Neither The Carrot Nor The Stick Will Get Workers Back Into The Office...But FOMO Might

There are plenty of reasons for employers to want employees to come back into the office. There are plenty of reasons for employees to want to continue to work from home.

Neither is right at the expense of the other being wrong*. That's not what is happening here.

It doesn't matter anyway...the genie has escaped the bottle. We have, and are still collectively experiencing a once-in-many-generations cultural shift, and it's never going back to the way it was before the pandemic. It's not.

In fact, Genie has her laptop and VPN, a whole new (and much more comfortable) wardrobe, and has discovered that she can work from pretty much anywhere and be just as productive - and...she is happier.

But is her happiness and productivity enough? Though she is productive individually, is her physical absence holding back her team's ability to collaborate and innovate? Are her younger, less experienced coworkers - who in previous eras would be receiving her valuable (however passive) mentorship, able to grow and thrive in the longer term? It's a valid concern...but ultimately, is that problem really on Genie? Maybe a little?

It's a conundrum. A quandary. It's a bunch of other words I could look up at Thesaurus.com if that tab wasn't WAY over there. Regardless...the needs of the employer and employee are not currently in sync, and it's causing stress for many of both. I think that our instinctual, common desire to see this issue as binary is not only misguided, it's keeping us from potentially achieving a genuine advancement in how we think about work generally.

I think I might have a solution though. Or, if not an actual solution...I'd like to present a new expectation, from which we may eventually get to a solution.

Before I jump in though, a quick disclaimer: there is no one-size-fits-all for this one. That's a big reason why this is a challenging topic. Don't @ me with your nonsense in chat about how this wouldn't work at your company. If you do, we'll all know you didn't read this paragraph. Regardless, I know it won't work for every company...hell, I doubt it would work for most. I think it would work for some though. Also - note that above, I didn't say I have "the" solution...I have "a" solution (but thank you for illustrating my point, and helping me segue to the next paragraph).

Here we are, after over a century of modern office life/culture...where we all commuted, cubed, water-coolered, stole office supplies, and had way too many meetings that could have been emails...our collective experience...our shared expectations of what "work" means...it has splintered into a million truths.

The ubiquity of the 5-day-in-the-office work week was already coming apart at the seams by 2019. WFH, hybrid offices, the 4-day work week...these had been gaining steam for many years. The pandemic accelerated all of it, and it slingshot this topic around the sun. What came around the other side was inevitability...it just came a lot more quickly than anyone expected or was prepared for.

Ok...now that all those caveats are firmly in place...for your consideration:

1) Employers need to accept that some percentage of their workforce is never going to come back into the office. Let it go. Incentives (carrots) and ultimatums (sticks) will have some effect, but you'll soon find that there are cohorts - X% of your staff...who are immune. They are fitter, happier...more productive** in their new realities and you won't convince them otherwise. Stop trying.

2) Dramatically scale down your physical office spaces. In fact, limit your max capacity to roughly 20% of your current space (bonus: reducing overhead). Due to existing leases, this will be difficult for many companies - at least until the lease is up. Keep some carrots around though...for the 20% that are in the office, it should still be a great place to be. That's critical, actually, because what we're ultimately after here...is gamified FOMO***.

Ok, you've scaled back the office - as well as your expectations for the percentage of your employees who are in the office on any given day. Now let individuals and teams schedule when they will be in the office. Capacity should be low enough that not everyone who wants to be in the office can be. Much like with a hot club or restaurant...you've created scarcity...when space is limited, more people want in.

3) Over time, as the number of employees who want to work in the office increases, you expand capacity to almost meet the demand. Ultimately, more people come into the office more often because they see the inherent value in doing so; whether that be productivity, camaraderie, getting out of the house, a return to "normalcy," or maybe it's just those sweet, sweet office supplies.

Eventually, you'll hit your happy number...you've struck the balance...you've right-sized your in-office staff. It won't be your full workforce - but you already know that. Besides, you don't actually need 100% in the office 5 days per week to be productive - you learned that in 2020. What you've done by eliminating the untenable expectation that everyone returns to the office, is solidified your new reality and company culture...one that is flexible, encourages in-person collaboration, and respects the individual.

Or maybe not...what do I know? I'm wrong a lot.

#BigIdeas2023 #HumanResources #ReturnToWork #ReturnToOffice #WFH #WorkFromHome #RemoteWork #SticksMadeOfCarrots #Gamification #FOMO

* https://open.spotify.com/track/7qpuECko60EoztznowMWj1?si=ca42a22b2a1a47d9

** https://open.spotify.com/track/6wnmRxEbwUK7WLyUtiRuT7?si=b9c93eb9b2f54bfd

*** https://open.spotify.com/track/455AfCsOhhLPRc68sE01D8?si=0bc6468e4b6149a8