New Employees Are Fueling the Return to the Office

More than two years after offices first sent employees home at the start of the pandemic, there remains a deep uncertainty about the future of physical office spaces. Seasoned employees that have been working from home for the duration of the pandemic might wonder why a return to the workplace, in some capacity, is necessary—especially if those employees that haven’t lost productivity through the transition. For new recruits, and particularly younger employees, though, returning to the office has a lot of value.

“In the feedback that we have received, with existing teams that had already worked together and known each other and were already in a rhythm, it was a non-issue,” Colin Behring, CEO of Behring Companies, tells GlobeSt.com. “For those groups, there was more and maybe better productivity. For new teams and younger employees that needed mentorship and indoctrination into company culture, there was a trade-off. That was an issue.”

While new employees have the most to gain from a return to the office, established employees are also finding fewer benefits while working from home. “Some firms have invested heavily in office space and amenities. Those office spaces went dark, and all of the company perks, like lounge spaces, free food and free transit went away overnight,” says Behring. This has made the office more attractive to a wide range of employees, even those that can work productively from home.

Although employees are finding unrealized value in the physical office space, don’t expect a full return to pre-pandemic life. “For a lot of people, it ended up being more than feasible and being able to accommodate family needs and still be productive,” says Behring, explaining that there are also tremendous benefits to working from home, which is prompting the adoption of hybrid formats.

For office owners, this change in demand and use will require swift evolution akin to what retail has experienced. “The moral of the story is that the office now needs to provide more value than it does,” says Behring. “If it was just a desk before, it is no longer necessary. It needs to be a place for collaboration and culture and it needs to promote the mission of the people.”