The workforce is slowly entering the post-pandemic era as vaccines are expected to be available to the general public by the end of the summer.
Now, companies are faced with their next challenge: should workers come back to the office full-time?
If business leaders have learned anything over the past year, itโs that employees are capable of being just as productive (if not more) working from home. However, research has indicated that some workers miss the atmosphere of the office.
According to a study conducted by McKinsey & Co. late last year, many professions are expected to move forward with a combination of both remote and in-person work arrangements.
Of course, this depends on the occupation. Those within the professional services, finance and IT world saw little to no loss in productivity when working remotely.
However, tasks that are easily performed in-person, such as mentoring, coaching and training, will likely need an office in some form.
There are still other factors to take into consideration when deciding who needs to return to the office and how to balance hybrid arrangements.
One way to guarantee that there is a healthy balance between in-person and remote work is to schedule regular, informal virtual meetings and transition those to in-person once it is safe. Doing so keeps everyone on the same page and ensures both employees and employers that they are working in tandem.
