Thinking About Your Back to Work Strategy? These Resources Will Help You Prepare

The uncertainty of the past two years has forced us to collectively re-evaluate when, how, and where we work. While some companies (like SwagUp!) have embraced a remote-first work culture, others have shifted to a hybrid model, or quickly returned to traditional, fully in-person structures. With COVID-related restrictions now easing around the globe, many employers are gearing up to bring their remote employees back to the office.

In this post, we've rounded up a handful of the best resources to support your back-to-work engagement and community culture efforts, including:

🚀 Strategies from some of top global teams
🚀 Engagement initiatives and ideas to help your team settle back into their groove
🚀 Thought leadership from HR and culture writers to help guide your approach
🚀 Swag ideas and inspiration from our team and partners

Let's dive in.

Strategy

For many organizations, being in-person is key to maintaining their strong culture, and after so many false starts, the time has come for companies that sit squarely in the back-to-work camp to implement their return strategies. Wondering how top companies have navigated the transition back to a physical workspace? We recommend checking out HubbleHQ's list of hybrid and in-person workplace strategies from global leaders.

Whether you're refining your strategy or still determining the best course of action, understanding and communicating why you've made the decision to head back to the office is important. We recommend considering questions like: will in-office work increase collaboration? How will this decision affect culture and engagement? Where can we be flexible? Whatever your answers, clear, consistent, and transparent communication around your decisions and strategy will help ease the uncertainty of heading back to the office.

🚀 Read our top tips for welcoming folks back to the office here.

Engagement

After nearly two years of working from the relative comfort of home, it's safe to say that things at the office will seem...a little different. The unique considerations uncovered by the pandemic, along with shifting perspectives regarding work-life balance, require unique solutions to ensure that folks easing back into a once-familiar environment feel comfortable, safe, and engaged as they do so. Read on to learn more about our favorite engagement tools and resources, care of our partners and team!

Mmm...snacks. Our friends at Snacknation are masters of engagement inspiration! Check out 35 Best Jaw-Dropping Welcome Back To The Office Gifts In 2022 for back-to-work gifts we bet you didn't think of.

Building and sustaining a strong brand requires strategy, skill, and more than a little talent. Community management is a huge job, and tools like Commsor help CM's streamline manual processes and measure the impact of their initiatives. Learn how Commsor and SwagUp work together to help top CM's keep their communities engaged .

For premium, personalized gifts delivered at lightning speed, look no further than Postal.io. Postal's intuitive integration works with your existing CRM or HR database, enabling you to select and ship the perfect swag, at the perfect time, without having to babysit the process.

Burnout is real. The shift to remote working has highlighted just how challenging it can be to disconnect from our careers and responsibilities and practice self-care. Author Jori Hamilton's recent article, The Foolproof Way to Fight Burnout and Retain Your Company’s Talent examines common causes of employee burnout and shares science-backed strategies to help HR and people leaders support their teams.

It's scientifically proven that dogs in cute costumes will brighten anyone's day. Discover how establishing a robust (and adorable!) swag strategy helped one top company increase team engagement and inspire a sense of community in our latest case study.

Culture

While most HR professionals know that engagement and culture solutions aren't one-size-fits-all, it's safe to say that everyone feels more connected to their peers and teammates when they're recognized for their accomplishments and contributions. Community events are a wonderful way to foster engagement, but if you're still recovering from the last time you practiced a "trust fall", our guest writer Emily Henry can help, with new ideas for planning a team event that's fresh, engaging, and relevant.

Community and team building events are an important component of office culture, but adaptations to an alternate way of working provides an excellent opportunity to reconsider how, and when, teams gather. Are there former in-office events that could be re-imagined to honor different folks' working styles? Would community lunches, where teams take breaks at the same time, foster connection? Are summer or Focus Fridays (aka no-meeting days) the way to your team's heart? If you do opt for a special event, add some swag to enhance the occasion. Check out some of our favorite Back to Work swag packs for more inspo!

Cultivating a feeling of connectedness doesn't have to be complicated, but it does take a bit of planning. Ask yourself where you can be flexible, or offer accommodations, so that returning to the office isn't a shock to the system. We love the idea of welcoming folks back to a physical space with a token of appreciation. Setting up an online swag store is a quick engagement win that allows your recipients to pick a swag item they'll love and use, while keeping the lift for your HR team light as they focus on welcoming folks back to work!

Summary

Change is hard, and big changes, like the shift from remote working to in-office expectations, require special consideration, careful planning, and attention to the small details. Researching strategies and engagement tips (like the ones we’ve rounded up here), is an important step in understanding how you can best support your team’s transition as they ease back into the office. We’re confident that implementing some of the ideas in this post will result in big engagement and culture wins for your team!

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