The 3 Things Every Employee Needs From Their Manager When They Return To The Office

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As we enter November, one thing top of mind for many professionals is a pending “return to the office.”?Despite huge variances of company decisions on this issue, a recent study found as of August 2021 that 66% of organizations delayed office re-openings due to COVID-19 variants. Yet I know many banks and investment firms will head back to the office this week with a 3 days/week in office guideline.?There are fans and foes on this guideline based on how they experienced the benefits of working from home and commute experiences. ?

We will need courage to speak up about our needs and ask for help to overcome challenges to our schedule. This could change weekly as working parents navigate a huge variety of school system protocols to COVID. Childcare has become even more challenging to secure and rely upon over the past 18 months with no real breakthrough in sight.?We will need to leaders to have the courage to ask their people about their wellbeing and show a commitment to support flexibility in their schedules.

The optimist in me views this window of opportunity as a fresh start for teams.?If we can rally around this new chapter to make conscious choices in a hybrid team model for new behaviors, then we can drive real culture change. ?

For people managers, here are three important steps to lead with intention and prioritize inclusivity.

Step 1: Celebrate and honor the hard work that has taken place over the past 2 years.

Expressing praise and gratitude is particularly important for boosting and maintaining morale. Neuroscientists have shown that the brain processes verbal affirmations similarly to financial rewards.?But of course, you need both, so this isn’t an excuse to curb comp but a reminder that we deserve to feel appreciated for the demands of work and life. Involve your team in this mission to celebrate and use team meetings to share the silver linings they have experienced personally and professionally. ?

Beware of the overwork formula of “If I work harder, I’ll be more successful. And if I’m more successful, then I’ll be happier.” For many people, work became an obsession of long hours and endless striving which has caused more burnout and resentment along with a decline in happiness and wellbeing.?This destructive formula undergirds most managing and parenting styles used to motivate behavior. Shawn Achor’s research proves for decades that it’s scientifically broken and backwards because our brain works in the opposite order. At positive, our brains work even more successfully than when negative, neutral or stressed as we’re able to work harder, faster and more intelligently by being positive in the present.

Proactively training your brain to become positive in the present requires leaders to carve out the time to reverse this formula and own our success in the moment.?This is the time to demonstrate a commitment to wellbeing. Staying well as a group will require open conversations about flexibility, schedule changes and boundaries to ensure everyone is not “always on” 24/7.

Step 2: Recalibrate expectations when returning to the office.?

Convene your team around new expectations and intentions for engagement, collaboration, and productivity. We need to look at everything we've done before and question if it's the way to do it today and into the future.

Pull your hybrid team together and be ready to engage those who are participating virtually.?Discuss and then outline what team activities and job responsibilities are most ideal to take place in-person versus conducted virtually in remote locations. Leverage insights like how remote work is great for individual productivity and routine tasks, while tasks that depend extensively and dynamically on other people and creative tasks like brainstorming and problem solving are where in-person collaboration thrives.?Use common scenarios where you anticipate people being in different locations and talk through how everyone has a responsibility to be inclusive and have their voice and input valued.H

Let the group know you will also follow up these conversations in one-on-ones, so individuals have the space and opportunity to share their personal preferences.?It’s best to approach this as an ongoing conversation with room to experiment and change direction if needed. But you must start somewhere and team alignment gives it energy and attention.

Here are some questions you can pose for team discussion:

• How can we ensure teammates who are working from home still have a voice?
• How should we track progress and update each other throughout the week?
• How do we each prefer to receive feedback?
• What guidelines should we set for meetings (i.e. purpose, length, style, devices)?
• What is “okay” to do? (e.g., take breaks, log off chats, turn off video)
• When (if ever) is it more appropriate to text someone or use chat features?
• What is the expected response time for emails? How can we provide realistic turnaround expectations?
• As we transition to a hybrid office, how will we stay inclusive of our remote employees and avoid potential biases?

***Take A Beat***

Let me introduce you to my ”Take a beat” strategy. This is a tool to curb the frenetic pace of the past that leads to burnout and help you coach your team’s pace to make space for reflection. Discuss and align your team around their response habits. Do they feel inclined to reply to emails at all hours of the day? Are people misunderstanding the digital tools like chat channels and texting??When do they have more energy and less throughout the day? We must help our teams be more thoughtful when the instinct is to respond ASAP.?Becoming more intentional about pausing to think before reacting develops a strategic leadership mindset.

Step 3: Coach workload management

The most common challenge I hear from working professionals is the stress of having too much on their plate between work and life responsibilities. Use this new chapter to chart your team flow by identifying the key roles and responsibilities they play which are dependent and independent of one another. This will also require self-discovery conversations where you can ask individuals about their communication preferences, their style, their expectations about feedback and what they need from you to support their success.?Creating boundaries begins with understanding and expressing priorities and needs which can be both personal and professional. The integration of work and life is loud and clear so we will create more trust by respecting boundaries.

Finally, be keenly aware of the invisible work that has become a burden on more women in the workplace like office housework and emotional work that goes unrecognized and unrewarded. These tasks are necessary but they take time so they should be evenly distributed and rotated across team members. ?

The Next 90 Days

Over the next 90 days, you can plan to have a powerful impact.?Schedule time with your team together and individually to discuss how you will prioritize collaboration and inclusion in this hybrid team model.?Leverage your peers and discuss what’s working and what’s in the way with other people managers who can help you troubleshoot problems and experiment with new approaches.?

Finally, YOU have to rest and recharge.?Role modeling your own self-care and staying well is a must. It’s ok to take breaks so take one now!

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