Editorial
As we move into the summer of 2023, the hybrid work debate remains one of the biggest discussions in the workplace.
Why is this still an issue, three years on?
Many, if not most companies have by this point mandated employees spend at least some of the work week in the office. Employees believe they have proven they can be productive when they have flexibility over their schedule, while employers feel that the lack of culture and connection is reducing efficiency and effectiveness.
CEOs are jumping into the debate as well.
Representing the Return to Office camp:
Disney CEO Bob Iger: “As you’ve heard me say many times, creativity is the heart and soul of who we are and what we do at Disney.And in a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe and create with peers that comes from being physically together.”
Tesla/ Twitter/ SpaceX CEO Elon Musk: "CEO Elon Musk enacted a strict return-to-office policy this spring, informing employees suddenly by email on May 31 that they would need to ‘spend a minimum of forty hours in the office per week.’ Anything else, he suggested, was ‘phoning it in.’"
Representing Team Flexibility:
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: “At Microsoft, we value and support flexibility as part of our hybrid workplace where every employee can do their best work by working the way they work best. A hybrid workplace is a mix of workstyles across work site, work location and work hours.”
Dell CEO Michael Dell: “Technology now allows people to connect anytime, anywhere, to anyone in the world, from almost any device. This is dramatically changing the way people work, facilitating 24/7 collaboration with colleagues who are dispersed across time zones, countries, and continents.”
A Culture of Productivity Paranoia
What is the source of this discrepancy? A few common points arise in all research and interviews.
1. Binary Thinking
Our biggest mistake is that we keep thinking of work as binary: you're either in the office or not, which means you're either working or you're not, or you're productive or you’re not. Work has never been binary. Top performers always carried their teams. Some workers work better in the morning and others do better work in the evening. Being in the office didn't always mean people were working well (or working harder).
Because we don't have consistent or agreed upon outcomes and success measures, we are using easier barometers, like visibility and co-location to determine business success, which leads to this binary thinking.
2. Visibility as a Measure for Productivity
This ranges from staying late in the office but also never showing as "away" on Slack or Teams when working remotely. The always-on visibility ends up being a measure for dedication but doesn't tell us anything in terms of performance or productivity. When leaders look out of their office window to see what employees are doing, it can be a helpful measure to see who is working, who is lounging and who is introducing ideas that move the business forward. Employers might be mistaking visibility for productivity and employees feel this lack of trust puts them at a disadvantage.
It will take time and effort to relearn how to assess outputs, and reset biases. But ultimately just because something is easier, doesn’t mean it’s the right way of leading.
Related Article: The Values and Limitations of Returning to the Office
Where Do We Go From Here?
1. Segment/ Persona Training
Know your teams. Learn how different teams work and how that affects productivity. Some find creativity can come by working together, but some people find creativity in quiet and serene surroundings. Looking at your segments, team personas and then the work itself can help reinforce what works best to deliver the best work and get the best from your employees.
Leaders and executives will have to do some deep work to review embedded beliefs and biases and to redefine organizational success — and a willingness to challenge existing conventions of productivity. Ultimately, it means looking at team productivity differently than overall business goals. Different teams can and should be organized based on how they work, how they collaborate and how they deliver the best results. When team members complain about flexibility, you’ll be able to explain why certain models have been implemented based on a tested process. This will build trust in the team, trust in the delivery and manager discretion to do what is best for their teams, driving overall engagement and productivity.
2. Normalizing Productivity Conversations
Productivity isn’t just about the individuals doing the work, it’s about the work to be done, too. Just as career conversations are becoming standard for organizations to understand the pathways of employees, productivity conversations are equally as important.
Looking at the work to be done and how people best manage their productivity allows organizations and employees to potentially get even more done. For instance, dividing work up between a day spent in the office with teams, customers, students, etc. and another day home focused on administration, bookkeeping and scheduling can help organize work, provide dedicated time for collaboration as needed and allow time for other deep thinking work without disturbances. (Gartner). While work is rarely this segmented, it can often be helpful to know there is a day or two at home with fewer meetings to help keep the mind centered.
3. Culture Design
Culture isn't hard and fast — it’s intended to flex. Executive leaders should recognize culture isn't about where we are sitting but how we behave. Culture is based on trust and common understanding of beliefs and it will never take without a deep belief that the organization as a whole is dedicated to delivering the expected behaviors.
When we think about culture today, therefore, we should remember that hybrid isn't a new working model. Many, including myself, have worked from home on occasion to handle family situations or other obligations without the suspicion we were working less or were less productive.
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Related Article: What Happened to the Promised Future of Work?
The Solution? Trust Your Teams
We’ll remain at this crossroads as long as we continue tofocus on the wrong thing. When we stop equating presence with productivity and recognize trust and outputs as the measures we want to explore, we’ll be able to move forward.
When employees trust the organization to support them to work in the best way possible, and organizations trust their employees will do that work, we’ll expand how we think of productivity.
The pandemic showed us we can all work remotely. Before the pandemic we saw we can all work together. This new era can show us how we blend the two, remove the binary thinking and lean into trust to develop new models we know will work.
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