You're on the clock! The "this time we're really returning to the office" guide: part 1
The countdown to return-to-office has started. Are you ready?
This is the first of three articles outlining the key stages, decision points, and priorities for establishing and executing your return to the office. In Part 1 we’ll explain why this time the return timeline is real, and outline the big picture considerations you should be working through ASAP.
In Parts 2 and Part 3, we dive deeper into operational and tactical planning stages that lead up to the actual return.
I know, I know…we’ve been here before.
First it was “a few weeks.” When COVID started last March, most of us expected to return a few weeks after quickly sending home our employees. We didn’t. ❌
Next, it was “Summer.” As a few months passed, we did our part to flatten the curve and started preparing for a Summer or early Fall return. We setup distanced desks, posted CDC guidelines, stocked up on sanitizer, and even installed plexiglass. But we didn’t go back. ❌
After that, it was “phases.” Summer came and went, and we embraced what now felt like an inevitable “phased return.” We crafted detailed timelines with CDC-inspired versions of 10% —> 30% —> 60% phasing for bringing employees back to the office in waves. Most companies and employees never got past phase 1. ❌
Then, it became “after the vaccine.” In early November, we learned how successful the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials had been. With that excitement and optimism came a sobering realization: we weren’t going back anytime soon. Lockdowns returned. We took return dates off the calendar, unwound phasing plans, and awaited details on the vaccine rollout. ❌
As 2020 finally became last year, there were wide and inconsistent predictions on vaccination timelines. We heard warnings of “maybe not until 2022” balanced out by other news of increasing optimism around accelerating vaccine distribution. Gradually, vaccinations became more real as parents, grandparents, and friends on the front-lines began getting their shots.
Over the last month, companies have gradually begun to set their sights on a Q3 return timeline (July or September, in most cases). Yet, most still have stopped short of communicating a firm date to their teams. Until now.
That changed this past Tuesday (3/2/21), when this happened:
Slack threads, Microsoft Teams channels, and social media instantly exploded with [nervous] excitement that the end of this year-that-feels-like-a-decade might actually be near.
This time, it’s for real.
This one isn’t a false alarm. We’re going back. Some of us will start opening up offices in just a few months - or even weeks. Others will plan for right after July 4th. And by Labor Day, a majority of the companies around the country will have reopened their office. ✅
That means that, once more, it’s time to prepare your organizations and employees to return to the office and transition to the hybrid world. There is a lot of work ahead (or hopefully, already underway). But don’t worry, we’re all in this together.
The rest of this article and the additional ones to come will outline the major planning stages, key decisions, milestones, and priorities you need to work through as you countdown to return.
What to do ASAP: the big picture stuff
If you and your CEO/Execs aren’t already working through these big picture considerations, you better get started. If you’re still discussing, it’s time to dig in, rip off the band-aid, and start establishing some foundation so you can start down the path toward a successful transition back to the office and to hybrid work.
1. Choose your flavor of hybrid
When I explored the many flavors of hybrid a couple weeks back, I made the [hardly controversial] declaration that the 5-day-in-the-office work week was gone for good. It is, and we’re not returning full-time, which means you must cement the cornerstone of your hybrid transition: establishing what type of hybrid organization you want to be.
Every major decision, operational detail, and implementation task leading to your reopening will be driven by this decision. If your CEO or Exec team has been putting off the conversation or avoiding a firm decision, now is the time to force the issue and commit to a path forward.
This decision of “what kind of hybrid company you want to be” will branch into an array of downstream ramifications ranging from virtual hiring to office guidelines to vaccine requirements. We’ll get into each of these in Part 2, but remember: those are the tactics and this is the strategy. Strategy has to come first.
Having a clear point of view on how your organization plans to embrace hybrid work will serve as the backbone / guide for the choices and challenges that come next.
2. Establish your baseline real estate strategy
The specific flavor of hybrid you choose and your real estate strategy are fundamentally tied at the hip. I’m cautiously optimistic that for most of you, your CFO (or similar) already has a significant head start on this topic. For most companies I’ve spoken to, the real estate strategy was one of the first considerations to firm up. So hopefully you have a head start!
