Employee Referral Programs: A Tool for Sourcing Top Talent
September 12, 2024
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This post was originally published in May 2021 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
There’s been over 4 years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit and despite all the changes the new normality brought, it’s safe to say almost everybody has regained their routine. Employers are no exception. While many companies have gone fully remote, a considerable number of organizations have called their employees to return to the office.
With most people settled into the laptop lifestyle, the question is whether employees are actually ready to return to the workplace. Although many companies planned a smooth return to the office by offering flexible work schedules or letting their employees decide if and when to return, many organizations are in a dispute with their workforce due to return-to-office (RTO) mandates.
Over the course of 2024, it has become more common for large companies to require their employees to return to the workplace for a specific number of days per week. While many employers see return-to-office or RTO mandates as a strategy to improve company culture and team building, some specialists argue they could backfire and cause valuable talent to drive off.
From tech giants to entertainment, logistics, and finance businesses, here are a few of the most echoed companies return-to-office mandates:
The arguments of the return-to-office movement supporters are based on workplace productivity, creativity, collaboration, employee recognition, and mentorship. Other common reasons are that it’s easier to monitor and manage workers and that leads to a better work-life balance, although most of them are debatable depending on the focus.
Nevertheless, there is strong evidence that most of the workforce disagrees and refuses to give up flexible schedules and hybrid work models from their corporate perks. Many experts point out that there is even a high risk that employees who receive an RTO mandate will have a lower intent to stay at their current work.
It doesn’t take longer than a quick dive on Google to find many studies and surveys talking about the employees’ take on being back at the office.
According to Gallup, 90% of employees are still against the idea of returning to the office and the pre-pandemic work routine; in that same study, 60% of the respondents stated they would agree to come into the workplace from two to four days a week.
If you’re curious about why employees resist in-office work, according to a survey made by Flexjobs to 5,600 working professionals, 96% of them argued that remote or hybrid models —mostly completely working from home or occasional in-site— contribute positively to a healthier work-life balance and ultimately their mental health.
Top talent is also reluctant to return to office mandates. According to Gartner, on-site work requirements cause a lower intent to stay at a company on high performers, especially on those who maintained above-average productivity during the pandemic, as they perceive RTO mandates as signs of mistrust from management.
Even though return-to-office mandates are a recent trend, the anxiety caused by going back to the workplace is nothing new. Since 2021, the EY’s Work Reimagined Employee Survey forecast employees’ concerns about leaving remote jobs behind.
Back then, 70% of the workforce was concerned about losing flexibility, and approximately 54% of employees surveyed around the world stated they would consider leaving their role post-pandemic if they weren’t afforded some form of flexibility in where and when they work.
Contrary to the increased employee productivity companies experience with remote work, employers who force a return to the office are more likely to experience less engagement and retention and even a lower sense of inclusion, ultimately leading to an exodus of experienced and skilled professionals.
Talk about taking a hit on employee retention! But, hold your horses. That doesn’t mean your entire workforce is now in full job searching mode. It just means that you need to start addressing their concerns.
So, before doing anything dramatic, like halting your entire plan, it might be helpful to just reconsider your plan and find the best way to ease your employees’ anxiety of being back at the office.
The best way to handle a return-to-office backlash is to find a middle ground between your needs and your workforce’s. Hybrid work suits perfectly with that approach, but how can you craft a successful model that doesn’t feel like a regular RTO mandate?
Several factors influence how your employees will react to returning to the workplace: that it feels like a common agreement rather than an imposition, team chemistry, and employee wellness, just to mention a few. In any case, here are a few tips to keep in mind to lessen the burden of returning to the office.
Surely, if you and the rest of the managing team are already planning to bring your workforce back to the office, then you must have thought of how new safety policies and procedures must take place. This is a big one since employees claim health and safety to be one of their top concerns.
Also, try to read more about what other companies are doing to ensure a healthy workplace for their employees. Make sure to invest in workplace management and make your office attractive so it matches the cozy atmosphere of working from home. If your office setup meets your staff’s expectations, they’ll feel more attracted to coming on-site and realize they have more to gain doing so.
The key to convincing your workforce to return to the office is to make all of these new changes clear for them. Try to keep them updated on a weekly basis. Keep your management teams in the know with each decision you make so they can pass it on to their teams.
It’s better for people to hear things from their leaders in addition to a generic email.
In any scenario, not knowing what’s going on is a major cause of anxiety. By letting your employees know how things are progressing, you are helping them mentally prepare for the next change in their jobs. Remember, not being ready for these adjustments bolstered a lot of stress with the pandemic’s unexpected work-from-home migration in the first place.
Communication is a two-way street. Employees also want to feel heard. So, besides telling your organization about the measures you are taking based on general workforce trends, you should also ask them what they think.
Not every strategy will work for every company. Going back to the office full-time or transitioning to a new hybrid model is a decision that should fit your current company culture and needs. How has your workforce changed over the past few years of remote work? Did you get remote onboardings? Did some of your best workers decide to become digital nomads?
You need to ask to get a better sense of what your company looks like today and their overall expectations. Listen, and act on it.
Once you have a broader picture of where you can take your organization, you can start the transition. But, how about taking it step by step? Even if you decide not to embrace the hybrid office, it might be good to start with a mix of onsite and remote office hours.
Keep in mind that commuting to work has been quoted as one of the main reasons to avoid going back to the office.
Hybrid or not, allow your employees to regain their rhythm and catch up with the onsite routine again. Leave those days at the office for collaborative tasks and let them use their home office time for their individual workflow. This will help them rediscover the value of being at the office.
Get your team excited! Working from home is great, but there are so many perks of sharing a space with our coworkers. This is part of what you need to communicate with your team, not just the decisions made but its benefits and any changes made to your employee management strategy. For example, being onsite is better for networking and opportunities to grow (especially for young professionals).
For this point, you should also explain the impact of any major changes made to elevate your employee experience. If you’ve implemented any advanced project management solutions, tech amenities, or any other collaborative tools, make sure to explain how they will make the on-site experience more effective and comfortable.
Sharing the tangible benefits of working on-site and the upgrades you’ve made to the workplace, will ultimately show your workforce your commitment to a progressive work culture and to provide a joyful in-office experience.
There you have it! Hopefully, these ideas will help you not only navigate your organization’s anxiety of going back to the office but build a better strategy to attract and find top talent.
Contributed by Luis Arellano
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