The future of work: putting the collective good ahead of personal preferences

In the aftermath of Omicron, as JTI plots its return-to-the-office plans, I encourage a return to our values and our raison d’être. The Omicron crisis we witnessed is a stark reminder that it is difficult to be definitive about anything these days, but similarly, it stresses the need for companies to go back to basics and to think about the collective good.

When it comes to the labor market, Covid made people experience different realities. Those who were fortunate enough to stay safe at home in a remote working environment experienced a much different reality than those members of our community who did not have that choice, or who simply rely on people being present in the office.??

I have seen these divisions play out firsthand at JTI, the company I lead. I think of Novae, the company who runs our HQ restaurant, and the impact work-from-home orders had on their employees. I think of our new employees who have missed out on so many valuable interactions and mentoring opportunities. I think of the dedicated contractors who keep our facilities clean. I think of our frontline factory workers and salesforce, our corporate heroes who allowed us to weather the storm. There are so many who simply couldn’t work remotely. We relied on them, and going forward, they rely on us.

This idea of collective responsibility is often lost in the return-to-the-office equation. Many speak about the safety of returning to the office – those are good discussions and they must be had; an office environment must be safe – however, we do a disservice when we confuse safety with a personal preference to work remotely. After all, once the issue of safety is addressed and local rules are complied with, working remotely then becomes a lifestyle choice.

I’m not suggesting we go back to the old ways of doing business. While there are legitimate business reasons to bring people back to the office, going back to the old ways of working is (and should be) off the table. The question for me, after fully addressing the safety issue, is what does the future of work look like?

The way I see it, decisions about the future of work must be based on what is best for the common good, underpinned, of course, by corporate fairness. We must think about the collective. This is where I come back to those people who have no choice but to show up to work every day, and those who depend on office workers for their own survival. When we plan what comes next, we can’t forget about them.

At JTI, our Guiding Principles serve as our North Star on these matters. These eight principles — being passionate about our people, living our values, having the highest integrity, delivering on our promises, setting the bar high, working as one team, challenging the status quo, and communicating proactively — bring us together and influence the decisions we make.

Our Guiding Principles embody acting in the collective good. They are not based on personal preferences, but on building an equitable workplace with a diversity of talent that comes together under a common vision, values and understanding. Staying true to our Guiding Principles means embracing a corporate culture of inclusion and change, something more important now than ever.

We have known for a while that employees want more flexibility, and that different generations place emphasis on different things. That’s why we started down the path of defining New Ways of Working before Covid took hold. The virus merely accelerated the pace of this change. Yet, whether Covid restrictions wane or continue, we fall back on our Guiding Principles to make informed decisions on New Ways of Working.

There is a way to return to a better normal and that is by embracing the collective good, corporate fairness and equitable treatment over fragmented personal preferences. By doing these things, we can come back stronger than before. I certainly know we will at JTI.?