As we start to learn how to live and work with COVID 19 as an endemic, a debate is raging as to where and how work should be carried out. Several large corporations are entrenched on the “get back to the office” side of the debate. David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs and Elon Musk CEO of Tesla and SpaceX are two well-known advocates of full-time office working. Most of the financial sector were initially “back to the office” advocates, though the majority now have moved towards a structured hybrid work alternative. JP Morgan Chase, after some deliberation, have opted for a 10 / 50 / 40 percent split between remote, office based and hybrid workers. According to an article in Business Insider, JP Morgan Chase are using data from ID badges to measure and control attendance of their staff.
Apple initially were also in the “back to the office’ camp but, following several senior staff resignations, have also now changed to a more structured hybrid approach. Alongside Apple, Citygroup, American Express and several others have opted for the two / three days in the office and two / three days away from the office hybrid strategy with staff coming into the office on specific days. Google had attempted to get employees back into the office on several occasions before deciding to change tack. In Google’s case they have gone for a structured hybrid policy, but additional flexibility can be requested from line managers.
Apple however are not out of the woods yet as a survey by Blind, the anonymous social network site shows that 76% of staff surveyed are dissatisfied with Apples return to office plans and 56% are considering looking for another job because they are dissatisfied with the hybrid work policy.
In fact, several organisations that have introduced structured hybrid working policies are finding that staff are still not happy. To try to understand why so many people are still not satisfied with this structured hybrid approach we must think back to the start of lock down on March 23rd, 2020.
As the pandemic took hold, almost overnight people were given the ability to manage their own workloads and take responsibility for getting work done. I think, for many of us, being trusted and given autonomy over how we structured our lives and carried out our work was empowering and though some struggled to adjust many became more productive. We have now lived with these new work patterns for over two years and they have become the new normal.
Back to the present, I think for many people being told to get back to the office, even when offered a structured hybrid working programme where they are told when to be in the office, feels like a giant step backwards and a loss of the autonomy they have become accustomed to.
Add to the fire the fact that the last two years has been a time for people to take stock and reassess their own lives with many concluding that they need more control over their own destiny and our now making lifestyle changes. Resignations are up significantly as people look to find a better fit for their working lives.
With all the dissatisfaction about return to office policies, I can only see the trend continuing, with the companies who are pursuing overly structured and controlling strategies losing key staff to companies that are willing to offer more flexible arrangements.
So, who are the companies that are offering staff the autonomy they require? Twitter and Airbnb have work from home forever policies for anyone that wants to. Microsoft employees have the option to work remotely up to 50% of the time, but they allow flexibility in the hours and geographic location that they can operate from. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella said in an interview “None of us are coming out of this pandemic assuming we’re going to go back to 2019,” he added. “We have to find a new way going forward and, in that context, employees and their expectations are paramount. It’s becoming an expectation that the workplace will integrate with people’s need for flexibility, so that they can achieve harmony between work and life.”
So where does that leave a company wanting to develop their own hybrid working programme? Firstly, don’t just do what everyone else is doing. One size does not fit all; what suits one business may well not suit another. Your people are unique, so the key is understanding their attitudes and expectations, their tasks and workflow so you can develop a strategy with their input that still offers as much autonomy as possible. Trust, a more supportive management style, a results-based approach, a wellbeing remit and an over communicate attitude will also help to motivate staff.