Perhaps you were fortunate enough to have an existing lease finish during COVID. More likely, you are in the frustratingly common scenario of paying monthly rent for an unused office. Or maybe the shift to hybrid means you have ample existing space for a growing team and no longer need to add to your portfolio.
Whatever your particular situation, you need to define a clear, multi-year real estate strategy at the outset. Once defined, you should work through on how that strategy comes to life:
Downsizing/rightsizing: if you intend to reduce footprint, you should be analyzing local headcount projections + in-office attendance predictions [hint: use the results of the survey in the next section]. Together, these will enable you to corroborate your downsizing plan and/or to kickoff discussions related to office policies (e.g. office capacity). Read more on right-sizing your real estate investment.
Redesign: if you are planning to use the office for more of a particular type of work (e.g. less desks, more hands-on collaboration) you should quickly kickoff your redesign efforts across furniture, layout, technology, and more.
Search: if you you unloaded office space but plan to go back to a physical location, you want to start searching now for new space while commercial rental rates are still skimming the bottom of the market.
Distribute: if your team has (or will) distribute more geographically and you plan to spin up local offices or co-working spaces, you’ll likely need to work out local employee threshold counts, office types, national contracts, and more.
The larger your organization, the more likely your real estate strategy will encompass more than one of the above. Now, these decisions typically have large dollar figures attached and that can put pressure on them (often slowing them down). You’ll have to work closely with your Finance leaders and Exec decision makers to ensure decisions on strategy actually get made, and made soon. Remember, real estate will be one of the most fixed, inflexible parts of the operational plan you’re building to return to the office and transition to hybrid.
3. Check the pulse of your employees (again)
I’ll keep this one short, given my sincere hope you’ve been doing this periodically for the last year! If it’s been a few months since your last team survey, now is the time to get an updated pulse of how your employees are feeling.
A lot has changed after a year of remote work. Sentiments have shifted and understanding the team’s current outlook is a must. Beginning to envision life after COVID and budding excitement of the promise of vaccines is going to mean individual preferences will evolve. This updated information will help drive your decision making, planning timelines, estimates, and more.
4. Commit to your video conferencing stack
While it may initially seem like an oddly specific item to address upfront, you’ll benefit financially and planning-wise from committing to a video platform now.
We’ve been living on video calls for a year, and now that will extend back into the office. You’ll likely need new or additional hardware and software to setup video-ready conference rooms or video booths. That means the flexibility of switching providers is going to go away, and the “maybe we’ll switch to Google Meet” conversation needs to come to a head once and for all.
Video conference will continue to be a huge part of everyday hybrid work, and so you need to make sure you are willing to make long-term investments behind the video software you are going to use once you are back in the office.
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate
A hefty mix of anxiety, excitement, fear, and curiosity is going to be brewing in your workforce. From your junior folks to your senior leaders, the decisions you make regarding the hybrid workplace are going to have a meaningful impact on the employee experience they have going forward.
As they digest the news of vaccine rollout timing, they are going to start to figure out their own individual return plans. They’ll be making decisions about everything from home and car purchases to kids’ school applications. They’ve navigated tremendous uncertainty for a year now, and with an end in sight, they’ll be eager for their questions to get answered.
This is a great time to start building a regular update cadence and outline your overall approach to forming and executing your return plan. Let them know what key decisions you are working through and on what timeline. Share those decisions once made, and be open about where there is still uncertainty. Set the tone upfront so they know they can expect to hear transparent information on a regular basis. It’ll save your team the hassle of 10x the request volume from individuals!
One important note: Execs may be nervous about sharing incomplete information, or they may be afraid to announce decisions that some portion of employees might be unhappy about. While there will always be validity to the argument that “there’s still a lot of uncertainty with COVID,” consider the risk of not building trust upfront as we approach the massive transformation that is hybrid work.
In Part 2 we explore “the operational stuff,” breaking down the key operational building blocks and decisions to address 12 - 18 weeks before your return date.
And in Part 3, we walk through “the implementation stuff” to be focused on down the homestretch — the last 12 weeks before returning to the office and officially kicking off hybrid work.
Thanks for reading!
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