Employment trends expert advises on what to do when workers are hesitant to come back to the office
Last year, more than half of workers said they wanted to continue working from home indefinitely. That number has only grown in the last several months. In a recent Harvard Business Review study, it was revealed that 32% of American workers say they never want to return to the workplace, even after the COVID-19 pandemic finally ends.
“What we are finding is that a lot of people are really resistant to the idea of closing out of Zoom and putting on real pants again,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and employment trends expert. “Some of them say that they are truly still concerned about the virus, but many of them have just found that they highly prefer working from home, and they’re using this opportunity to try and finagle their positions into being fully work-from-home or at least hybrid.”
But is this a good idea from a management perspective?
“Research is quite conflicting here,” says Wilson. “While employees report that they are more productive, other research shows that remote workers are less engaged and more likely to quit.”
More importantly, says Wilson, managers should stress to employees that it is safe to return to the office, and that working from home is no longer necessary.
“While you might consider offering hybrid work situations, that’s not going to work for every position,” says Wilson. “But that doesn’t mean you should rush to return employees without any safety protocol. Workplaces can require their employees to continue wearing a mask, even if they have been vaccinated, and you can continue to keep up your sanitization and social-distancing guidelines.”
However, if your employee is a high-risk employee, you might need to find workarounds that will continue to allow them to work from home.
“If you have an employee who is immunosuppressed and/or also unable to get the vaccine, then you need to find ways to keep them remote for as long as possible and make every effort to be accommodating,” says Wilson. “But you’ll need medical verification because this could easily be abused.”
Wilson suggests having an outdoor event or small gathering to note the occasion, as well as to help reconnect employees who have not seen each other for a while.
“Use this as an opportunity to go over COVID precautions like mask-wearing and to address any concerns people may have about returning to the office,” says Wilson.
For more on this topic, please contact Rob Wilson at rwilson@thewilsoncompanies.com.