5 things your employees are looking forward to when going back to the office and how to go about it

When conducting a survey with >1000 UK employees recently we wanted to know what workers actually want. When understanding and exploring the new normal of work and how to best make use of it we wanted to know what’s important for people to actually meet in person for. Here are the top 5 of the things that you should still to meet in person for (if you want to make your employees happy)

Read the full report here.

The five things that your employees are going to want to meet in person for

Here are the top five things that workers reported they look forward to when going back to the office and what they aren’t going to miss about working from home. We also made sure to give you some tips and tricks for how you can implement it when going hybrid.

1. Banter and chats in the office

Topping the list of what workers are looking forward to when going back to the office is the banter and chats that happen organically. 34% said that this is what they’re looking forward to the most when returning to seeing their coworkers in person. Virtual meetings might do the trick when it comes to making decisions and talking about work but those casual conversations just aren’t the same as in person. Little did we know at the beginning of 2020 that water cooler chats were gonna be something we’d miss by the end of the year but here we all are.

How to support your employees with this when going back to the office

Keep in mind that, even though it might be tempting to just stay remote, casual conversation is something that your employees need that will be hard to recreate when you’re not in the office. When meeting online you’re naturally more tempted to stick to the point and this might seem good for productivity but 80% says getting together regularly with colleagues would help boost their productivity. It seems as if small talk could make a huge difference for general wellbeing and output.

2. Company get-togethers

Many stated that company get-togethers and socials are among the things they’ve missed and that they’re looking forward to when going back to work. In the new workplace post covid and lockdowns it might be the case that off-site meetups and socialising with coworkers outside of work will grow more important to employees– as a matter of fact, that seems to already be the case.

How to get your team together

It’s not just putting a date in the calendar, getting the team together after a long time of remote working might be harder than you’d expect. A good trick might be doing something that’s a bit out of the ordinary like an activity to encourage everyone to put in the time, just make sure there are good setups for those that want to maintain social distancing.

Have a look at our top 10 team social ideas in London.

3. Socialising

Similarly to previous points, socialising, in general, is something that many mention when asked what they’re looking forward to when going back to the office.

How to stay social when hybrid working

This might be one of the hardest things about going hybrid or even fully remote. It’s a question that doesn’t have an easy answer but one thing is for certain; we’re going to have to think about this in a disruptive way rather than trying to recreate the company culture as it was pre-pandemic. Companies need to understand that it’s essential to understand why this is important and not just that it’s important. Say for example you used to go for regular Friday Beers before the pandemic you might want to think about why this was important to employees. Rather than trying to recreate that you can try and understand why this was important to employees and new ways to fulfill that need.

4. Working together in person

Everything you can do I can do remotely… right? Or might it actually be the case that workers want to be in the same room in order to do their work? The easy answer is yes but keep in mind that most people don’t want to go back to working in the office full time. We can’t stress enough how important it is to find the right balance when going back to the office.

How to encourage people to go back to the office

Finding the right balance between being in the office and remote work is easier said than done and we can’t tell you what’s right for you and your team. What we can tell you however is that you have to see this first step towards the new normal as a test rather than what things are going to look like forever. Don’t be afraid to test and fail and iterate the process. Try different methods of making going into the office a positive experience such as after-work socials that encourage being in the office that day.

5. Meetings

We didn’t think we’d say it but people have missed meetings. Virtual meetings are something that stands out on the list of things people are happy to see at the back of post-pandemic. It’s time to meet in person and get creative and inspired again – but how? It’s not fun to have meetings with half the team in the room and the other half on a screen as you might experience you’re just getting the worst of both worlds.

How to go about meetings when going hybrid

Employees might not love it at first but in order to get your team together properly and have meetings in the best way possible you need to decide on a day where you’re all in the office for meetings. Try to book all meetings on those days and on other days you can focus on getting other tasks done. When some of you are in the office it might even be better to have meetings on individual laptops rather than getting together in a room. Overall you should focus on what actually is good to do in person and what might even be better to do remotely.