On whatever balance there exists on the subject, the lockdown employment experience appears to have very little to recommend it.
We’ve lost so much professionally whilst contemplating life through Zoom, Teams and un-cooperative wifi. The ability, for example, to learn through the observation of our colleagues in action and via the wise counsel of mentoring, has tailed off dramatically. We continue to have work conversations – those that are organised, agenda’d and diarised amongst a set, established team, but not those impromptu meetings by the legendary water cooler. (I wonder if we’ll be gathering instead around a hand-sanitiser when we return). Unexpected, off-chance meetings, prompting a different perspective, a lateral thought, a potential breakthrough. Those simply aren’t now happening.
And although the likes of Zoom and Teams will have been doing a lot of heavy lifting, over the last 12 months, I suspect they both struggle to be mistaken for an efficient conduit of fun. And yes, some workplace fun has been misplaced, ill-conceived and inappropriate. An awful lot of fun, however, has brought people together, been the source of engagement, remedied the long hours and longer faces. Those smiles over wearing the same shirt, those guffaws over an ill-considered hair-cut, those hazy reconstructions of a night out – this is the glue that binds people together through the deadlines, the workloads and the client demands.
Unfortunate hair-cuts aside, we don’t have this anymore. Just the deadlines, the workload and the demands.
There seems something of an unsightly kerfuffle as to who originally coined the term build back better, with, amongst others, Mr Biden and Mr Johnson both with their hand in the air. But this is the opportunity, as some degree of a return to working normality begins to present itself as a possibility, that we take learnings not only from pre-lockdown but also from lockdown itself, in building back a better employment experience.
So, if we’ve sacrificed much in terms of the employment experience, is there anything we’ve gained? Anything we might want to retain, as some form of return to offices and workstations appears more likely than it has done for very nearly a year.
The obvious answer is simply not returning – working from home and the, perhaps temporary, demise of commuting. And because it’s obvious, I’m not going to dwell too much on this position.
Where working from home is important is as a proof of concept that other working models exist. For decades, the notion that working from home was possible, preferable or productive was largely dismissed. The idea tended to prompt eye-rolling and snide comments around ‘shirking from home’. No more. Whether we believe the recent Goldman Sachs’ position or not that this is temporary, millions have worked from home successfully and effectively since March 2020. So, this is no longer a binary conversation. It’s not simply about choosing office working or the home. Because we’ve had to be flexible, we have found solutions. And just as the threat of the virus is beginning to ease, we’ll be seeking to adopt new responses to a different global outlook.
Possibly, the biggest workplace shift that lockdown has introduced is around a far greater recognition of mental health and employee well-being. Because of the unique circumstances and pressures, the better employers have adopted a much more proactive approach to the mental and physical health of their people. Like many things we’ve previously taken for granted, colleague wellness should remain front of mind as we begin to congregate again. It simply has to, because it seems highly unlikely that the last year won’t have been the source of longer term mental issues and scarring. It’s interesting to note in this context that insurer Aviva have just announced an additional wellbeing day’s holiday for all their 16,000 employees. (This in addition to receiving in December a £100 voucher as a recognition of their commitment during Covid).
“Lockdown and home/remote working have given employees some new found freedoms; trust, empowerment, flexibility. Staff in back office or corporate roles have proved they can deliver without being physically present”,Sandy Wilkie, Head of OE, Greenhill HR.
Despite the fact that the majority of employees have been external for some time, the emphasis placed on internal communications has emerged as a hugely positive impact of lockdown. Staying in touch with teams now isolated, distanced and remote, ensuring their voice is heard, their issues raised and their engagement maintained has rarely been so important. We can only hope that as internal communications returns to being more, well, internal, such emphasis burns just as brightly as it has over the last months. Because employees are present does not necessarily mean they are being presented with all the organisational information they need.
“As Internal Comms has taken a pre-eminent role during the past year, it’s also provided a golden opportunity for employer brand to work in tandem. This tag-team approach, with people at the heart of the agenda, has given many employer brand teams a chance to amplify and reinforce their EVP through colleague communications”, Tom Portingale, Senior Employer Brand Manager, Nationwide Building Society
There’s a clear sense too for me, that as we return to a more tangible working community, the importance and impact that business and employers have to the communities around them has become clearer during the lockdown. I suspect we will see the public sector perceived as a more attractive career destination for many (and not simply because of the stability it tends to represent). Clearly, there have been some missteps, but the work done by government, the civil service and the NHS has been hugely visible and hugely impactful in ensuring we get through lockdown and emerge on the other side. So many commercial organisations have been instrumental too in making a societal and community contribution during this time. I hope that as such businesses return, they do not forget their broader responsibility to both internal and external communities. That as their employee base returns to a more internal setting, that businesses do not forget the external context.
