Written by: Vickie Sullivan | March 07, 2024
How to Help Clients Manage Return-to-Office Resistance
Now that the pandemic has waned, employers are putting pressure on their staff to return to working in the office. Employees are not happy with the mandate, as a recent BizWomen article shows. If you have clients instituting a return-to-office (RTO) mandate, you can help them position their requirement and ensure employees comply with it.
As an advisor, you help clients make big decisions all the time. You regularly provide clever explanations about the why and how of what your clients should do. As the BizWomen article shows, however, that approach won’t always lead to compliance.
The best way to move people forward and get their buy-in is to reduce resistance. The article identifies two areas where you can help your clients with RTO resistance:
• Identify the biggest barriers to moving forward: Most people will go along with you unless the burden is too heavy. When you address their concerns, you reduce a lot of their resistance to change. So, with this issue, start by taking a sharp look at the impact of your client’s mandates and their willingness to make changes. As an expert, you not only give them a heads-up, but you also help them seek out and receive information.
• Offer flexible solutions to barriers: Most of the solutions for the return-to-office mandate are cultural, such as dress codes. Further, financial solutions, such as commuting costs, aren’t as problematic as they appear on the surface. A lot of company leaders, though, reject them out of principle. Help your clients do an ROI analysis on those types of flexible solutions.
Rarely do all employees embrace leadership’s decisions. Helping your clients navigate that pushback is a great way to position yourself as a go-to resource.
Listen: How to Deal with Upcoming Resistance
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