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Motivating The Return To Work
Return to work. These could be the words that your employees are dreading of hearing. After over a year of going through various lockdown stages, the workplace is starting to open up again with employers, maybe you included, trying to encourage your employees to return to work. Whilst working remotely has had its difficulties, you and the rest of your employees may have found that you have all easily slipped into a new routine, that you all enjoy having less travel time and that the thought of returning to work is very overwhelming and daunting. However, as an employer, this is when your employees need you the most to encourage and motivate them back into the office. Read on to find out the 3 best ways for effective stimulation to the return to work:
Culture
Ensuring that the culture of your business is open, friendly and conducive to work will make it more attractive for your employees to come into the workplace. Including in-office perks and benefits will also help to improve the culture, and energize your employees further to come into the office. Ideas for the perks your employees could be looking for are exercise equipment – a mini gym or group classes, mental health resources such as providing encouragement, financial help or by strengthening insurance offerings. Similarly, items such as a massage chair or something else exclusive which makes the workplace special. Gathering ideas from your employees as to what they would like their in-office perks to be would be a great way to encourage them to come back to the office, as they would feel like their ideas are being listened to and would help energize the mood within the staff and give them an incentive to come to work for. Equally, promoting an open, inclusive culture may help your employees adapt easier to the workplace and by updating old policies, such as towards flexible hours can be an extra added help to those who have to look after childcare. A staff meal or something similar is a great way to get the team together and to boost the team spirit within the employees. It shows them that you, as the employer, care about their needs and general well-being. An added benefit for them is the free food!
Communication
Communication is an integral part to any process, especially when encouraging employees to come back to work in-office. Make sure that they are made aware of each step within the process, and that they are comfortable with it. Maybe ask for suggestions or improvements and negotiate what works best for both you, and your employees. Ensuring that your employees feel safe and confident will help to make them feel more comfortable about working back in the office. Listening is also a key part to communication. Listening to your employees, being open to suggestions and implementing positive changes as a response to their feedback within the office helps to make significant improvements to the future work environment. Likewise, it can help to improve safety operations and maintain a high morale throughout the transition from working from home to going back to the office.
Environment
Motivation and mood work side-by-side. Your energy levels, ability to concentrate and even your overall sense of wellbeing can all be affected by your mood. If you are looking for your employees to come back into office, you may want to change the design of your office even if its just changing the design or having a change around. Aspects such as having more natural light and open layouts can help boost mood and will help encourage your employees into coming back to the office. Investing in a work environment where people actually want to spend their time is something that you will benefit from and having that open and friendly work environment is something that can’t be achieved at home and could be the reason why someone works back in the office. Creating a homey atmosphere will help motivation levels, minimise unnecessary distractions and have your team members look forward to coming back into work into the office each day.
