Either through habit, impatience or necessity, organisations are calling their workers back into the office. For many whose roles permitted it, the work from home phase of life will soon end. The prospect of returning to the office for a regular working week is not a happy one and many are opting to negotiate a more flexible arrangement or even choosing to find employment elsewhere.
The speed with which organisations sent workers home and workers settled into a rhythm there seemed miraculous. Many people saw this as an opportunity and embraced it but others, who battled for space with children, flatmates or pets, not so much. An interesting study by McKinsey & Co found:
- 80 per cent of workers enjoyed working from home.
- 41 per cent were more productive than before.
- 28 per cent were just as productive.
People reported they enjoyed being liberated from long commutes and had much more flexibility and balance in their lives. In the article “Death of the office,” Catherine Nixey notes prior to COVID-19 workers in offices often felt more unhealthy, experienced social inequality, had long wasted travel times, and experienced indifference to their individuality. In another article, Adam Bryant writes that since COVID-19 senior executives report enjoying flexible schedules because they give them time to reconnect with their spouses and children and a healthier lifestyle with more exercise.
But is there still a place for the office? With the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccine the risk of infection will be dramatically reduced and many people may want to return to the office. Nixey notes coming into the office allows us to put on a different persona from that of our life at home, potentially giving us more meaning and fulfillment. The office also provides social capital through the “chemistry of the unexpected” where those unplanned moments of collaboration occur at the water cooler or in the staff kitchen and where relationships with co-workers are developed.
The challenge for organisations is whether to insist everyone returns to the office or to allow flexibility. Both McKinsey and Bryant warn if organisations do not allow some degree of flexibility, they may find employees seeking organisations that do and thereby risk losing experienced and productive workers. Allowing flexibility will greatly increase the potential talent pool by removing the geographic restriction of having to live close enough to travel to the office every day. But organisations will also have to find ways to measure the effectiveness of employees by how much value they add rather than how many hours they work.
To state the obvious, we are now operating in different times and organisations have an opportunity to reset and reconstruct how they view the place of work. There is no one size fits all approach and organisations are going to have to offer some degree of choice to employees if they want to attract and retain top talent. No doubt we will eventually find a new equilibrium, but we can never go back to how it was—the people have tasted freedom and want more.