Two weeks ago, I was catching up with a friend over dinner. She’s one of those friends that is incredibly creative and engaging, and the conversation can jump everywhere from the Keith Haring art exhibit to jarring pickles to our favorite episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. While we don’t often talk about work, she mentioned how her company’s RTO (return-to-office) policy is shifting. She’s been a long-time employee of a large corporation that has kept a very flexible approach to RTO since the pandemic. As of late though, their remote job postings are getting to be fewer and far between. The new postings are for on-site positions or hybrid positions where applicants must reside near the corporate headquarters. Team leaders can dictate in-office days at their discretion and are doing so more frequently.
For my friend, she’s now required to be in the office with her team 1 day per week, with all-company collaboration weeks each quarter. While she had gotten used to being 100% remote and thought she preferred that arrangement, she now looks forward to her 1 day per week at the office. As she describes it, it gives her the opportunity to get dressed for the day, interact with people and feel human again. Like many of us who have gotten back into an in-office routine, she also appreciates how it creates a clear delineation between her work life and home life. What she doesn’t like is the weeklong forced collaboration. It results in 5 straight days filled with back-to-back meetings, often bookended with team breakfasts and happy hours. That’s exhausting for anyone, let alone an introvert that’s used to primarily working from home.
The next thing she said is what really struck me. “I wish someone would just ask me what I think.” So of course, I asked her. She addressed concerns around the expense of going into the office – commuting costs, parking, lunches. For her, incentives like company-paid team lunches, gas cards or parking stipends would motivate her to come in, even more than her 1-day per week requirement. She said the other issue is that nothing has changed in the office. It’s the same furniture, the same configurations and the same conference room set-ups that were at the office pre-pandemic. It’s not inspiring or conducive to how their teams are working now.
As it turns out, my friend is not alone. In a recent nationwide survey done by Eagle Hill Consulting, 70% of workers said they have not been asked for their input related to remote/hybrid work. While I think that’s a missed opportunity, I’m not surprised by that statistic. I’ve worked with many leaders who fear that by soliciting employee feedback, they’re opening Pandora’s box. The last thing they want to do is ask employees what they want in their workspace or with an RTO policy and then not be able to deliver for them. I agree with that, and it’s why what you ask and how you ask for input is so important. Incorporating employee feedback into a design strategy is at the heart of what we do at NextLab. We engage employees to understand their jobs and how they work best. An important distinction: we don’t ask them what they want, we determine what they need.
If employees are being asked to come into the office, they can’t come back to what they left pre-pandemic. Companies need to understand how their teams are working now and then design their workplace to support that. What’s the best way to start? Ask them. Need help? Ask us.
Eagle Hill Consulting: https://www.eaglehillconsulting.com/insights/workplace-flexibility-remote-work-policy/
Need help formulating your workplace strategy? Contact Sarah