It has now been a year since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and it seems like the emergency is slowly coming to an end. With vaccine rollout already underway, businesses are starting to think about how they can encourage workers to come back to the office. 

Despite the fact that companies have realized that working remotely can work, the role of the office continues to be as important as ever. Moving forward, companies want to continue providing the flexibility that remote work allows, while still finding opportunities to bring workers together in person. 

Employers aren’t the only ones thinking about going back to the office; employees have figured out after a year that working from home is not all it’s cracked up to be. The reality of using an inadequate space as an improvised home office was soon reflected on declining productivity, inability to concentrate fully on tasks, a slow internet connection, and many other problems that made employees actually want to come back to the office.

If you are still unsure if you should bring your employees back into a workplace environment, here are 3 reasons why you should: 

Health and Wellbeing

It is true that the pandemic made us hyper aware about our own physical health, but less consideration has been made on our overall wellbeing including mental health. A study by Columbia University looked at the experiences of people around the world and found incidences of depression and anxiety across North America, Europe and Asia. This has been linked to the lack of social connections and  the distancing we’ve had to endure. 

Work is a place where we not only can connect with colleagues, but balance our work life and home life which seems to have blended in the past year. The opportunity to come back to work at an office, even if it’s a shared workspace, provides employees social interaction, variety and the opportunity to separate work and home. 

Improved communication

The internet and Zoom has made it easy for people to communicate with one another while working from home, however, it hasn’t been able to completely fulfill the benefits of face-to-face interaction. Remote workers quickly realized that their communication wasn’t as effective as what they had in the office, and with slower home internet, video conferencing has become quite frustrating. 

Having everyone back in the office, even if just part-time,  will definitely help improve not only communication, but will help increase employee engagement, create workplace harmony, and boost productivity. 

Strengthen company culture

No matter how hard companies try to maintain some sort of connection via virtual meetings, virtual chat rooms or virtual team building activities, employees working from home may start feeling completely detached from their employers. As humans, we tend to focus mostly on what is right in front of us which makes it difficult for business owners and managers to stay engaged with every employee. 

Working in an office on the other hand makes it easy for companies to build a strong company culture, as it is way more natural to build and strengthen relationships face-to-face. For companies that have decided to reduce their office real estate during the pandemic, shared workspaces such as executive suites and coworking spaces allow them the opportunity to book a meeting room for weekly or biweekly team meetings which can help strengthen company culture. 

Working from the office is never perfect, but neither is working from home. With the right workspace and business tools, flexibility at work can be a great option to workers back to the office. Lakeside Executive Suites in Weston, Florida offers workspaces designed with the flexible business in mind. Whether you need a private office, coworking space, or meeting rooms, we can help streamline your transition back to the office. Contact us today for more information.