Employees know they're headed back to the office and most are eager to return

Image: GettyImages/Ezra Bailey

After a twelvemonth of distant work, companies are starting to bring employees backmost to the office. Amid the emergence of the Delta variant, shifting nationalist wellness guidelines and plateauing vaccination rates, bureau reentry presents myriad unknowns for companies readying and deploying infrastructure to enactment on-site and distant workforces. On Thursday, GlassDoor published the results of a caller survey highlighting worker sentiment astir distant work, bureau reentry concerns and more.

"Right present we're experiencing a 2nd Great Transition arsenic companies and employees navigate however to modulation mentally and physically backmost to the office," said Glassdoor vocation adept Alison Sullivan. "Just arsenic everyone had to set to moving remotely, teams should expect a modulation play arsenic radical navigate and set to coworkers who privation a hybrid, distant oregon full-time instrumentality to the office."

Remote enactment drawbacks and reentry

Overall, the survey was conducted from July 8 to 12 and progressive much than 1,000 employed U.S. adults. The immense bulk of respondents (96%) are readying to "return to the bureau successful immoderate capacity" and 66% said they "are anxious to return," down from 72% who were anxious astir reentry successful April 2020, according to a GlassDoor. Reasons employees were anxious to instrumentality to the in-person workplace see "socializing with coworkers" for 43% of respondents followed by "in-person enactment collaboration" (35%). 

Interestingly, these preferences person changed a spot since April 2020. Last year, respondents listed "increased productivity" (53%) and socializing with coworkers (60%) arsenic the apical reasons distant workers were peculiarly anxious to instrumentality to in-person work, per GlassDoor.

SEE: IT disbursal reimbursement policy (TechRepublic Premium)

Without the happenstance encounters of the office, casual watercooler conversations and more, distant enactment lacks galore of the societal interactions inherent successful accepted bureau work. As we've antecedently reported, galore professionals study that moving from location has reduced interior and outer networking opportunities and harmed their vocation progress, according to a Blind survey published past fall.

The GlassDoor survey illustrates akin sentiments. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, 27% of respondents said they "feel little connected" to coworkers and the company's civilization (26%) and 31% said they were "more apt to quit." About one-third of employees (30%%) said they judge distant enactment "on an ongoing ground would negatively interaction their quality to get a promotion," per GlassDoor.

Workplace anxieties and bureau perks

In caller weeks, companies person started to bring employees backmost to the accepted office, among varying levels of enthusiasm aft a twelvemonth of distant work. Amid surging cases astir the U.S., the emergence of the perchance much transmissible Delta variant and plateauing vaccination rates presents nary shortages of bureau reentry challenges.

During bureau reentry, 35% of respondents said they were "concerned astir contracting COVID-19" and akin numbers of respondents were anxious astir "touching things that different radical person touched" (32%) and "knowing whether to shingle hands, fist bump oregon interaction elbows" with coworkers (30% ), per GlassDoor.

"What the survey shows is that portion radical are anxious to spot their coworkers and redevelop aged routines aft truthful overmuch clip away, determination is inactive keen attraction to prioritizing wellness and information too," Sullivan said.

The GlassDoor findings besides place a fig of on-site perks that could sweeten the woody during bureau reentry. Respondents said they'd beryllium "more apt to instrumentality to the office" if they had entree to definite escaped "office-based perks" including nutrient and drinks (38%), proscription to the bureau (32%), massages (28%) and "access to alcoholic beverages during oregon aft work" (21%).

Hybrid enactment models and IT challenges

Even arsenic companies usher employees backmost to the office, galore executives are preparing for a hybrid workforce successful the future. In March, 77% of survey respondents said their workforce volition diagnostic a hybrid enactment model successful 12 months, based connected "information presently available," according to LaSalle Network's archetypal Office Re-Entry Index. The aforesaid fig of businesses said they were "planning a hybrid bureau for the future," according to the 2nd scale installment published earlier this month.

SEE: Juggling distant enactment with kids' acquisition is simply a mammoth task. Here's however employers tin help (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

The power to distant enactment astatine standard presented nary shortage of challenges for IT teams looking to unafraid operations arsenic employees log connected from their location networks and astatine times connected their idiosyncratic devices. During the power to distant work, Stuart Downes, Gartner elder probe director, said IT teams "rose to the challenge" by accelerating "existing initiatives to amended security, instrumentality management," leveraging DaaS solutions and more.

"The bully quality is that exertion has made the past twelvemonth and a fractional of moving from location manageable, and these tools volition assistance employees and employers negociate the modulation into this adjacent signifier of work," Sullivan said.

Compared to the power to distant work, bureau reentry does not "bring the aforesaid challenges but inactive requires planning," Downes explained. At the moment, the bulk of IT teams are inactive functioning successful a "remote-support model, adjacent for unit who are backmost successful the office," Downes said.

"IT won't cognize wherever immoderate idiosyncratic whitethorn beryllium moving connected immoderate fixed time owed to hybrid moving patterns, the request to self-isolate oregon lockdowns. IT indispensable inactive program to present enactment remotely portion providing covid-safe in-person enactment erstwhile necessary," Downes said.

Also see

• Great Resignation: Top reasons employees are quitting close now (TechRepublic)
• Working from home: How to get distant close (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
• Contract enactment policy (TechRepublic Premium)
• ZDNet's apical endeavor CEOs of the 2010s (ZDNet)
• CXO: More must-read coverage (TechRepublic connected Flipboard)