Is Office Attendance Necessary in a Hybrid Workplace?

How to Create an Attendance Policy for Your Hybrid Workplace

Define the Reason Why Employees Should Return to the Office
Looking at the earlier statistic – 82% of people are happier when they have the freedom to work from anywhere – you’ll need a valid reason for your decision to make office attendance mandatory. Setting this policy “just because” could drive away employees in favour of joining a more flexible hybrid workplace environment.

Here are some questions to consider when making this decision:
 – Do you want to strengthen your company culture?
 – Would it be more productive to conduct important meetings face-to-face?
 – Could office attendance provide greater opportunities for employees to learn from and build stronger relationships with leadership?
 – Would it present greater opportunities for brainstorming and spontaneous collaboration

Evaluate the Current Expectations Within Your Industry
It’s useful to study what other companies within your industry are doing in terms of setting a mandatory attendance policy in their hybrid workplace. Why? There’s always a reason companies work the way they do. Perhaps they’ve seen a decrease in absenteeism thanks to improved mental health, or they’ve discovered in-person collaboration is more productive. Making sure this is clear before you determine your own hybrid working policy will also maximise job retention, as your employees know they won’t find a better policy elsewhere.

Be Mindful of Individual Employee Circumstances
How many of your employees will need to make amendments to childcare arrangements before committing to more frequent office days? How many of your employees spend a lot of money on their commute to and from the office? Are there any employees with mental or physical health issues who would instead benefit from working from home?It’s important to take these individual employee circumstances into consideration to maintain a sense of equality in the hybrid workplace. Though you should also be careful not to contribute to a lack of equality by giving these individuals better or more personalised treatment. Try to find a solution that works for the majority of people, while prioritising the needs of the business.

Survey Your Team
As Richard Branson, the CEO and founder of Virgin Group explained, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”.

Your employees are your greatest asset. Their experience working within your company influences their happiness, which ‌affects their ability to be productive, stay engaged, and perform at their best. So, figure out what they would want from a hybrid workplace attendance policy instead of assuming what they want.

Here are some questions you could include in your survey:
 – If you could choose, how many times per week would you work from the office?
 – Would you rather have set office days or the freedom to choose when you attend?
 – Would you rather have a mandatory number of office days or designated office days?
 – What do you like about working from the office?
 – What do you like about working from home?
 – What are your thoughts on a mandatory attendance policy?

Consider the Logistics
Have you expanded your team since switching to a hybrid working model? You will need to assess whether your designated office space offers the capacity to house all team members on the same day. If not, it may be wise to stagger in-office days to provide a more comfortable experience.

With limited capacity also comes limited desk space. Goget’s desk booking software is your best bet in this scenario. Designed to help you and your employees find an available desk, this savvy software simplifies forward planning. This also provides a zero-fuss solution to figuring out who will be present in the office on which days.

Weigh Up the Long-Term Impact
Creating a new hybrid working policy with mandatory attendance might seem like a step forward now, but it could hold you back in the future. For example, you may unintentionally reduce your available talent pool when recruiting new employees. Those that are used to working fully remote or with maximum freedom in a hybrid work model will probably dismiss workplaces with a mandatory attendance policy.

Communicate Your Expectations with Your Employees
Any change to the hybrid workplace is bound to cause a stir with your employees. If you decide to make office attendance mandatory, you must communicate your exact policy with your team. Don’t beat around the bush – keep everyone in the loop with clearly laid-out expectations to ensure a smooth transition to this new working model.

Goget can help you tackle this challenge. Our meeting room displays not only provide direction for employees and visitors when locating a meeting room, but offer the ability to display personalised content boards. Here, you can digitally lay out the expectations for your new hybrid working policy for all to see.