Template time: 10 return to office survey questions to ask your team

To return to office or not to return to office, that is the question. 🤔

With unpredictable factors like the Delta variant, changing employee preferences, and office space availability, planning for a full or partial return to work can feel like an impossible task. Plus, there's no industry consensus on how many days employees want to be in the office once the pandemic abates, so it's important to assess your employees' unique needs and desires. After all, no two companies are going to have the same return to office plan— nor should they! 

If your head is swimming with return to office decisions, conducting a RTO survey is a good place to start. Bonusly teamed up with Robin, the hybrid workplace tool, to generate 10 questions you can ask your employees today. 

We invite you to use these survey questions to measure return to work sentiment at your organization and collect actionable feedback to help you craft the perfect RTO plan. 

Return to Office Survey by Bonusly and Robin

1. When do you think you'll be ready to go back into the office? 
Answer type: Multiple choice

You can customize the multiple choice options for this question to get an understanding of when to finalize and communicate your RTO plan. Answers to this question should be balanced with the current data on COVID-19 in your organization's hub area. 😷

2. Which of the following best describes you?
Answer type: Multiple choice

Your employees' sentiment on returning to office is personal and affected by  variables that might not be addressed in regular work conversation. Consider factors like employees with children at home, inconvenient and shared office spaces, commute time, and the list goes on! 

3. For remote employees: Which of the following most reflects your desired office schedule?
Answer type: Multiple choice

Many organizations have shifted to hiring remotely and allowing employees to "work from anywhere." For many companies, employees aren't as geographically concentrated as they used to be. Be sure to include questions for every type of team member you employ so your survey doesn't become one-sided and fall flat with remote employees. 

4. What's difficult about working in the office? 
Answer type: Long text

As some employees long for time away from distracting home office environments, they may need a reminder of the challenges of working from the office. We're not just talking about coworkers taking each other's food from the shared fridge. 🍔 Use this question to assess issues you need to consider when figuring out the right type of office environment for your post-pandemic workforce. 

5. What's better about working in the office? 
Answer type: Long text

At some point during the pandemic, we've all had visions of a productive, quiet, and peaceful morning in the office. Recognize that there are likely challenges for most employees working remotely. Consider factors like isolation, lack of visibility, and distracting environments when generating the description for this question. 

6. What's better about working from home? 
Answer type: Long text

A recent study found that even after the pandemic, 48.9% of employees surveyed said they'd still like to work from home 1-4 days per week. When analyzing your survey results, remember remote work vs. in-office work aren't mutually exclusive. There's a good chance your employees will desire a combination of remote and in-person work. Hybrid work is all about balance. ⚖️

7. What's difficult about working from home? 
Answer type: Long text

Working from home might eliminate the stress of a commute and increase productivity for some employees. For others, the line between work and life might become blurred.

8. How long is your commute? 
Answer type: Multiple choice

Raise your hand if your podcast listening has decreased tenfold since we started working remote. 🙋‍♀️

9. Which of these best describes you? 
Answer type: Multiple choice

Get a gauge of where your employees land on adapting post-pandemic behavior. It's key to have both qualitative (long answer) and quantitative (multiple choice) to guide your RTO decisions. 

10. Which of these is the most impactful for your return timing? 
Answer Type: Multiple choice

Lastly, this question begins to understand the motivation behind returning to office for your employees. It's important to consider both physical and psychological safety of employees as we begin to look to the future. 

That's all folks, happy surveying!