Your Ultimate Guide to Getting Employees Back in the Office
Over the past few years, it hasn’t always been easy to encourage employees back to the office. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult for workers to safely conduct their jobs in a public, collaborative environment, with many opting to work from home instead. With society gradually returning to normal, many Melbourne businesses have noticed that work culture hasn’t entirely returned to where it was pre-pandemic.
Thankfully, with a fresh Melbourne office fitout, you will be encouraging your employees to spend more time in the physical office, and less while working from home. At IC Corporate, we specialise in office fitouts for Melbourne businesses, and have spent much of the past few years helping businesses reshape their working environments to benefit all of their team members. Here is your ultimate guide to getting employees back in the office.
Understanding Your Employees’ Needs
During the pandemic, many employees in Melbourne and around Australia discovered the comforts of working from home. They could set up their home office workstations in Melbourne however they wanted. They could choose whatever chair they felt was most comfortable throughout an entire workday. And they had the freedom to move around in their home work space however they wished.
With your workers now returned to the physical office, it is important that you listen to their needs and take on board any lessons they learned from their home office setups. Whether you give them the flexibility to set up their desks however they want or collaborate with them to design a new office layout that benefits everyone, satisfying the needs of your staff will go a long way towards encouraging them to return to the office.
Changing Your Office Fitout
With your business operating back in the way that it used to, now might be the perfect time to consider a new commercial office fitout for your Melbourne business. Your company could greatly benefit from an office redesign, as it will present an opportunity for your business to accommodate a working environment more befitting to the changing needs and demands of your team.
One new addition that may help attract your workers back to the office is space buffers that split up the room to give people more privacy and a greater sense of independence. These were some of the attributes that made staff members enjoy working from home, so it might be wise to replicate that feel while still obtaining a cohesive team environment within your office. Space buffers can be something as noticeable as office partitions, or something as subtle as plants.
Remaining Covid Safe
There is now a greater focus on upholding Covid-safe behaviour in the workplace, and the design of an office plays a big role in making people feel safe while doing their jobs. If your team is sceptical about returning to the physical office over fears of catching an illness, then there are practical changes you can make to the layout and furniture of your working environment to mitigate these risks.
These changes include:
- Keeping the desks at least 1.5 metres apart
- Making sure the office and all communal spaces have proper ventilation
- Reduce congestion in your office to make movement easier
- Smaller tables in meeting rooms to encourage reduced group sizes
All of these changes work towards making your office a safer and healthier place to work.
Refitting Your Melbourne Office with IC Corporate
IC Corporate are experienced at commercial office fitouts for Melbourne businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our team can redesign your office space to make it more inviting for your employees to leave their homes and return to the office.
To find out more about how we can help, contact the team today on (03) 8802 9630.
