There Are Only 5 Reasons to Return to The Office

Organisations and its leadership that do not wake up to the fact that the future of work is hybrid will soon become irrelevant.

The results of the Randstad Workmonitor 2022 make it loud and clear. The survey of 35,000 employees across 34 markets revealed that:

·??????37% would not accept a job if it did not provide flexibility around where they work

·??????27% have quit a job because it did not provide enough flexibility

The Cisco Global Hybrid Work Study 2022 of 28,000 fulltime employees across 27 markets found that hybrid work had improved every areas of employee performance, work-life balance, well-being, and company culture.

·??????Quality of work has improved 61.4%

·??????Productivity has increased 60.4 %

·??????Self-improvement in job knowledge and skills improved 59.1%

·??????Work-life balance improvement 78.9%

·??????Improved overall wellbeing 77.9%

·??????Ability to save money increased 76.3%

·??????Improved family relationships 73.7%

The study also found that 71.2% want a combination of remote and in-office hybrid working model.

There is no going back to the way it was before March 2022.

There are organisations dictating which days employees should be in the office and some dictating how many days a week employees should be in the office and labelling it as a hybrid model. It is not.

A true hybrid model offers flexibility to work where you want, when you want and how you want and the autonomy to decide how to utilise that flexibility. Without both flexibility and autonomy, it is not a real hybrid model.

There are only 5 reasons you should return to the office.

1.????Preference

2.????Purpose

3.????Participation

4.????Productivity

5.????Party

1.??Preference

If you prefer to work from the office, then you should do so. If it is worth the commute to work out of the office, then you should do so. It should be your decision.

My stepson chooses to work from the office on Thursday when his wife is working. They only have one office with one desk, and to enable her to effectively work from home on that day, he goes into the office. He could go to a library or a cafe, but it is easier to have virtual meetings when he is in the office.

Another reason could be a preference for the available technology when in the office as opposed to that at home. Whilst the home technology may suffice most of the time, it might be a safer bet to use the office technology and bandwidth when doing that extremely important and critical customer presentation.

Some employees may find there is less distraction in the office, and it is a more suitable place to do “deep-thinking” and focus work. Others may simply find it a more suitable work location as they do not have a dedicated workspace at home, and some may just go to the office for a change of scenery.

2.??Purpose

?When the hybrid model has both flexibility and autonomy, it is the leader and the team that decide when it makes sense to attend the office. One sound reason is for team building. This is not to say that team building cannot be conducted virtually but if the leader and the team decide it would be more effective to do it in person, then that is a reason to attend the office and utilise its socialising spaces.

It is often easier to establish a shared sense of purpose when co-located. Leaders can rally the team behind the organisations purpose and then align the team goals and individual goals to that purpose. Everyone can actively question, challenge, contribute to the discussion and come away energised and committed.

The session could also be used to establish, or re-establish, team values. The team can brainstorm ideas about the team values, group ideas and vote on them. Then they can collectively work to refine them into value statements. This is a good exercise to conduct if the team is new to hybrid working as the values for a hybrid team will be different than those for a permanently co-located team. For example, for the co-located team, the need to remove proximity bias would not likely be a needed value. Virtual team meeting values or principles are also different for co-located meetings such as “camera always on first.”

These sessions can also be of great value to the newest members of the team who may have never met their team members face to face before. Team building can invigorate, build camaraderie, and team cohesion.

It is also an additional chance for leaders to check-in on the team and sense how they are faring. Whilst this should be something the leader does on a frequent and regular basis with every team member, doing this when co-located can provide insights that may not have been as obvious in a virtual environment.

3.??Participation

Once again it is a team decision when co-location of the team or part of the team in the office will result in better participation. This could be for deep-dive discovery work, ideation and innovation workshops, energetic collaboration sessions, or active networking.

This decision may be a multi-team one when cross-functional collaboration is required. The required participants should collectively decide whether attending the office would result in better outcomes than conducting the session virtually.

There are advantages when forming a cross-functional working team (or any team) for the first time to be co-located in the office. Bruce Tuckman coined the phrase “forming- storming-norming-performing” back ion 1965. He said that all phases are necessary for a team to grow and develop and his framework is now the most used for team development.

The work for the team in the “forming” phase is to create a team with clear structure, goals, direction, and roles, so that team members begin to build trust. Key to achievement of outcomes is a good kick-off session where team members can align behind an agreed team mission and goals and establish expectations of each other. There will be exploration, testing of boundaries, conflict, lack of clarity, and anxiety. The team will discover the background of each of the team members, their interests, experience, and skills, and start to develop relationships.

The environment in which this stage of team development is conducted will be critical to successful outcomes. Therefore, it would make sense to utilise the office environment to bring together the newly formed team for orientation and interaction.

4.??Productivity

If the team decide that they will be far more productive working from the office, then that is a good reason to do so.

If an individual decides they will be far more productive working from the office, then they should do so.

There is research that suggests that social interaction increases cognitive functioning and in turn a person’s performance and productivity. Therefore, in-person interactions may positively impact team performance and productivity.

University of Michigan research found that teams working together in specially designed rooms increased productivity. Teams in these specially designed rooms referred to as “war rooms” were more than twice as productive as similar teams at the same company working in traditional office settings.?

Both pieces of research were done prior to COVID-19 so the finding may vary if similar research was conducted today. Research from Google identified the variables that were not significantly connected with team effectiveness, and one was colocation of teammates (sitting together in the same office).

The key thing to consider is that if there was no value in co-locating, then the hybrid working model would not exist. Everyone would just work remotely.

It is horses for courses. If I am writing this article, I will be far more productive sitting alone in my office with no distractions than sitting in a busy office with noise, interruptions, and diversions. If next week I am participating in a strategic planning session with one of my clients in which there will be 6 attendees, a debate about a complex problem being faced. We will brainstorm, disagree, challenge, diverge and converge. We will look at data printouts, use whiteboards, and use collaborative work management applications to organise programs of work. I will put money on this session being far more productive collocated than it would be conducted virtually.

Will it be more productive to co-locate? Let the team decide. If it is, then this is a good reason to attend the office.

5.??Party

A good reason to get together in person and utilise the office space is to party. Celebrations are far more effective when conducted in-person. Teams should celebrate success and achievements. They should also celebrate setbacks as learning opportunities.

Celebrations build momentum, improve morale and a sense of belonging. Celebrations stimulate feelings of inclusion, innovation, appreciation, and collaboration. It is a form of social bonding and a way of showing gratitude for individual and team effort.

Summary

The litmus test for attending the office is to ask, “Was it worth it?” If it was, mark that as a good enough reason to make the commute.

The decision to attend the office is made by the team, not the senior leadership. This is a delegated decision, not one that is dictated.

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I am an organisational change management rebel with a cause.?

I am an author, sought after keynote speaker, coach mentor and facilitator. My latest and fourth book, "Balanced Diversity: A Portfolio Approach to Organisational Change" is available?here.

I am passionate about enabling individuals and organisations to triumph in the face of constant and disruptive change and I do so through programs regarding organisational change, resilience, agility, leadership, transformation and adaptation.

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