Free breakfast, candy, dental floss or gifts upon request – these are just some of the benefits and incentives that employers offer in the office to entice their employees to return to their offices from home after a year and a half – The Guardian writes.
The City of London Foundation hosted a beer festival for returning employees. Investment firm Fidelity International serves delicious food to nearly 2,900 employees. Those entering the workplace can enjoy free breakfast Monday through week, as well as free fruit. Floss candy and popcorn are also available on certain days.
Free breakfast will be provided through the end of October for 1,300 people working for the Slaughter and May law firm, as well as a reusable stainless water bottle as a gift. The company has also adopted a flexible working model, where employees spend 60 percent of their time in the office and 40 percent at home.
One of the more serious incentives is at PwC, a professional services company whose 22,000-strong UK workforce will receive an additional £1,000 in September when the company switches to a hybrid business model. Although the payment is not conditional on employees stopping working from home, an internal memo suggested using the extra money to cover commuting costs.
Workplace psychologist Lee Chambers said gifts or gatherings are a way to “make employees feel appreciated” after working in isolation for a while.
“Of course there are people who are very excited, and some of them are a little hesitant, but there is no doubt that if they know that something interesting is coming to attend or that something is waiting at their desks, it will give the employees a sense of stability, the feeling that you are part of something bigger.”
