How companies can keep up with changing times

Here’s the scenario of most offices today. Companies are more accepting of at least one or two days of work from home in a week. Most employees have shifted to their hometowns to save money and be closer to their families.

A hybrid workplace is the norm now and not the exception. So companies are stepping up their management style to utilize this change for their maximum benefit.

They can now focus only on hiring the right talent, regardless of geographical boundaries. They can allow the employees to work remotely, only asking them to visit the office for important meetings.

Companies can do a realistic head-count of how many employees actually turn up to the office on different days of the week. With this data, they can understand space utilization in the office. If they feel that their office space is underutilized, then they can think about reducing the size of their office. This will save them rent and infrastructure costs.

Companies now need to strengthen their culture, focusing on creating a feeling of oneness with their employees.

The employee psyche has changed immensely over the last two years. Employees now feel the need to be valued in their companies more than ever. Most employees are working hard and going above and beyond to achieve organization goals. They need to feel appreciated for their efforts.

Building trust and giving employees the freedom to make decisions is in the best interest of the company. The focus needs to be on results and an ethical code of conduct.

Many employees are losing out on social interaction. Meeting hardly qualifies as a team-building activity. Here are some suggestions that can bring the team closer together -

1. Debates — Conduct team-wise debates on pressing issues that your employees may most be interested in discussing. You can use breakout rooms on ZOOM if your employees are working remotely to conduct such debates.
2. Activity towards the social good — Decide a day on which the employees can meet somewhere in a place that has the most issues with littering and clean it up. You could plant some trees on the roadside where one of the colleagues lives and name them. They would water the plant/tree and send pictures of it as they grow
3. Games — There are many fun games that can be played with colleagues who don’t even know each other. For example, Pictionary, UNO, chess, carrom, etc. Some of these games can be played virtually as well
4. Team lunch or outing — A lunch outing within a team is great. But team lunch with two different teams will give the employees new opportunities to know colleagues they may not have talked with before. If the budget allows it, companies could also plan an overnight trip with their employees to scenic places nearby. The entire experience would be refreshing and create stronger bonds between team members.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Tell me in the comments what are the other things your company does to transform with the changing times and improve employee satisfaction.