HUMAN RESOURCES
An Employee-Centric Return to the Office By Jenni Graff
FOUNDERS & SENIOR RECRUITING CONSULTANT, SILVERGATE RECRUITING
T
he decision to return employees to the office safely is complex. Professional offices in Montana generally have fewer employees, making socially distanced workspaces feasible. Despite the relative ease with which Montana businesses could safely return to work, however, there is a growing sentiment that employees are not particularly anxious to return to the office. Although this thought may require some getting used to, as Recruiting Consultants exclusively serving Montana, we are here to tell you, there is a legitimate business argument for offering more flexibility to your employees when you begin planning your return to the office. Where businesses who offer a more flexible work environment post-COVID will see their Return on Investment will be in employee satisfaction, retention, and attraction. We speak with hundreds of professional candidates each month, discussing what they seek in an ideal position, and the consensus is professional employees now demand a flexible work environment. Corroborating our daily conversations with quantifiable research, it is clear few
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MONTANA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
professionals are itching to get back to the 9:00 to 5:00 grind. A recent Gallup survey found nearly two-thirds of those who worked from home during the pandemic would prefer to continue doing so. The work/life balance of a flexible workplace is a deciding factor for many when considering a job transition. With a centralized office and occasional work from home, employees work primarily from the office but have the ability to work from home occasionally. The centralized office and “work from anywhere” model increase employee freedom by allowing them to choose where they work—from the office, home, or anywhere with a reliable Internet connection. Some companies have chosen to ditch the office all together and offer fully remote work. LinkedIn named the 3-2-2 model as a workplace trend to watch in 2021, which offers three days in the office, two days remote, and two days off. As employers try to accommodate employee desires, the hybrid work model has emerged as the most favorable model for return to work. Claire Matten, Advisor at Sterling Commercial Real Estate, noted
Where businesses who offer a more flexible work environment post-COVID will see their Return on Investment will be in employee satisfaction, retention, and attraction. many businesses in Montana seem to embrace the hybrid model. “As the working world adapts to a new normal,” she said, “we’re seeing companies provide more flexibility in a mix of work from home and in-office options. However, we’re definitely hearing that the collaborative, in-person time is crucial as well.”
