You’ve reopened your office, you’ve offered your team hybrid work, and your employees still aren’t coming in.
For many businesses, it can feel as if you’ve tried everything to bring your team back to the office, but for whatever reason, it just isn’t happening.
Any office space built upon guesswork will struggle to succeed. If you’re serious about bringing your team back and rebuilding your office culture, it’s time to hear what your employees have to say.
💡We’ve tailored this questionnaire to businesses that have reopened their office, selected their hybrid work model, and are struggling to bring employees back in with their current setup.
Instead of adapting your office space to what you think your team needs, ask them. You’re unlikely to build a successful office layout without a deep understanding of the team’s work style, preferences, and overall goals.
Do you feel that the office layout and design support your work and productivity?
With the option to work from home, many employees will be working from different workspaces.
Whether it’s standing desks, laptop spaces, monitors, or simply enough meeting rooms to meet the needs of the team, find out how your office space can be more conducive to productivity.
Do you feel that the office is well-equipped with the necessary technology and equipment?
For some, coming into the office may be an opportunity to access the equipment they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
In these cases, it can be disappointing to come in and discover the equipment they came in for is being used by other people.
Make sure you have enough equipment for those who need it and use a booking tool to give employees visibility over what’s available each day.
Do you feel that the office space provides adequate privacy when needed?
There’s no privacy quite like that of your own home, however, making sure your team has an adequate space to speak privately unblocks a key reason some people will stay at home.
Having enough meeting rooms, phone booths or quiet spaces enables employees to come into the office safe in the knowledge they won’t be disturbed, even when they have external calls or meetings.
Do you feel that the office is welcoming and conducive to a positive work environment? Is there anything you think would improve this?
Offices with sterile lighting, only hard surfaces and no variety in workspaces make it very difficult to justify leaving home for.
Employees want to feel comfortable and welcome in the office, and often this can be helped along with a couple of plants and an ample supply of biscuits.
Find out how your employees view your office and ask how they’d like to see it improved.
Try Officely Today
See who's in the office, organize socials and events, and increase your office attendance all within Slack.
In these questions, we suggest gathering quantitative data. With endless possibilities, multiple-choice questions will allow your employees to prioritize what matters most to them, and you’ll be able to distinguish the most important factors.
What are the main reasons you would choose to come into the office?
To see other people socially
To collaborate in person on projects
To use equipment unavailable to me at home
For an organized work event or social
For team or department meetings
How important is social interaction with coworkers to your job satisfaction?
Please specify from 1 (not important) to 9 (very important).
Does our current social calendar keep you feeling connected with your team?
Yes
No
How do you feel overall about our company culture? How could this be improved?
Please specify from 1(very poor) to 9 (very good).
For this question, we’d recommend asking for elaboration on what can be improved.
It’s one thing to know if your workforce is dissatisfied with the company culture, but it’s also important to understand what measures can be taken to improve it.
Try Officely Today
See who's in the office, organize socials and events, and increase your office attendance all within Slack.
#3. Questions About the Success of Your Current Hybrid Work Policy
To move forward with new initiatives, you need to understand what is and isn’t working about your current hybrid work policy.
While you may think you have a good insight into how people use the office and feel about the current policy, some of these answers are likely to surprise you.
Understanding what aspects of your hybrid work policy are working well and what areas need improvement will help you tailor your approach and create a more effective and sustainable work policy for the long term.
We suggest finding out more about your employees’ current behaviors before diving into what they would change.
How many days per week do you currently come into the office?
Asking how often people currently come in can give you a good indication of which teams have the highest attendance and why that may be.
You can also use this question to help prioritize the other answers in the survey for those who are coming in the least.
Do you feel you know what is happening in the office and who’s in each day?
If you’re not providing your team with a quick and easy way to see who’s in the office and book in themselves, you’re likely missing out on attendance.
People want easy access to see who’s in, and using a spreadsheet or extensive tool usually creates more blockers for those who would otherwise want to book in.
Officely lives in Slack, so your team can book in on a tool they’re already familiar with.
Is there anything you would change about our current hybrid work policy?
Asking hard questions is a part of conducting an office survey, and you may be surprised by your team’s answers.
Whether they’d prefer more flexibility, would like to have set office days for teams and projects, or would even just like the option to bring in their dog, it’s always worth finding out what your team’s reaction is to new policies.
Try Officely Today
See who's in the office, organize socials and events, and increase your office attendance all within Slack.
It’s Up to You to Create an Office Space Your Team Will Come In For
Working from home may sound like a dream, but many employees recognize the value in coming back to the office with a hybrid work model.
While competing with the sofa and pets is hard, working from home can get lonely and too much of it can impact employees’ mental health.
Everyone has different needs and expectations, and it’s up to each business to understand how you can make your office a place people want to come into.
Instead of wondering what’s going wrong, give your employees a chance to speak up.
Alice is Officely's content manager. When not spreading the word of Officely and hybrid work, you can find her feeding family, friends and strangers with her latest baking experiment.