I was struck recently by a conversation among several of my friends, all peers in different industries, about work.
“I know this might be an unpopular opinion,” one lawyer was saying, “but I don’t want to work from home all the time.”
“Me neither,” agreed a marketing and public relations executive. “I actually want to put on pants and interact with people in real life.”
“I hear you. Too much Zoom is making me depressed,” said another attorney.
“I’ve been trying to up my in-person days from two to three per week!” laughed our friend who works in city government.
Apparently, they’re not alone. According to a new article published by Korn Ferry, people are returning to their pre-pandemic work habits and routines in droves.
But there’s a problem. After three years of mostly virtual work and online-only interactions, both workers and employers are trying to figure out how much should be office time and how much remote work time. They are also out of practice when it comes to many of the in-person things we used to do, from networking to business travel to building corporate culture. In essence, we’re rusty and figuring out the how-to dos in a new hybrid world.
“It’s as if we were in jail, and now we’re all free again,” one staffing executive told Korn Ferry.
This is spurring an “intense” rethinking about how to maintain culture and manage a hybrid workforce where a percentage of staff will be in the office full-time, some three or four days a week and some fully remote to meet the needs of employers and their employees. A recent Korn Ferry article notes that we are all collectively struggling with rebuilding our corporate cultures post-pandemic. Roughly 40% of CEOs today say they are dissatisfied with their work environment, according to a survey by Work Forum.
In fact, experts told Korn Ferry that many of the conversations they’re having around jobs and work hours are now more open and franker about the needs of the business to be successful as well as the quality of life and work success needs of the employees. Expect this to continue, as it often results in deeper, more meaningful relationships and better cultural fits between employee and employer.
A major struggle employers now face is how to balance the needs of younger workers that are on a career path to have mentors with the needs of more experienced workers with families who prefer a hybrid work schedule. Having different work arrangements becomes a challenge to maintaining culture and to convincing employees that no matter their work schedule, all are treated with the same care.It shouldn’t matter whether you’re in the office or working remotely: You’re treated the same, with the same opportunities.
Messaging should capture your company values and be consistent across the board, from the initial recruiting efforts through to employment and promotion. And keep in mind that while consistency in the messaging is key—after all, your company values don’t change—the mediums through which the values are communicated should adapt to the audience. For example, a semi-open floor plan and open-door policy can communicate transparency for those in the office, and daily video Team or Zoom calls with and from remote working colleagues instead of emails can do the same for remote workers.
It then is up to each company’s leadership to model these behaviors, and to “walk the walk,” to solidify and authenticate the corporate culture and to make all employees feel part of the team..
Ultimately, it seems that we are all ready to embrace the hybrid workplace that has been heralded as the way of the future when it comes to work. How, and how well, we do that is up to us.
