Lynne: For the last two years, we’ve been talking a lot about the future of work, but I think it’s time we let that phrase go, because that future… it’s now. And it’s hard.
Whitney: Absolutely. And what makes it hard is having to solve for the hybrid work model, where some people are in the office and others are remote and everyone wants it their way. Most companies don’t have any experience in that. It’s a new frontier.
Wallace: For a long time, we thought that people were going to want to stay remote, but the pendulum is swinging back and people are starting to want to go back to the office because they can make more meaningful connections or do more meaningful work if they are in the office or with their team, at least a few days a week.
Lynne: Companies are trying a lot of new experiments – I heard that Salesforce bought a 75 acre retreat center where they can cycle people through so they can make those meaningful connections.
Wallace: But the days of “everyone must be in the office on Tuesday and Thursday” – I hope those are gone.
Lynne: So who do we think is coming back to the office? I found some stats on Slack’s Future Forum that show non-parents, white knowledge workers, males and senior leaders are more likely to return to the office regularly. Women, parents and POCs are less inclined. So how do we ensure that we're not coming to the party with proximity bias when it comes to promotions, plum assignments, raises and things like that? That's one of the things that I'm worried about, because I think that would destroy the E of DEI. And I do think that it's up to all of us to think about that problem now, and not when it's already happening.
Whitney: One company I heard about, is limiting its executives to two days a week in the office to both mitigate the potential for proximity bias that might occur if they are only seeing a segment of the population but also to ensure that employees don’t feel the compulsion to return to the office because the boss is there.
In any case, leading in this new environment is not going to be easy. We’re never going back to the status quo.
Wallace: I think there's got to be the notion of creating moments that matter in the office, not necessarily just going in because hey, it's Tuesday -- that's my day to be in the office. I think there really should be a bigger emphasis put on meeting with stakeholders, team collaboration, workshops, seminars, trainings, etc…not just sitting in a cubicle by yourself. We can all do that, you know, in a spare bedroom at home. For context, I was working remote pre-pandemic. But you know, I've made it a point to meet with my stakeholders in person to really build a rapport with my leaders. There's a piece that you miss on Zoom. So I'm for the hybrid model, but as long as you're making the most of our time together..
Lynne: Think about the stark contrast to when I worked for a law firm in the 90s. All they cared about was that you had 2000 billable hours in the year. However, you had to work many more hours to achieve those billable hours. At the end of a long day, I would sometimes leave my glasses on the desk and my suit jacket on the chair just to be able to escape the madness — talk about burnout!
Wallace: What would that do? I mean, obviously leaving your glasses and your jacket behind. It was the perception that you were still working.
Lynne: Right, it was all about quantity not quality, they only cared about butts in seats.
Wallace: In a hybrid environment, the onus may fall to the People team to track those butts in seats. We've come so far in the People function that I would caution us not to become the police. Guess who's got to deal with the employee when they don't come in on their prescribed days, right?
Whitney: Yes, the People function today should be laying the foundation to create the best hybrid approach for its employees and the business, and not the other way around. The People team should be bringing to bear all the tools in its arsenal to make hybrid a success, including career development, mentoring, L&D, etc. Return to work has to be purposeful and a company’s learning professionals can help design it. It has to be experimental, and it has to be innovative. We can't be scared to try things and to fail and we really have to make that time valuable to the employee.
Lynne: For the foreseeable future, the employee is in the driver's seat, and we have to take every opportunity to listen and to respond to their needs accordingly, regardless of how we’ve done it before AND how we, senior leaders, were “raised” to think about work. Because if we fail to listen and adjust, we will just be a statistic of the great resignation. Employers should be doing all they can to listen and offer employees choices and resources about how, when and where they work.
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