How Home office strengthens your employer brand - The PIO BELOVED Guide

A successful home office policy helps your company to attract top talent. We show you how to roll it out successfully.

Is the post-pandemic home office honeymoon over?

During the pandemic, many companies sent their employees to home office. Now they are calling them back to the office - as Mercedes in Germany has recently done. Is the home office honeymoon over?

We believe: No. Working from home will remain part of our working world. Because working from home is popular. And: a successful home office policy strengthens a company’s employer brand.

Are you an employer or HR manager looking for the best talent? Then, in this article, we'll show you:

• Why a good home office policy is essential for your company.

• How it strengthens your employer brand.

• The most important building blocks for your home office policy.

• How to successfully integrate home office into your company.

Why a home office policy is indispensable for companies today

The option to be Working from home has become an important factor when choosing an employer. In a Statista survey conducted in 2023, almost 39 percent of respondents said such an offer was “crucial” to their choice. 43 percent thought it was “important, but not crucial”. What this means is that a successful home office policy, has basically become a must-have in recruiting today.

Want to know how AI is influencing recruiting today? Check out our blog article on the topic here.

Or read here how we as an agency are increasing our chances in the job-market.

How home office strengthens your employer brand

While home office has become a decisive employer branding factor, it's not just about your employees’ convenience. By enabling them to work from home, you are also communicating something about your company and strengthening your employer brand.

With a successful home office policy, you can credibly communicate the following company values to your employees and applicants: 

• Trust: By offering a home office option, you show your employees that you trust them. You let go of some of your control over them and encourage them to make their own decisions and believe in their own abilities.

• Determination: A home office option also communicates your priorities when it comes to your employees’ work. You show them that you do not so much care about where they do their work - as long as there are delivering the right results. Thus, home office positions you as a company committed to success for people intending to be movers and shakers.

• Flexible and up-to-date: Working from home requires flexibility, openness to new ideas and first-class technical equipment. That way, you present yourself as a company that moves with the times and breaks new ground.

• Family-friendly: Many employees to important care work alongside their job: They look after their children or other family members in need of assistance. Working from home makes it easier for them to combine their paid work and their care work. This positions your company as particularly family-friendly.

• Caring: With a home office option, you are investing in the well-being of your employees. You enable them to avoid unnecessary stress at work. In this way, you protect their physical and mental resources.

Building blocks for your home office policy

Before you implement a home office policy, you should make sure that it covers all the important issues. This includes the following topics, for example: 

• Type and scope: what does home office mean in your company? Can your employees come and go as they please? Or are there fixed times or appointments that should be completed on site? Are there core working hours when everyone should be available, whether at home or in the office?

• Technology: To be able to work from home, your team needs the necessary technical equipment – that is, a laptop and access to a shared digital workspace.

• Cybersecurity and data protection: Data protection and security remain important even when working from home. Give your employees clear rules and recommendations on how they can ensure both.

• Expenses: Do you also support your employees working from home financially, for example by covering their lunch expenses? Or should they bear all the costs of working from home themselves?

Successfully integrating home office - how to manage the rollout

The most important thing for a successful home office policy? The right implementation! This is how you ensure that your employees and managers understand your policy and can implement it effectively:

• Involve you employees and middle management: Before you roll out your home office policy, you should involve your employees in the process. Inform them how they can ideally work together as a team from home and what expectations they can set for their work. Also give them the opportunity to provide feedback on the policy or actively help to formulate it. This will allow you to identify potential weaknesses in your model as early as possible.

• Training and communication: Make sure that your employees are fully informed about your home office policy, for example through targeted training. Also make sure to formulate your policy in easy-to-understand language and simple terms, so that all of your employees can understand it easily.

• Technical support and equipment: Equip your team with the hardware and software they need to work from home. This also includes providing IT support if technical problems occur.

• Monitoring and adjustment: After the introduction of your policy, you should regularly check whether it is working as intended in practice. Have all technical requirements been met? Are there any problems with communication or working from home? Based on this feedback, you can make adjustments and continuously improve your home office policy.

Want more tips for successful employer branding? You can find all our articles on the subject on our blog. Or contact our PIO BELOVED team directly and get the support you need.