Back to office: how to make your employees' return to the office work

More and more companies are bringing their employees back to the office. We show you how the back to office becomes a success.

Back to office. Most of us know this feeling. We live through it when, after one or two weeks of vacation, we make our way back to our workplace. Rested, relaxed and full of stories to share over a quick chat in the kitchenette.

But that's not what's meant here.

We're talking about a return where nothing is the way it was before. Neither the place you return to, nor your work environment, nor you yourself. This phenomenon, also called The Great Return, is currently lived reality in numerous companies.

Since the terror of the Covid pandemic has now eased, more and more organizations are bringing their workforce – or at least parts of it – back into the offices for one or more days a week. But what at first seems only consistent and logical is, in practice, a complex challenge.

Employees and leaders alike have come to know a new working reality over the past months with home office and remote work, which has displaced old routines. Accordingly, many people's joy at being back at the familiar workplace in the office is rather muted.

A starting situation that never existed before and that makes clear the need for discussion and action around the New Normal.

For us, that's the perfect moment to shine a light on a fundamental question:

How can the mission back to office succeed?

Because for all the love of location-independent working, there are still reasons that speak for employee presence on site at the company. In this article, we present some of them and show you, using real-world examples, how differently organizations solve this task.

Back to the office. Is that good or bad news?

Home office or no home office – that is the big question here.

During the corona pandemic, the number of employees working from home almost doubled. But by now over two years have passed. Many people are basically immunized and COVID-19 has become a fixed part of our lives.

Consequently, the legal home-office requirement ended, which is why many companies are now bringing their employees back into the offices. The work-from-home figures are falling.

A situation that seemingly polarizes more than the famous Wembley goal of 1966.

Some love the home office and wouldn't want to miss it anymore. Others can hardly wait to return to the office.

To make matters worse, in many places digitalization is more of a makeshift patchwork than a sustainable business change project. As a result, organizations often still lack the corresponding values, visions and an agile mentality.

The consequence is a hard rift that currently runs through all industries. On one side, innovation and questioning conservative structures. On the other, traditional values and proven methods.

So it's no surprise that, among companies and employees alike, equally different camps form. The future of the workplace is being questioned as critically as never before.

Reasons that speak for employees returning to the office

A look at the experiences of recent months helps to understand why organizations choose the way back to the office for their employees.

• Many employees' fear that they would miss contact with their own colleagues has been confirmed in surveys.
• Furthermore, a survey by the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) found that 28% of people working from home put in unpaid overtime. Usual working hours shift into the early morning or late evening. Likewise, 47% said they find it hard to separate work and leisure and can't properly switch off.
• On the company side too, the experiences of the past two years have left their mark. With the home office came new threats, such as a greater risk of cyberattacks.
• A survey by the digital association Bitkom also showed that employees rate their productivity in the office somewhat higher than working from home.

So the office, as a physical workplace, does (still) have its justification. 

But is The Great Return really a step backward that manifests the failure of a new, more flexible working reality?

That depends entirely on the individual case.

There are companies that, with the return to the offices, literally pick up where they left off when the pandemic began.

Against this, however, stand many organizations that choose hybrid working models for the back to office and thus combine the proven from past and present.

This is how well-known companies approach the back to office

In practice, well-known examples already show how organizations handle the return of their own employees.

Tesla

The innovation forge under Elon Musk is a radical example of those companies that, with the end of the corona restrictions, also decide to end remote work. From published emails of the famous CEO, a clear ultimatum emerges: employees have to return to their offices at the Tesla headquarters for at least 40 working hours a week. If they don't, they're essentially handing in their resignation.

Airbnb

In contrast, Airbnb delivers the other extreme: employees of the booking platform may decide for themselves where they work most productively. CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky informed his workforce in April 2022 that they may freely choose between office and home office.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

The US company Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, too, no longer wants to miss the benefits of location-independent working. The PC and printer maker's approach: home office is from now on the new company standard and thus the main workplace for all those whose tasks allow it. The offices at the locations are not abolished, however, but deliberately redesigned so that they serve as places for exchange among employees.

