Hybrid Working - the pressure is on

It’s been something we’ve spoken about for 3 years now: remote and hybrid working, and this flexible work-life balance that suddenly kicked up a notch (or a few) in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic. It’s something that, during this time I have felt so passionately about, and I know everyone will have their own views and personal preferences on. However, it’s time to tell things how I see it because the shift to me, is way off.

Given our access and contact with office management professionals pretty much daily, we know that the pressure is undoubtedly falling to them to figure out how to “get people back to the office” and this just isn’t okay anymore. Office Managers were typically the ones going in from the off, despite the risks during the height of the pandemic to ensure the office was safe or being and getting everything prepared for the great return to work when the lockdowns lifted. These were the people that ensured that employees who wanted to work from the office or workplace, or couldn’t work from home, had the right support around them and who generally dropped a lot at the time when the news that lockdown was imminent was announced.

Why is it now that CEOs, Partners, MDs and the like of the senior leadership team are looking to them yet again to resolve an issue we all now know is starting to impact businesses and the training, development and collaboration between staff in most industry sectors, to get people back to the office at least 2-3 days a week. Why aren’t the senior leaders in these businesses making a stand when they know there’s negative impact and negative press internally from other staff members, and saying “you must come in XYZ days per week otherwise there will be consequences”.

I think the press (as usual) have so much to answer for here. They pitted employees against employers right from the start with the headlines such as “the office is dead” ( like this one written in January) and Google may work from home forever which put the pressure on businesses unnecessarily to buckle to the trend and gave ultimately, to me too much power to the employees. The way I see it bluntly is: you have a contract to work, that work can be carried out anywhere but if the business requires you to work it from e.g. an office then that is your obligation and you should adhere to it.

Don’t get me wrong – remote working 100% has it’s benefits. As a business women who works from home on average 2 days a week, it’s great and the cloud, laptops and mobiles along with numerous other tech that enables us to do this have been instrumental in this change and flexibility. That said though, we are seeing vast amounts of businesses suffering as a result of lack of collaboration, training new generations of workers, team work and internal networking plus creation and idea generation that has for some led to the loss of client work and revenue. One of my clients carried out their annual appraisals last year and those who were in the office 3-5 days a week far outperformed those who did 2 days or less – why? Because they are loosing sight of the businesses vision, the mission and the opportunity to connect with colleagues to learn, develop and continually drive improvement opportunities by not being together and no technology can truly replace that and those moments.

I’ve recently taken on new staff and I have found it practically impossible to bring them up to speed in the business without being with them a few times a week or having several phone calls and Zooms. We’ve been using a co-working space to sit together and support their learning and even simple things like where to find files, worksheets and more. When people are visual learners and need to see how to do it, or more so those who are kinaesthetic need to do it often whilst you do, for it to really sink in.

I’ve had so many people tell me about the negative impacts of hybrid working and the lack of authority over this and respect for the company rules on it (whatever they may be), as well as seen first hand the poor ergonomics and long term damage this is doing to homeworkers with poor display screen equipment set up, chairs, access to fresh air because no one is even leaving their home most days and using their laptops without separate keyboard, mouse and screen (all of which cause us to hunch). ?What’s starting to happen too, is people are coming back and complaining that they cannot sit with their teams, there aren’t enough desks or meeting rooms – all likely because the company had to save money and dispose of space when no one was using the office! And that they are fed up with other colleagues “not following the hybrid rules and only coming in 1-2 days a week” instead of the mandatory 3, for example.

Most of this flack and grief is passing to the office manager in businesses, not just as a go-to-person or the individual most approach when they have a gripe, but as the person to resolve it. It’s absolutely time that as a business, those at the top of the chain pushed back a little on employees who to me, have taken too much control in the say around work – the flexibility exists more now than ever and the balance is way off with health, mental health and business risks that far out way the benefits. What we should be doing is:

1.??????Having a suitable Hybrid Working Policy in place – this outlines how to work in both locations safely e.g. DSE tips, ensuring you are actually doing the assessments, have a process and policy for issuing remote working equipment, lone working and fire safety precautions and processes, mental health and stress management support as well as the rules e.g. 3 days a week you must be in unless your contract states otherwise. If you're going to allow it, please do it properly and give your office manager the tools to keep staff safe in all settings!

2.??????Ensure that those who want to work remotely more than the policy states put in a flexible working request to be reviewed by HR or whoever appropriate and the measurements are implemented accordingly and properly in line with Employment Law.

3.??????Reprimand those who continue to defy the rules on hybrid working to prevent colleagues who do comply, getting frustrated with those who breach the rules which will built a negative culture and resentment.

4.??????Look to your office manager as a way of collaborating with them to support you in getting people back, where you can share ideas between you and they can help or manage their implementation, not as the person who holds all the answers because as much as they are super-office-heroes, just this time, the cape is coming off and others need to step up and take responsibility for their business and employees behaviours within it.?