Having navigated teams through a pandemic and remote work, leaders are now facing the ‘great return’ and bringing employees back to the office. Leaders are reimagining what work-life looks like in their organisations and establishing new boundaries around how much is enough time in the office. While there is a temptation for leaders to want to ‘flick a switch’ and make it all go back to the way it was, the return to ‘normal’ for many organisations will be anything but straightforward. Keeping employees engaged while a new path is paved will take leaders who are willing to listen, be vulnerable, experiment and co-create a strong set of expectations with employees around what works best to serve the organisation, team and individuals.

Understand your team

Global research conducted by ‘Future Force’ (Slack’s research consortium) found that 44% of executives prefer to work from the office every day and only 17% of employees said the same; therefore, we can assume that the vast majority of employees are not as enthusiastic as their leaders about returning to the office. Navigating the differences of views and what is best for the organisation, team and individuals is deeply complex. Finding the new normal will take time and leaders must be prepared to listen to their team to uncover the key drivers and key issues affecting their teams before deciding on a solution.

At the very centre of the complexity lies the variation in employee’s experiences working remotely, which informs employee belief systems around what work should be going forward. The pandemic has impacted people in very different ways. Some people have thrived working from home and saw great increases in productivity, while others have felt isolated and alone, and cannot wait to get back into the office. Many have reported benefits of greater work-life balance, regaining hours usually spent commuting, while others have felt the impact of increased and around-the-clock workloads. Women in particular have felt the brunt of the pandemic and, according to the McKinsey Women in the Workplace report, the burnout is continuing at a much higher level than in men, with one in three now considering downshifting their career or exiting altogether. This means many women are likely coming back to work fatigued with their resilience battered down.

Whilst there may be a tendency for some leaders to feel like they need to have all the answers and lead with directive leadership, leaders need to be careful about imposing one-size fits all rules around returning to the office. Listening to staff and acknowledging individuals’ experiences, fears, hopes, and resilience to change needs to stay central to any decisions in order to maintain staff wellbeing, engagement and productivity and to establish a ‘new normal’ that will suit the individual, team and organisational needs. “It’s about getting people back to a shared headspace of what work will look like in the coming months and being transparent about what employees versus leadership expect so there’s no surprises,” says Jared Spataro (CVP of modern work at Microsoft).

Be intentional about when employees work at home or the office

Developing hybrid work habits through the lens of ‘task’ and ‘place’ can be helpful as it puts a spotlight on the benefits of both office and home environments, rather than focussing on specific times or days of the week. In a given day, we have a myriad of tasks ranging from administrative tasks such as emails, phone calls and planning to analysing, ideating, forecasting, coaching, checking in with everyone, innovation projects, research… the list goes on. How often do we give any weight to the idea of where is best to complete any of these tasks? And how often do we manage our calendars so that the optimal place to complete a task is considered?

Generally, offices are hubs made for human interaction and collaboration. They are centre-points for connection and anchoring workplace culture post-pandemic. The environment offers impromptu learning and informal observations of cultural norms, which sets the tone and expectations for the team. Office environments offer greater productivity in achieving these collaborative, creative tasks – and creating connection and cultural norms at the same time! Developing a shared understanding of the benefits of working on tasks in the office will increase motivation for employees to come back into the office and also focus employees on the purpose of them being there which will ensure they leverage connections and collaboration while they are together. Working together with colleagues on collaborative tasks enables more efficient, productive and higher quality outcomes than one can achieve at home individually.

Whilst there are many benefits of returning to the office, research shows that employees are more productive and efficient when working from home. Saved commute times and a quiet environment were sited as the main contributing factors to the increased productivity. At home, employees are able to experience uninterrupted deep work around their most alert times and added wellbeing benefits of being more involved in their loved one’s lives and being able to work exercise into their schedule more easily. Whilst collaborative projects, large team meetings and social events are best done in the office, writing emails or reports, preparing presentations, analysing data and one-on-one meetings are all better tackled at home.

So perhaps the answer is not about how many days in the office are right for your team, but more around what tasks and behaviours should be encouraged back into the office. Communicating this with your team will be integral to the success of hybrid work plans. With Microsoft research finding 38% of hybrid employees identifying their biggest challenge as not knowing when and why to come into the office, it is clear that employees are looking to leaders for answers. Whatever hybrid model is best for one’s team and organisation, the ability for leaders to create a shared vision and communicate clear boundaries and expectations will be a key success factor in navigating the ‘Great Return.’

If you’d like to know more about how Steople can help you lead through change for performance and wellbeing, please contact us to discuss your needs.