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It can feel like an uphill battle to persuade workers to come back into the office. Our independent research report found that over half of employees agree that “going to the office feels like a waste of time”. However, even for those who are traveling to work, 58% admit to “coffee badging”, the practice of being there just long enough to have a coffee and be seen.
Since 2020, organizations across the world have continued to experiment with distributed workforces. Many have implemented hybrid work – trying to meet employee preferences for remote work while offering flexibility to those who prefer in-office settings. But clearly something’s not hitting the mark when it comes to hyping the benefits of the physical workplace.
Appspace partner XY Sense uses data to inform workplace design. Their research shows a surge in office occupancy in 2024. Data on office utilization, coupled with feedback from employees will start to give you the “why” if your teams are reluctant to heed return to office mandates.
XY Sense’s Head of Americas Sales, Jess Horne, believes that “a more agile and data-driven approach to occupancy planning” is needed to create better work environments.” And while fully in-office working won’t be for everyone, it’s worth exploring – and communicating – the benefits of being among our peers, in person.
Getting feedback from your workforce will help to understand and better meet their needs when it comes to designing the right in-office experience. The goal should be to help employees thrive wherever they are.
In-person environments are great for collaboration. Communication apps do a solid job of keeping employees connected, but in-office work environments foster different possibilities for teamwork.
People in an office setting have the opportunity to strike up spontaneous conversations. Passing others in the hallway, catching up at the coffee machine, or breaking for lunch are just three ways employees connect outside of meetings. All these interactions are opportunities for sharing ideas, asking each other for help, or coming up with solutions to drive growth.
In-office work promotes ad hoc information exchange and can help to break down siloed work structures, improving overall collaboration and teamwork.
An oft-touted benefit of remote work is the lack of commute, but without a physical separation between work and home life – such as a commute – some lose the healthy boundary between their work and home activities.
In a remote work setting, an individual has to make a concerted effort to have separate work space and time. An office makes the separate space a given.
Of course, it’s up to the employee to maintain the boundary between work and home once they are home, but the distinct workspace outside the home supports this goal.
A clear advantage to working in-office is the immediate, in-person access to informal mentors and support. Whether you need help with hardware or software – or even just another set of eyes on a project – it’s often easier and faster to get that help in an office. This is underpinned by Appspace research which found that Gen Z workers are the most in favor of a return to the office (77% compared to 59% of millennials).
Clearly younger workers will benefit from opportunities to learn first-hand from those with more experience around them.
Requesting support through digital systems often requires a ticketing system or a queue—forcing employees to wait for assistance. It’s also more likely that urgent needs won’t be seen immediately.
When a request is urgent, only an in-person setting allows someone to physically communicate that urgency and get support as quickly as possible.
Of the top 5 reasons for being in favor of a return to the office, “better technology than I have at home” is no 2 on the list. Not all employers will shell out for ergonomic furniture, standing desks, headphones, microphones, computers, second screens, and more for home use; all things they can access as default in an office.
Your technology can also help create a friction-free environment enticing workers back to the office. Think easy room and desk booking, with employees able to find spaces that help their productivity (quiet areas for thinking, inspiring ones for brainstorms, for example). Then give them the ability to book those spaces on the go – from their employee app. (Want more ideas? Take a look here!)
Employee engagement is falling, and that affects profitability as well as employee retention, customer service, and quality of work, according to Gallup. The top struggle for remote workers is “feeling a sense of camaraderie with my coworkers”, according to our research.
While in-office settings don’t guarantee better employee engagement, it is often easier to foster an environment that promotes engagement. In-office environments offer easy ways to casually engage with others and get to know people in natural ways, and develop personal relationships that keep employees engaged at work.
An important component in fostering employee engagement is developing a positive company culture. In-office settings lend themselves to forging culture using in-person activities that enable employees to get to know each other on personal levels. But it’s important to include all employees in strategies to improve engagement and boost culture.
With 93% of office-based employees feeling that their organization could improve their in-office experience, it’s clear that workplaces are still working out how they can create an optimal in-office experience. Appspace CEO Tony DiBenedetto says that “the most important thing is to engage employees and get their feedback.”
It’s important to use that feedback, as well as space utilization data to develop your work environment policy. What are the preferences of your employees? How flexible are you willing to be? Are you able to create a technologically advanced in-office environment to attract talent? These questions should inform your strategy.
When choosing in-office technology, consider solutions that foster a strong company culture and support collaboration across departments. Appspace offers digital signage tools that keep your employees connected in the office, at home, or on the go. Request a demo to see how it works.
Better still, join us at #WOW24, the ultimate workplace experience conference this fall, to see first-hand the future of work, and hear from industry leaders. Find out more about #WOW24 here.
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