SAP

The software maker SAP relies on maximum flexibility in dealing with its employees. Employees can choose between different working models, including the home office. In addition, the group tries, with initiatives like „SAP Mental Health Day“ or „SAP Global Mindfulness Practice“, to raise awareness of health topics around working from home.

European railway company

In this example from our client base, „Management Tuesday“ was introduced. Accordingly, the entire management has to be on site in the office every Tuesday to discuss important topics together.

The background to this decision was the strongly project-driven way of working, which doesn't go together with purely remote work. The staff have taken up this offer very well so far, since Tuesday is well suited as a weekday for it and the freedoms of the home office aren't impaired by the measure.

So that everything runs smoothly on Management Tuesday and the valuable time is used as efficiently as possible, all meeting rooms are blocked on this day and smaller events are offered.

A nice side effect: Management Tuesday led to employees of other hierarchy levels coming into the office on this day too – entirely without obligation or pressure.

3 tips for your individual „back to office” strategy

The real-world examples show very clearly that the approaches and strategies of companies couldn't be more different. That proves how individual and complex the question of the return of one's own employees ultimately is.

Nevertheless, in our work with clients from various industries, we've been able to identify some overarching aspects that have a positive effect on the process:

1. Offer not only flexibility, but also a framework

Be aware that not all employees will be happy to return to the office. They've come to know the benefits of the home office and don't want to miss them anymore.

At the same time, most people consider a certain amount of on-site work to be important.

That's why many people prefer hybrid working, because it offers them the best of both worlds – higher productivity and efficiency with greater freedom at the same time.

So if you want to offer all employees the best possible working conditions, you shouldn't completely rule out the option of location-independent working. There are numerous hybrid models that combine home office with on-site presence in the office.

Which of them is the right one depends strongly on the individual starting situation of a company and its employees. According to a Gallup survey, 4 out of 10 employees want to decide entirely on their own which days a week they work in the office. By contrast, 6 out of 10 employees want a fixed structure set by the company. That could be, for example, a weekday on which all team members have to be on site in the office to exchange ideas.

2. Use the shared on-site time meaningfully

Working with colleagues in an office is generally far more conducive to social contact than the home office. If you only see your employees on certain weekdays as part of a hybrid model, you should design this shared time constructively.

In other words, make sure your teams don't come into the office on such days only to do the same tasks there as at home.

Instead, you should use office days deliberately to foster exchange among each other and collaboration. Besides official events like meetings, training or workshops, shared lunches, team building or after-work events are well suited for this.

That doesn't mean, however, that you can't also create room for networking in virtual collaboration. For example, invite your employees once a month to a digital coffee where work topics are off-limits. Or start online meetings five minutes earlier, so all participants can chat in a relaxed way and bring each other up to date.

In any case, togetherness should be a fixed part of your „back-to-office” strategy.

3. Involve your employees

The satisfaction of your workforce is enormously important; after all, your employees are an important lever for the success of your organization. Excluding them entirely from shaping their own working conditions may make decision processes easier in the short term. In the long run, however, it has an extremely negative effect on motivation and cohesion.

Instead, rely on inclusive communication and actively inform your employees about the individual steps of the „back to office“. Through surveys or open exchange formats, you let your employees actively participate in shaping their new working reality. Take your employees' worries and concerns seriously, listen, and try to find suitable solutions – whether it's health concerns or a lack of childcare.

Continuous exchange fosters not only valuable feedback, but also the shared basis of trust between teams and leaders.

Back to office – a necessary impulse

Regardless of whether you're a passionate advocate of the home office or the 9-to-5 rhythm, many companies' return to the offices has the same positive effect for both sides:

The necessity of traditional concepts is being questioned.

It's exactly this conscious debate around the where, the how and the when of working that creates the basis for future change. This reflection is needed if new working models are to get a long-term chance.