How Will Working From Home Change How We Work?

Productivity has increased whilst we have been working from home, but this is unlikely to be sustainable in the long-run.

A hybrid working model is likely to become the new reality; successful leaders who will be those who embrace the right technology, leveraging their leadership and people skills to make the model work and take advantage of the significant opportunities that this model presents.

Over the last few weeks, we have run a survey to explore the effect of lock-down and working from home on personal and organisational performance and effectiveness (using productivity as a proxy) and to explore what we can learn from our shared experiences and what the implications of those might be.

The survey was a simple 10 question multiple choice questionnaire which was completed by over 100 Assistant Directors, Directors and Chief Executives (or their equivalents) in local government, the wider public sector, and the non-profit sector.

The headlines from the survey are that:

• Prior to lock-down very few respondents (or their teams) worked from home – 20% had never worked from home, and of those that did it was typically a maximum of one day per week.
• And then, in an instant, everyone except for key-workers immediately started working from home – which includes almost everyone who responded to the survey.
• At the beginning of lock-down 55% of respondents were concerned that working from home would have a negative effect on productivity.
• They needn’t have – productivity increased for more than half of our respondents during April compared to a typical pre-lock down month (12% of respondents observed no change in productivity, a quarter of respondents saw productivity decrease by only 0-15%, but the remainder saw a decrease of more than 15%).
• By the end of lock-down in July half of the survey respondents were seeing higher levels of productivity than usual, 17% were still observing a slight decrease in productivity (< 10%) whilst no one reported a greater than 10% loss in productivity.

It would appear that over the last 6 months the vast majority of teams led by the respondents to our survey have performed phenomenally well – at a time of international crisis and huge disruption they have stepped-up and found a way to continue to deliver essential services; in many cases doing more whilst accommodating new ways of working and taking into account the logistical problems of, for example, delivering services whilst social distancing.

So, what is the story behind the numbers? We spoke to many of the respondents in order to gain some insight…

• Productivity had to increase, because demand increased

Many of our respondents lead teams (such as adult services or children’s social care) where there has been a significant increase in demand, and the resulting increase in workload has been considerable.

Simultaneously, during lock-down we could not travel, socialise, play team sports… work was the only show in town.

So, with more work to do, an absence of alternatives for many people, and no time wasted on commuting, perhaps it is not surprising that productivity increased?

• Not everyone stepped-up equally

Not every member of every team managed to be more productive.

Some took a while to get to grips with the technology; some were looking after their children or relatives, some may have found it difficult to work remotely from their colleagues, and there is a suspicion that some may have taken advantage of the fantastic weather that we enjoyed whilst not having a line manager looking over their shoulder.

A significant majority of the contacts that we have spoken to have mentioned that they have had at least one “Star” in their team who has put in a serious shift over the past few months – we believe it is these Stars who, through a combination of putting in the hours themselves and holding their team together, have enabled a collective improvement in productivity.

Consequently, maintaining these levels of output and these workloads by relying on the performance (or availability, or health?) of a small number of key individuals isn’t sustainable in the long run.

• Many have enjoyed working from home so far, but in the long-run it won’t work for everyone

For many team members, working from home has presented difficulties.

Almost everyone has mentioned that Zoom meetings can be surprisingly tiring, and the thought on a Sunday evening of the coming week being filled with relentless Zooming filled them with dread.

Furthermore, working from home in a responsible role where you are not having the impact that you think you should can lead to stress and fatigue, which can rapidly lead to issues with motivation, performance, and physical and mental well-being.

What can we take away from this?

Most of the respondents we have spoken to are beginning to open their offices for essential meetings, but do not foresee everyone returning to the office for at least the next few months.

Although the status quo is not sustainable in the longer term, it is very possible that the majority of organisations will use a hybrid working model where employees spend 2-3 days working remotely, and 2-3 days in the office.

In the eyes of many clients it has been proven that remote working can work, and current evidence suggests that employees are now reluctant to give up the flexibility that has effectively been imposed upon them since the end of March.

The leaders who will be successful with this new model are those that have the right technology, leadership skills, and people to make this model work and to take advantage of the opportunities that this model presents.

Technology

Organisations will need technology that enables a hybrid model, and that connects the team wherever they are (a) to allow every team member to be as effective and productive as possible, to remove the dependence on the “Stars”, and (b) to facilitate touch points and communications that address the social issues of working remotely, or whilst isolated from your colleagues.

Many, though not all, of the contacts we have spoken to have given serious consideration to how they use technology to keep in regular (if not frequent) direct contact with colleagues. Some have set-up buddying initiatives, others schedule a range of video-conferences from 1-2-1s to large team meetings, and we have heard of quite a few Zoom “Happy Hours”; a small but significant minority have felt the need to provide access to mental health support.

Whatever solution is employed, it needs to enable hybrid working (many work well when everyone is out of the office, but not so well when some are in and some are out), and the ability to make people feel connected is as important as them being able to do their work.

Leadership

A different leadership style is required for leaders and their direct reports for remote and hybrid working models – micromanagement is out; communication needs to be unambiguous; successes should be explicitly celebrated; performance management has to tread the fine line between identifying who requires support to get back on track and who should be seriously considering how they can contribute more / would be better off elsewhere.

You need to know that your “Stars” have what they need to maximise and realise their full potential; and it would be worthwhile thinking through what you would do if they were to leave or if they were unable to work.

People

Team members need to be more empowered – they need to be more confident in taking more responsibility and in working by themselves. They will need to be certain that they understand what is expected of them and they know how to proactively contribute without being overbearing (out of sight can equate to being out of mind, but no one wants to receive constant activity updates.) Having the right team which consists of the right people, with the right values as well as the right skills, knowledge and experience, is more important now than ever.

Opportunities

The eternal barriers that prevent organisations from recruiting top talent are salary and location – most other factors can be flexed, but these have historically been immovable.

A hybrid working model goes a long way to removing location as a barrier.

If an employee only needs to be in the office for 2-3 days per week rather than 5, a very long commute suddenly becomes much more manageable (or 1-2 nights per week staying over might be a very real possibility) in which case the pool of talent from which you can recruit expands exponentially from a 20-60 mile radius from your office to the majority of the country.

This is an opportunity that many of the respondents to our survey may be beginning to realise, as more than 90% would now be willing to consider employing a senior permanent member of staff who would work from home for 2-3 days / week.

And this is something that we are already seeing with clients who we have recruited for over the past 6 months – short-lists for even niche positions are much longer than might be expected, and clients are recruiting talent that they previously would not have been able to secure.

What has been your experience of working from home, and what do you think will be the lasting changes (if any) to how we work?

We really appreciate your comments and feedback; and for advice either on recruitment or on how you can take advantage of the hybrid model and the resulting opportunities to recruit upper-quartile talent – please contact us.