Back to the office: your checklist to be ready

Flashback to 2021: A constant switch between working from home and going back to the office - and it looks like 2022 offers just the same. The permanent need to reorganize and adapt to the changes of the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the biggest challenges for many companies during the past two years.  In order to keep operations running, many companies have created new ways of where and how we work - hybrid work is increasingly becoming the new way of work. Currently most of us in Western Europe and the United States are working at home again, but spring is just around the corner and it's time to get ready. 

Do you have your returning to the office strategy prepared yet? If not, we are happy to share our checklist for a stress-free return to the office in a fast and simple way. 

Returning to the office after Covid-19 

Think back to be ahead! - Our biggest learning from the last year of the pandemic. Fortunately, one year later, the situation looks much better because this time we come prepared. And preparation is key, because it not only lets worries and chaos set in first, but can actually increase the productivity of your hybrid workforce. So get ready with our checklist and start now:

✅ Establish a hybrid work strategy;

✅ Create a people-centric workplace;

✅ Ensure Covid-19 screening in the workplace;

✅ Introduce hot desking;

✅ Virtual Collaboration Tools;

✅ Become a hybrid team

➡️ You want to start from scratch and don't know how? Our team is happy to help and provide you with a personal consultation! 

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Coming back smooth and organized

✅ Establish a hybrid work strategy

First things first - as mentioned, preparation is everything. Therefore, the first step to start a hybrid work model is to define a strategy. To facilitate planning and implementation, we created an e-book, the deskbird framework, which guides you step by step into your hybrid work model. Here you will find game changing tools to help you manage and monitor the hybrid model, as well as case studies from other companies with valuable insights. And most importantly: Communicate it to your employees!

✅ Create a people-centric workplace

Understanding your employees is fundamental in building a successful hybrid work strategy. That's why we believe at deskbird: "Great products are designed and built to meet human needs." In order to create a human-centric workplace, it is first and foremost necessary to understand your diverse workforce. Being hybrid also means a lot of flexibility, which is reflected in the different work models employees prefer. A March 2021 JLL study reveals that there are four main types of employees, ranging from the traditional office worker to the free spirit. We listed for you 4 worker profiles that will shape the workplace of today and tomorrow. Discover how they enjoy working. 

The Traditional Office Worker

Even today, most are happy to spend their working hours in the office, with 42% of the 3,000 survey participants indicating that they want to work full-time from the office. 

The Experience Lover 

“90% of employees say that the office is important for collaborating with team members and relationships – although that does not mean they have to be in the office every day.” Experience Lovers are those who want to work from home 1 to 2 days a week and belong to the intermediate profiles. This means they have extremely high expectations of the employer in terms of comfort and human experience. 

The Wellness Addict

One in five of the study participants prefers to work from home 4 to 5 days a week, and thus enjoys working at home. They only go to the office 1 to 2 days a week, e.g. for personal meetings. This profile also belongs to the intermediate profiles.

The Free Spirit

They are the minority, but still represent 8%. They want to work completely from home and completely avoid commuting to work. Instead, they enjoy working in different places, the free spirit. 

What is especially interesting is that the two extreme profiles, the traditional worker and the free spirit are less engaged and fulfilled than the average employee and do not expect as much from their employers. In contrast, the intermediate profiles expect even more from their employers. 

You wonder how to accommodate the different work rhythms? The deskbird app allows your employees not only to book their workplace day by day tailored to their needs, but they can also check when their colleagues are working. This is not only people centric, but unifies!

✅ Ensure Covid-19 screening in the workplace 

Unfortunately, the pandemic is not quite over yet, so we have to learn to deal with it. This means safety first - with our Covid-19 Screening Tool you easily track recoveries, vaccinations and tests directly with the booking desk. It's an easy and straightforward way to manage a healthy workplace for your employees and keep them safe and protected when they return to the office.

✅ Introduce hot desking

As we have seen in the four profiles, it’s very likely that not all of your employees will come back to the office on an everyday basis. Therefore, hot desking may be just the right strategy for you to maximize office space utilization and minimize costs at the same time. What hot desking is and how it works is explained in our article Shared Desk Reservation System: the perfect solution for your company.

✅ Virtual Collaboration Tools

And in the end it always comes down to communication. It's important to consider the needs of your employees, so it doesn't matter which tools you use, but which ones meet your needs to make your workday easier and increase productivity. Our deskbird app is also compatible with many popular applications like MS Teams, Slack and your calendars. The integration is very intuitive. 

✅ Become a hybrid team 

Teamwork makes the dream work - leading a hybrid team is a new challenge, but it's manageable today and can even bring benefits. Find out what a hybrid team is, how to manage it in the best way, what tools can help and more in our article Hybrid Workforce: 5 key pieces of information to understand how it works. 

Personal contact is still important and should not be left out. Our app is not only practical, but social. You can see who's working, when and where and book a spot next to your team members. 

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Going back to the office doesn't sound so bad anymore, does it? We also summarized 7 tips to make hybrid work.

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* Source: "The Workplace you need now" from Richi et al. 2022