Over the past few months, all employers were forced to combat the virus with a work-from-home structure and allowance for flexible schedules due to the lack of childcare. But when the world returns to normalcy (and your children have their usual routine for school or daycare), what parts of this flexible workplace do we want to continue?
Before the coronavirus crisis, more and more reports make the case that today’s modern workers want flexible hours and work from home opportunities. Despite the need for flexibility becoming more important each year, employers continue to promote these common misconceptions. Here’s how to reason for time and location agility when we return to the workplace, in light of our new normal.
#1 - Preserving Company Culture
Preserving company culture seems to be the top objection to building an agile work culture. The concern stems from employers believing they can only implement culture in one way. The traditional “company culture” works best when the employees see each other each day and watch the culture unfold.
In today’s climate, many employees are dealing with overwhelming childcare responsibilities and fear of illness, causing company culture to lose priority. When offices return to “normal,” employers will probably push for working on-site to rebuild their culture, but great culture starts with trust.
Build on Trust
Offices that implement a work-from-home or telecommuting policy actually increase employee satisfaction overall. So if your employees are happier, that should improve the company culture. In order to decrease turnover and create a culture employees love, businesses should hold their employees’ happiness at a high level of priority. Great company cultures begin with trust.
#2 - Lack of Communication
During a normal work situation, everyone understands the convenience of stopping by a coworker’s desk and asking a question. Managers and teammates may feel disconnected from their remote coworkers and unsure they can get them when they need them. When everyone adapted to work-from-home, we realized some of these problems were easier to solve. When proper childcare is in place, and parents have better control of their schedules, communication will be even clearer.
Start with Over-Communication
When working with telecommuting employees, the entire team learns how to communicate better! They focus on building in enough time to complete a goal and won’t be as distracted by “putting out fires.” When emergencies do come up, boundaries and expectations come into play -- both parties need to know when the other is available. If you plan on working a flexible schedule, let your coworkers know the exact hours you’ll be online. If you work normal office hours from home or a coworking space, you must behave like you’re at a traditional job and be easily accessible during working hours.
#3 - Remote Workers are Lazy
This concern comes from a fear-based, micro-managing perspective. Employers and traditional teams believe the misconceptions that remote workers have Netflix streaming all day, or possibly even spend more time on their “side hustle” than their day job. Managers might be thinking, if an employee can’t be monitored, how do we know they’re working?
During this forced stay-home order, memes seem to portray people running out of shows to watch, while employers report required days off because their employees are over-working and burning out. Some people say that waking up is enough work during this emotionally-draining time, while other coaches promote productivity and hustle.
So what’s the answer when we have the option to work on-site again?
Don’t Micro-Manage
We’ve discussed “proximity bias” in detail in this blog post, but ultimately this issue comes down to trust and clearly defining expectations. Remote workers actually perform more efficiently (when they have a system for childcare), so they may finish work faster than when they’re sitting in the office. They may need to proactively seek out more tasks, or their manager needs to be clear with priorities for the team. The truth is, you won’t know if they’re working in their pajamas. But does that make a difference if they’re able to meet all deadlines and respond quickly to a chat or email?
#4 - Difficult to Train or Evaluate Employees
If you’ve worked in a traditional corporate system, you may have difficulty imagining training seminars and orientation meetings outside of the office. How would you communicate all the information someone needs to know without seeing them in person? How do you know if they're learning without seeing them take notes or asking questions?
Companies that continue to hire during the stay-at-home time may have faced some of these challenges over the past few weeks. By using better tools and setting new protocols, these opportunities for flexible training can be utilized when back in the office.
Try These Solutions
Traditional training practices include a single-day orientation along with team meetings to go over specific tasks and platforms. These don’t need to be eliminated, but they can be improved. If the new-employee orientation explains company culture and general overview of life in the company, why not make those into videos with an online course model? Or you could have a new employee video call each week to introduce employees to each other and have more face-to-face interaction. Team-specific training may need to happen in person. Since you’re saving costs with some employees working off-site, covering travel expenses may not be such a stretch. Completely remote teams can screen-share through video calls.
If your remote team is communicating clearly, then evaluations may be even easier. Teams should be providing weekly summaries and checking in on specific tasks that need to be completed, so managers have a better idea of where they stand.
#5 - They Won’t Overhear a Great Solution to their Problem
Proponents of an open-office space often use this as a support for their layout. These employers envision teams working in an office setting and overhearing someone else discussing a problem. This side conversation could spark a new innovation or solution to their unrelated problem. However, most employees don’t seem to find an open-office quite so inspiring, even if they enjoy working in a traditional office setting.
Inspiration Comes from Everywhere
Talking and chatter around the office typically lead to distraction rather than breakthroughs. Employees will have more opportunity for inspiration when they have time to walk the dog in the afternoon or feel less stress from a hard commute.
#6 - Jealous On-Site Coworkers
The first steps into a work-from-home policy may bring up the concern that on-site employees will be jealous of all the free time their remote counterparts seem to receive. Those with long commutes may begin to resent coworkers who walk down the hall to their home office. Of course, after this extended period of working from home, on-site workers may be less jealous of remote work after experiencing it for themselves. However, this objection is still based in fear, not trust.
Start Small
Jealousy happens between workers whether they’re on- or off-site. The “pilot” flexible work program may involve some in-office, traditional time alternating with remote, flexible time until it can be rolled out to everyone. Some employees do need to remain on-site, like receptionists or machine operators. While they may be jealous sometimes, they also need to understand the expectation of their role.
Need more ideas to develop an agile work-from-home policy?
At SWAY, we’re passionate about the modern world of work. We want to see businesses succeed as they implement the principles of an agile workplace and start building a culture of trust. Log onto our weekly Facebook lives or sign up for our free Zoom webinar for free tools to get started.