Give People a Reason to Come In
You can’t perk your way to better office attendance.
For the past few years, businesses have been trying all sorts of ways to encourage people back into the office. Team lunches. Wellness initiatives. Social events. Free food. R U OK? Day activations. Drinks. Treats. Mandated office days.
And there’s absolutely a place for all of them. But if people still aren’t choosing to spend more time in the office, eventually it’s worth asking a different question.
Is the workplace itself giving them a reason to come in?
Because all the perks in the world can only do so much if the environment people arrive at doesn’t support how they want – or need – to work.
Stop asking how to get people back
The conversation around office attendance often starts with: How do we get people back into the office?
But that puts the emphasis on changing people’s behaviour before understanding what might be driving it. A better place to start is: What are we asking people to come here for
Home can be pretty good at providing focused work. There’s no commute. Fewer interruptions. Often more control over the environment.
So the workplace needs to offer something different. For many businesses, that’s connection. Collaboration. Learning. Better conversations. Client interaction. Faster problem-solving. A stronger sense of culture and belonging.
The office doesn’t need to compete with home. It needs to do the things home can’t.
Look beyond the attendance numbers
Low occupancy is easy to see. Understanding why it’s happening takes a little more work.
Maybe teams come in but spend half the day on video calls because there aren’t enough appropriate meeting spaces. Perhaps people want to collaborate but the workplace is still predominantly designed around individual desks. Maybe the office is noisy when people need to concentrate. Or quiet when they need somewhere to connect. There may be plenty of space – maybe not the right space.
That’s why occupancy data alone only tells part of the story. Observation, employee feedback and understanding how different spaces are actually being used can reveal much more.
Sometimes the answer is already in the space
Improving office attendance doesn’t necessarily mean starting again. Often, relatively targeted changes can make a significant difference.
An underused meeting room might become a project space. Excess desks might make way for better collaboration settings. A forgotten breakout area could become somewhere people actually want to spend time. Acoustics, lighting or technology may be creating friction that can be addressed without a major refurbishment.
The question should simply be: Does our current office still work for the way our people work now?
Start with the problem, not the solution
Before changing the floorplan, buying new furniture or planning the next attendance initiative, understand what’s actually getting in the way.
Ask your people. Observe the space. Look at occupancy patterns.
Understand which areas work hard and which don't. Then determine where the opportunities are, because a fool proof workplace strategy is about creating a workplace that earns its place in someone's working week.
Give people a reason
A great workplace won’t solve every attendance challenge. Leadership, policy, team behaviours, flexibility, commute and individual circumstances all play a role.
But the physical workplace is one of the things a business can influence. And if you're asking people to make the trip in, it's reasonable to ask whether the experience waiting for them is worth the journey.
You can’t perk your way to better office attendance. But you can create a workplace that gives people a genuine reason to come in.
Not sure what’s keeping people away?
Start with The PALM Workplace Occupancy Check – 10 simple questions to help identify whether your workplace is supporting the way your people work today.
Download now 👉
Planning a workplace refresh, relocation or simply wondering whether your current space could work harder? PALM can help with early workplace strategy, employee engagement, test fitting and cost planning. Because better workplaces start with better questions.
Get in touch with the PALM team today, the coffee is on us!
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