Like the agent of a one-hit wonder pop star, many employers around the nation are pushing their employees to make a comeback…except this one is back to the office.
The big return-to-office (RTO) push appears here to stay for an increasing number of employers. According to a Resume Templates survey querying 849 US managers in January, 27% of companies expect to enforce a five-day in-office workweek by the end of 2025.
But this trend requires more than just free food and other perks to coax employees into making a return.
Ivanti CSO Daniel Spicer told IT Brew that IT professionals have a key role to play in ensuring a good employee experience in a company’s RTO strategy. He said friction in the employee experience post-return can lead to employees using shadow IT.
“You actually end up with more security threats, from my vantage point, when there isn’t a good employee experience because then they’re trying to figure out, ‘How do I get my job done in the face of all these challenges?’” Spicer said. “And that normally involves pulling in a bunch of other tools or using technology that isn’t approved by the company.”
The to-do list. Aaron Warner, founder and CEO of cybersecurity consulting firm ProCircular, said that IT professionals expecting an increase in office attendance from once remote and hybrid employees may find that returning devices have malware, unpatched software, or are out of date. He suggested that the transition is a good time to review the standard build or the expected configuration for company devices.
“Get a good, clean image for every workstation you want in your company, and start with the computers that are coming back,” Warner said, adding that it may be a good time to invest in new hardware as well.
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Warner suggested that IT professionals should also consider revamping core policies around mobile device management, acceptable use, and privacy.
“If your policy document reads like stereo instructions, it’s probably a good time to rewrite that thing so that somebody knows that it’s important and it’s a good place to set expectations or reset expectations,” Warner said.
He added that there is value in communicating to employees their role in protecting their company from threats.
“From a security perspective, the most valuable insights you will get into your own cybersecurity come from those employees,” Warner said. “So, the better you’re able to build trust across that environment, the more you’re going to know about what’s happening inside of that environment.”
In the thick of it. Some IT professionals currently going through the RTO transition said things may be a little different than before. Cory Rice, VP of IT at KnowBe4, said his company has reintroduced a hybrid and full-time work model for some of its employees. These days, Rice spends his time making sure employees have headsets to address noise complaints and dealing with forgotten or lost equipment.
“Now you’re back to people bringing things back and forth,” Rice said. “So, 10 people forget their chargers a day, 10 people forget their headsets a day, people just forget their computers and leave those at home.”
He said the shift back to in-person work has come with some perks, however, such as better help desk etiquette.
“Everybody got used to putting in tickets,” Rice said. “So, even when they’re in the office, rather than walk down and say, ‘I want to bother the help desk,’ they log a ticket, which has actually been a really nice change that happened.”