Welcome forward

I'm writing this using an artificial intelligence tool that auto transcribes the words coming out of my mouth. Not because I’m particularly techy. Or lazy, for that matter. But because my daughter's nursery is closed due to a covid outbreak. Typing is a no go when one must entertain a 6-month-old or face the consequences. Currently she's on my lap, playing her favourite game – pulling at my neck skin, digging her sharp claws into my cheeks, and biting my chin. All at the same time. Little feral monkey. While she cancels out the progress of my anti-aging routine, I’m pondering the future of work and what it means for the business world. I thought that was quite apt.

The lines between work and play have got blurrier since a nasty virus decided to shake things up. Organisations across the world, Magenta included, are tasked with designing future models of work that suit not just the needs and wants of employees, but the needs and wants of the business, all with the backdrop of what appears to be a talent blackhole.

The corporate property sector is in flux. Some argue that working from home is still a novelty and that it will lose its appeal when the world starts spinning full throttle again. Perhaps. But for now, research suggests that a significant number of employees, and the star candidates who might be open to new opportunities, want to work from home, at least for some of the week. The pandemic took a lot away from us, but it also gifted us more time, more flexibility, and more choice to work in a way that best suited our semi-locked-down lives.

There’s still a strong desire to come together in a shared space, particularly after so much isolation, but only when doing so is meaningful or serves a purpose. Why come to a practically empty office with zero atmosphere to do what you can do at home unless you get something else out of it? Rather than specifying office or home, many organisations are mixing it up and doing a bit of both.

Hybrid working is a bingo buzzword for a reason. Rather than return to the office full time, swathes of organisations are setting office-to-home ratios, whereby employees must be in two or three days a week but on days of their choosing or on days set by line managers. They call this a split group or split desk strategy, a sort of A team / B team approach. But this risks the culture, buzz, and energy of a fully utilised office. Plus, who wants to be in the B team??

Other companies believe if you’re going to have office days at all, it should be an all or nothing deal. Everyone must be in or why bother. To that end, they assign two or three workdays as office days and the masses gather for a work hard, play harder experience. The obvious downside? Paying for five days and only getting two or three. BOGOF in reverse.

But needs must. Or rather, needs must determine the way forward. And to that end, I’m wondering whether, like job sharing, we’ll see new funky workplace sharing initiatives on offer. Platforms that partner with landlords to offer corporate matchmaking and space assigning services, whereby firm X uses a space on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, and firm Y uses the same space on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and they share the rent. Win win. That model doesn’t exist yet, as far as I’m aware. Tick tock.

Now is the time to change the course of work and workplace. It’s time for true innovation. Rather than play a passive role, hoping everything will “go back to normal”, we need to be active. We need to live in the now, accept the fact that things have changed and reinvent ourselves to give us competitive advantage, now and in the future, but without compromising standards or culture.

Regardless of the path or paths ahead, how we communicate the decisions behind the route map couldn’t be more important. I’ve addressed workplace communications best practice in a recent Magenta blog which highlights the dos and don’ts’.

The short version is – forget what was, look at what’s now, but don’t forget about tomorrow. Plan change that will work for the long haul. Accommodate the wants of your people with the needs of the business. Don’t assume everyone wants the same thing. In fact, don’t assume people know what they want. Humans were designed to adapt to change, to evolve. Business must follow suit. Adapt or die. Once you’ve got a plan, believe in that plan, commit to it, drive it forward, make it happen. Exude confidence in your communications, making sure people are on board and can make sense of the map, and guide your teams through the exciting journey ahead. ?

So, for me, returning to work now my maternity leave’s come to an end, it’s not welcome back. It’s welcome forward. Not what was but what’s next.