{"id":39296,"date":"2024-04-03T22:42:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T22:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/?p=39296"},"modified":"2024-04-03T22:42:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T22:42:40","slug":"return-to-the-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cos.net.au\/c\/cospedia\/return-to-the-office","title":{"rendered":"How to Entice Employees to Return to the Office\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Enticing employees to return to the office is not a simple task. The pandemic and two or more years of working from home has made many workers across the country re-evaluate their relationship with and approach to work. Many have realised that working from home has given them a better ability to balance work and home life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Thanks to the lack of commute time, the ability to care for children or other family members, and the amount of time spent with loved ones increased. The ability to run errands, exercise, go for a walk or otherwise remain active during the workday also proved a boon to many. Being able to set up a home work space catering to individual needs has also given employees a glimpse at what is possible when not sitting in a cubicle farm.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

While there are some drawbacks to working from home, such as isolation, a lack of physical and emotional distance between home and workspaces, white collar workers across Australia have mitigated these shortfalls and embraced the benefits of the home office. So how can employers, entice workers to return to the office?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Return to the Office<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Enticing employees to return to the office isn\u2019t simply a matter of offering a few perks and calling it a day. Sure, offering the team a free lunch once a week, or providing some free fruit of a morning is nice, but it\u2019s hardly a reason to leave the house if you don\u2019t have to. When you are close to your own, fully stocked kitchen and can eat what you want, when you want, a couple of free snacks at a set time doesn\u2019t really match up.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

To entice employees back to a centralised location. bringing some of the comforts of working from home to the office and maximising the benefits of being in an office is paramount.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Office as a Social Space <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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One of more profound effects of both the pandemic and the move to working from home has been the rise in people feeling isolated or lonely. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare conducted a number of surveys between 2020 and 2022 and they all found that over half of respondents felt lonelier since COVID-19 and WFH orders than they did before.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

While office spaces are by nature shared spaces, they aren\u2019t necessarily social spaces. Shared offices are often associated with collaboration, yet they may not naturally foster social interactions. Sitting at a desk, headphones on, and working is still a solitary pursuit, even if there are other people in the room.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0While shared offices can help networking and occasional socialising, they don’t inherently create a social atmosphere. Creating a social space in the office to encourage interaction and give employees the type of social connection they may be mission while working at home may require designing communal spaces that encourage informal interactions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Open plan offices are designed without traditional cubicles or individual offices, where employees work in a shared environment with minimal physical barriers. The primary idea behind open plan offices is to foster collaboration, creativity, and a sense of community among employees. Some of the key advantages of open plan offices include:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Collaboration and Communication<\/span><\/b>: Open plan offices encourage spontaneous interactions among colleagues, making it easier to discuss ideas and work together, offering employees the kind of social interaction and community they may lack working from home. This open and spontaneous communication can also lead to faster decision-making and knowledge sharing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>