There’s an important debate around how democratic and inclusive covid has been. Clearly, exposed to the virus, anyone can develop the symptoms. However, those enduring lockdown in spacious housing, coupled with extensive outdoor spaces have had a distinct advantage over those in cramped, multi-generational accommodation, enduring lockdown cheek by jowl with their relatives and neighbours.
Nevertheless, from an employment perspective, no one on Zoom has a corner office.
“Working from home has been the equaliser we’ve not seen before and has put executives on an even playing field with other employees. No longer is there a group of people in a meeting room huddled around a Jabra speaker with sidebar conversations that get missed by those dialling in virtually to the call. All can now be seen and heard in this new inclusivity. I sincerely hope we don’t lose this as we merge back into office settings”, Jennifer Candee, Global Head of Talent Acquisition and Attraction.
Organisational hierarchies have far less obvious meaning when the vast majority of people have been at home. Sitting in front of a bookcase with casual clothing has been an egalitarian experience. Regardless of what form of house you are locked down inside, you are still at the mercy of technology glitches, communication silences and all-consuming concerns about what the implications of the virus will do to your organisation, your career and your future.
We can only hope that a return to the office does not signal a return to a fixation on job titles and hierarchies.
And because we’ve been communicating with our colleagues from home, then inevitably those colleagues have had more exposure to and line of sight of our partners, our children, our issues and our lives. Ironically, by being at home, our work communications have opened up our personal lives. And because our home life may have involved challenges such as caring or home-schooling, then the pressures we are under are more identifiable to our colleagues through the likes of Zoom and Teams.
It would be a shame if a return to work meant that people once again became guarded about their home and personal lives. We might have been living in home bubbles – but such bubbles tend to be transparent. We should be even more aware that there is a very clear and tangible synergy between personal and professional lives.
Perhaps the most obvious element of the past 12 months of living at home has been the great reset itself. Pre Covid, the idea that millions would be locked down and that bustling offices would echo with silence would be laughable. In a very short space of time, we have all adapted and responded. From nowhere came the furlough scheme, the realities of working from home, the fastest vaccine development in history, the Nightingale hospitals.
“I think there has been an enormous awakening as to just how versatile, resourceful and courageous we can be. 12 months ago, I doubt I would have imagined working for a company whose head office is 184 miles away. And if you had told me that I will start a new job, learn new systems, a new culture and quickly feel embedded into a team where I have never actually met anyone in the flesh, I would have thought you don’t know me very well. And yet here I am. The world turned upside down and forced me and others out of our comfort zones, resulting in positive new learnings, embracing change and new challenges”, Adele Swift, Talent Attraction and Recruitment Manager, Toolstation.
What once appeared impossible, happened.
We should all seek to take such a solutions-mindset back into our professional settings. How many times have we dismissed an idea as unworkable, fanciful and simply impossible? Many such ideas have got us through lockdown.
“So many organisations like ours have transformed their business models and their ways of working literally within a matter of days and weeks, adapting at pace to keep their colleagues and their customers safe and to find new channels to market. The Health Sector, the Academic community and the Scientists have delivered what they thought was impossible. It just goes to show that we really can achieve anything if we set our minds to it”, Adele Swift.
The last year has redefined what is and what isn’t possible. We should be more embracing of innovation, less not more risk averse.
Build back better should be what we all aspire to. From home environments and family relationships to how we want to shape our employment experience moving forward.
“Get used to hearing the phrase ‘hybrid model’ when companies convey their future of work intentions. Irrespective of physical location, I truly hope that the purpose, mission and values of organisations continue to be at the heart of decisions. With leaders leading from the front, ‘walking the walk’, and not defaulting to a ‘back to normal’ mindset”, Tom Portingale.
“This really resonates with me in reference to the psychological contract. Because of the fundamental impact of Covid, those organisations that walk the walk, as well as talk the talk, about their people promise will effectively construct their own EVP”, Maxine Ward, Breakthrough and Accountability Coach
“It’s also a real opportunity for employers to consider remodelling office space to reflect hybrid working. Such solutions are best developed together with staff as a piece of co-creation; the re-imagining of workspace could bring practical benefits to individuals and organisations”, Sandy Wilkie.
We want better and we certainly deserve it. And it’s certainly worth engaging with your people in order to understand how they would like to see your organisation building back better – in order that it does indeed successfully build back together.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 