If You Want Office Workers Back, Don’t Turn Them Away At The Door

Many businesses are still struggling with how to get their workers to return to the office. Office occupancy has reached 50% for the first time since the pandemic, but that still leaves huge swaths of people who are choosing to work from home on any given day.

If a business is intent on attracting workers back to the office, one of the first things to consider is how people get through the door, cloud-based access control provider Brivo's Chief Marketing Officer Mary Clark said. If this process isn’t smooth, people will be put off before they even make it to their desks.

“How do you make entry as frictionless and seamless as possible?” she said. “People have to want to come back to the office and property managers need to understand what needs to change about the current space. At the moment, this is not being considered by employers.”

The first point to consider is how access is granted. Many businesses still rely on systems using key fobs or cards but technology today offers more efficient systems for the user, Clark said. 

Brivo’s Security Trends Report found that 84% of security professionals believe user experience is either extremely or very important. To improve convenience for the user, businesses need to implement cloud access control that they can use quickly and easily, Clark said.

“You’ve got to leverage the potential of an object that everyone now depends on for all aspects of life — the smartphone,” she said. “The No. 1 message is that you need to get access control onto a mobile device. On top of that, the sooner you think about facial recognition the better.” 

While cloud access control using a mobile device is convenient for a user, a system also offers better security than a key fob or card that can be lost. 

The second point to consider when trying to encourage people to return to the workspace is flexibility, Clark said. Even if an employer has a set headquarters building, they might consider whether they should offer flexible space in different locations. These could be places for people to gather at a shorter distance to where they live. However, security still needs to be considered.

“You need to balance how to create a welcoming, flexible experience for a worker with risk management,” Clark said. “By adding more locations to access, you’re expanding your surface of attack from a cybersecurity point of view. You need to consider the safety and security of employees and your ability to support them with the right technology.”

A business needs to ensure that internet access is sufficient and secure, Clark said. One consideration is whether employees will need to leverage a new VPN to connect to the business’s network. For employees to fully embrace a flexible office, the process of working needs to be smooth.

A final point to consider is the potential to use remote access control as a tool to improve environmental credentials. A cloud-based access control system can gather data not only on how many people enter a building, but which spaces they go on to use. This information can be used to make decisions about how much space a business really needs or how much energy is actually required to heat and light offices.

“The need to reduce a business’s Scope 2 carbon emissions is a key priority for Gen Z and millennials — who will be 64% of the workforce by 2025,” Clark said. “Leaders that are driving the return to the office need to understand what attracts these people. They need to maintain a level of productivity while ensuring they’re doing the right thing for the business and for staff wellness.”

Currently, businesses are not giving enough thought to how to entice workers to the office, Clark said. Although much of the technology that can be used is new, property managers need to see its potential as soon as possible. 

“Employers need to leverage the information they have at their fingertips to truly understand how to make space more attractive not just for entry, but for usage,” she said. “That begins and ends with how people are getting in the door. And for digital native employees, it means making the most of smartphones.” 

This article was produced in collaboration between Brivo and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to [email protected].