen, and bike racks for those sustainable commuters.

Finally, as building personal connections is a key benefit of in-person work, facilitate this through office events. Some employees will come in but have a difficult time meeting colleagues or finding the space in their schedule to do so. This is especially true for new joiners. Scheduling office events for everyone to join will not only provide entertainment but also make the commute worth it by facilitating personal relationship development.

Implement hybrid work software.

Sometimes, the difficulty with getting employees in is due to a shortage of desks or meeting rooms. Implementing a desk booking or week planning solution, for example, will allow them to book a desk or room in advance. No one wants to make a long commute just to find out the space they need is not available. Ensuring they get their desks and resources will be a big draw. Additionally, an app like deskbird will allow employees to see who is in the office on which days, inspiring them to join their colleagues or teammates. A system like this provides autonomy and streamlines processes so that coming into the office is not a hassle for employees and the office management team.

How to Make the Office 'Worth It' for Your Employees

Create a conducive work environment.

For your team to be excited about traveling all the way to the office, there needs to be a comfortable, welcoming environment waiting for them.

No one is being convinced by rows of gray cubicles and free instant coffee. The workplace needs to provide a unique and positive atmosphere. Swap one-size-fits-all chairs and tables for an assortment of group work tables, individual workstations, and standing desks to suit all needs and preferences. Also, make sure the furniture is ergonomic, fitting each person's job. This contributes to comfort and impacts efficiency and how people interact within the workplace.

Another physical change that improves workplace experience is biophilic design, or bringing elements of the outdoors into the space. This concept appeals to all of the senses, relieving stress and improving wellbeing.

Finally, the right technology and infrastructure need to be in place to support the needs of every role. Do your designers have tablets, and does your data guy have dual monitors? Is there a desk booking system in place so that individuals are getting the desks they need? These considerations might sound simple, but they can be the difference between an empty workplace and a buzzing office.

Structure meaningful in-person interactions.

As we have highlighted, one of the main drivers for in-office work is the opportunity to bond with colleagues. The BBC reports that 81% of those under 35 fear being lonely due to working from home for a long period of time. With tech driving many of our business functions, we have lost the humanness we used to associate with the office. How often have you gone to the office to open your laptop and hop on video calls with other remote team members? Some would ask, "What is the point?" With this in mind, these interactions need to be facilitated by leaders within the organization. This can be through team-building activities such as team lunches, organized activities, or scheduled coffee chats.

For younger members of your team, these interactions are crucial to the progression of their careers as they can learn from those who are more senior. The opportunity for these moments decreases with fully remote work. Forbes reports that 64% of people would quit their role because it lacks opportunities for skills development. As upskilling is key for anyone in today's work environment, especially millennials and Gen-Z, offering skill development is a major draw to the workplace.

Recognize and reward achievements.

Hybrid work models are only successful if there is trust and autonomy. Many leaders have doubted the system's effectiveness and productivity, but this lack of trust only makes employees more disconnected. Instead, managers should build a reciprocal culture of trust through employee appreciation initiatives. When people are not in the office every day, passing congratulations and celebrating milestones are often forgotten as they are not scheduled in our daily calendars. Therefore, intentional moments of appreciation can go a long way, especially when they happen in person. For example, throw a quarterly party that gets people in the office and shows them how much value they bring to the team.

Why the Hybrid Model Is the Best Solution

While many leaders are pushing their teams to be in the office, employee preferences are not matching up. As we have seen, the back-to-office mandates are receiving quite a bit of backlash. We are simply living in a different world post-pandemic, and expectations surrounding flexibility have changed. So, instead of a strict return-to-office mandate that might hurt employee retention, implement a hybrid approach. Here is why:

• It balances autonomy and collaboration.

When it comes to working preferences, leaders and employees have competing expectations. But what they need to realize is that their goals are the same: productive and efficient work. Hybrid models can be implemented to balance employees' needs for autonomy with leaders' push for collaboration. On WFH days, teams can leverage tools and technology that facilitate more fruitful virtual collaboration, such as synchronous messaging platforms (ex, Slack), video chatting (ex, Zoom), and task management tools (ex, ClickUp). The right technology will ensure the seamless transfer of important documents, the sharing of ideas, and the development of personal relationships in remote spaces.

While we have used this article to discuss getting people back into the office, hybrid work also recognizes the value of focused, independent work. Those days away in your home office contribute greatly to productivity as they limit distractions, such as a chatty coworker. Uninterrupted focus is crucial for task completion. So those days at home are just as important as the ones spent in the office.

• It improves work-life balance.

The conversation surrounding hybrid work has been centered around its positive impact on work-life balance. While it might seem obvious, there is a reason for this! People feel less stressed when they don't have to spend hours in traffic commuting to work. They also feel more balanced when they have the time to drop their kids off at school or an extra hour in the morning to work. These extra hours each week, even for just two days, contribute to mental and physical well-being.

• It boosts productivity and innovation.

Since hybrid provides "the best of both worlds," businesses see an increase in a number of key success factors. The mix of at-home independent work and in-office collaborative work is the perfect mixture for innovation. Deep thinking at home can boost focus and idea creation, which is then supplemented by bouncing ideas off of colleagues. Additionally, happy employees are simply more productive, according to research from Oxford University. We all want to enhance the well-being of our team on a human level, but if this does not convince leaders, actual improvements in productivity will. Having such a dynamic environment allows people to prioritize different elements of their lives in a way that will not only benefit them personally but also their work.

Getting people to return to the office is no easy feat, considering the newfound comfort and work-life balance working from home provides. However, the solution lies in embracing a hybrid work model that respects individual needs while promoting collaboration and innovation.

If you want to get your team in person more, there needs to be a compelling argument for in-office days. First, leaders need to emphasize the value of face-to-face interactions for both relationship-building and innovation. In other words, it communicates its benefits not only for the company but also for each individual's growth. Additionally, offering incentives and perks can further motivate employees to return to the office.

Now that you have managed to get employees in, you want them to keep coming back. Make the commute worth it by implementing hybrid work software, such as the deskbird desk booking app (which you can try for free), to allow employees to plan their in-office days effectively. Plus, it creates a conducive work environment. This involves physical changes like ergonomic furniture and incorporating biophilic design elements to enhance overall well-being. Finally, make sure they get what you promised: those meaningful in-person interactions. This can be facilitated by leaders through team-building activities and scheduled interactions. 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to workplace strategy. When all else fails, listen to your employees. They are the backbone of your organization. Understand what they need to return to the office and what they are expecting when they get there. Not only will this build a culture of trust and respect, but it will also make sure your office is buzzing and lively again!

By Annabel Benjamin, deskbird