We Can Build a Healthier, Happier Workplace

This is our opportunity to reinvent our workplace into something that works for everyone.

My grandfather, a successful banking executive from the 1960s until he retired in the 80s, once explained to me that the ideal employee was a divorced middle-aged man (I was around 12 years old at the time). In his view, financial commitments from alimony and child support motivated these men to work hard. And with no one to rush home to, they came in early, stayed late, and traveled without complaint. There have been notable improvements in corporate work environments since my grandfather’s day – but it’s time we take a look around and ask ourselves, “Is this really the best we can do?”

When I walked into my first corporate job as an intern in the 2000s, I found a workplace pretty similar to what I had imagined from my grandfather’s description: mostly male colleagues and a system built on rewards for working late, traveling often, and prioritizing business over personal life. These may have been unwritten rules, but they were readily apparent to a new-hire like me. I remember choosing to miss my own 20th birthday celebration so I could be onsite for an equipment test at the power plant my engineering firm was building.

Since then, the diversity of our teams has improved. Parental leave and other employee policies have matured. Some people even limit emailing at night and on weekends…unless it’s really important. While these are all steps forward, we are still just making changes around the edges, and we’re not too far off from my grandfather’s workplace.

Until now. In 2020, offices suddenly closed, business travel was grounded, and the line between work and home blurred for millions of us working remotely. There have been immense temporary distractions and the need to constantly and quickly shift gears. Despite these challenges, productivity levels have been largely maintained in this alternate reality – a heroic feat for many.

For many of us, something permanently changed in how we balance the equation of work and home, and there is no going back. One thing is clear from the past year: the 20th century workplace is now largely irrelevant for today’s world. Rather than unquestioningly sticking with the culture we’ve inherited from generations past, this is our opportunity to choose the culture and environment we live and work in. And everyone has a voice in the discussion.

With vaccines rolling out, physical distancing mandates lifting, and a light at the end of this pandemic tunnel, we are scheduling office re-openings and talking about long-term hybrid teleworking models. We should resist the temptation to recreate what we miss about yesterday’s office environment, and instead be bold in rewriting workplace norms to achieve a healthier and more inclusive future. For example, imagine a world where men and women are able to equally contribute to home life responsibilities, because we’ve neutralized any negative career impacts for those primary caregivers who make the sacrifice to care for loved ones.

On the path to discovering what our remote and hybrid rules should be, we will need to experiment with new approaches. To get started, I’m developing a few personal leadership principles to be intentional about what I bring forward into our new way of working and living:

1. Measure output more than hours: The days of “management by walking around” to make sure work is getting done are over. We need to hone our ability to set clear goals, measure contributions, and not rely simply on clocking how many hours someone spends at their desk.??

2.?Evolve new schedules based on feedback: Some functions are more effective over video, where others need at least periodic face-to-face interactions to thrive. Hybrid work schedules that adjust in response to employee and customer feedback about quality, efficiency, and safety, will maximize both productivity and employee wellness.

3.?Double-down on making personal connections: Children looking for snacks, dogs barking in the background – today we greet these interruptions on video calls with smiles, as we extend each other grace in these crazy circumstances. We should build on this period of being gentler and fully embrace the complex, multi-faceted lives we all lead. Business is personal, and the more we get to know each other and share ourselves, the more enjoyable (and successful) the workplace will be.

It is time that we finally retire the work design from our grandparents’ time. Going forward, we should continuously evaluate and adjust our structures and policies to promote a happy, healthy, and inclusive workplace. We shouldn't wait for the next global disruption to be our invitation for radical change.?