As numerous companies and several prominent government agencies mandate a return to office for most or all employees, it's important to acknowledge that many folks are now accustomed to working from home—and some highly prefer it. This shift back to the office is not just a significant change; it could actually be just as disruptive as the initial pivot to remote work.
If you hold a leadership role in your organization or manage people, you can transform your organization’s return to the office into a period of growth and enhanced productivity. Here are five ways you can intentionally craft valuable in-person experiences to help retain top talent and reap the benefits of in-person work.
Returning to the office can feel like starting a new job, with different ways of working and unfamiliar expectations. So why not treat it like a new employee onboarding process that’s created for ALL employees? Hosting an employee onboarding session for everyone expected to return to the office can make things a little easier. Session activities could include a tour of the office, introductions to key team members, and a review of updated office policies and procedures.
Onboarding can help:
If your employees are going to come into the office, make it worth their while. One way to do this is by organizing weekly "swarm” or “sprint” sessions on a particular topic. A swarm is a collaborative problem-solving session where everyone contributes their ideas, whereas a sprint is a focused period of work on a specific task or project. This could be an in-person brainstorming session, a lunch-and-learn, or another collaborative activity.
These sessions can:
In the hustle and bustle of office life, it’s easy to get trapped in back-to-back meetings. To combat this, create no-meeting zones on everyone's calendar for at least two hours each week. Block off the time on the calendar and set a reminder to ensure everyone respects this dedicated time for deep work and getting into a state of flow.
No-meeting zones can help:
Workers often say they don’t miss their physical office; they miss the people they used to spend time in person with, according to a Harvard Business Review report culled from a Microsoft Work Trend Index survey of 20,000 people across 11 countries. The survey revealed that:
Remote work can feel transactional, whereas in-person opportunities can be serendipitous! Returning to the office gives existing employees the opportunity to renew social bonds and offers new employees easier ways to establish them. By designing and prioritizing in-person experiences where colleagues can share a meal, problem-solve, or get to know one another, you can:
Let’s admit it: we've all grown a little lazy. Instead of sending an email, picking up the phone, or stopping by a colleague's office to offer quick situational awareness, we schedule a meeting. Many organizations fall prey to the nudge of ease and convenience by automatically appending a Teams link to every invite. But introducing meeting discipline to your organization can free up employees to focus on their work and spend more time with colleagues.
By optimizing your organization's meetings protocols, you can:
Returning to the office is more than just a logistical challenge; it's an opportunity to rethink how we work and support our teams. By providing comprehensive onboarding, creating meaningful in-person interactions, and ensuring uninterrupted work time, you can make the transition smoother and create the experiences employees want and need.
1. Capossela, Chris. 2022. “To Get People Back in the Office, Make It Social.” Harvard Business Review. September 22, 2022. https://hbr.org/2022/09/to-get-people-back-in-the-office-make-it-social.
2. Petriglieri, Gianpiero. 2024. “How to Make Better Friends at Work.” MIT Sloan Management Review. February 12, 2024. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-make-better-friends-at-work/.
3. De Felice, Sara, Antonia F. de C. Hamilton, Marta Ponari, and Gabriella Vigliocco. 2022. “Learning from Others Is Good, with Others Is Better: The Role of Social Interaction in Human Acquisition of New Knowledge.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 378 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0357.
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