How to attract staff back into the office

With the pandemic forcing many into remote work, employees have become accustomed to working from the comfort of their own homes.

Hybrid working is now the norm for plenty of industries, and employers may be struggling to attract staff back into the office.

Mirvac’s Adaptive Workforce pilot program found that an effective way to get workers back on site is to offer flexibility and customisation for their office space.

“Taking a scientific, evidence-based approach to the design of the pilot, measurement of its usage and analysis of its results revealed some interesting differences between what employees think they want in the workplace and what their behaviours have proved they need or don’t need,” said Mirvac general manager of strategy and customer Paul Edwards.

“For example, our employees told us they needed desk space, but when we looked at the data, it was clear from their behaviours, individual workstations weren’t utilised as much as expected. Learnings like this helped us redesign the workspace and delivered tangible outcomes, validated by real research, which our customers can now be confident about implementing in their workplaces as they undergo their own transformations.”

Allowing employees to work where and how they want to work saw a 40 per cent increase in staff coming onsite and increased productivity, said Mirvac.

Promoting flexibility has kept employees happy; however, there have been introductions to help make this process smoother. For example, Mirvac stated that “on busy days, utilisation data showed that while 95 per cent of desks were booked, 30 per cent were not occupied and, on average, desks were used for only 2.3 hours a day. Rather than providing more workstations, the response was a strong focus on education on the etiquette of desk usage, reminding people not to ‘camp’ or leave personal items on a desk while working elsewhere.”

Other introductions included flexible furniture that came with wheels and wireless power and data sources to make it easier for employees to configure the office space to their preference.

According to Mirvac, many workplaces opted for a “horseshoe” shape for desks. A table for generating ideas and promoting collaboration was also common, as well as “phone booths” to deal with meeting room shortages.

Mr Edwards commented: “Our employees told us that changing just one piece of furniture changed the culture and dynamic of the whole floor. They also told us how much they value being in the office to connect with their teams in person and how important it is to have the right spaces and technology available, so they can easily collaborate with colleagues working from home too.”

He continued: “Examining multiple datasets and overlaying this with observational studies, even though they may deliver conflicting results, is critical to ensuring employers are identifying the right way forward. It’s certainly not a clear path, but we know from the pilot that employers and employees need to be flexible and by allowing employees the choice to decide not only where they work, but how to curate their space when they choose the office has the ability to increase productivity, engagement and overall satisfaction.”