Follow
These Four Rules For Returning to the Office
There's a lot of angst out there about who has to come back, and
when. The need to return isn't necessarily fair to everyone, but it does need
to be communicated honestly and clearly.
BY HOWARD
TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH
INVESTORS@TULLMAN
As if we didn't have enough angst and division in this country,
the newest emerging conflict (soon to dwarf even the disputes with the moronic
anti-vaxxers) is between the WFHomers and their employers, the RTOers, who are
intent upon and insisting on increasing the amount of time staffers need to
spend in the office each week. While plenty of companies are pushing off the
start dates for the grand return -- some of the main tech companies are already
targeting early next year -- it's clear that there's a widening employee
expectation gap, which is likely to expand even further as the Delta variant
and its progeny spread. And the most disappointed team members aren't
necessarily who you'd expect. It's the folks stuck in the middle who have the
blues.
What's especially concerning about the arguments on the right
way to return is how quickly this debate is morphing into an economic class and
caste struggle. It's already become challenging for even the
best-intentioned management teams to explain, try to empathetically justify
and, ultimately, to honestly break the sad news to certain important groups of
their employees that life still isn't fair, and that one size and one solution
still doesn't fit everyone. Telling people things they don't want to hear is
never easy. Years from now, when we all look back on this time and the pandemic
in its entirety, one of the most discouraging realizations will be how
disproportionately and unfairly COVID-19's burdens were borne by people in
different economic strata.
Executives across just about every industry will need to quickly
figure out how to explain to their people, the media and the world that many of
their lower-paid workers need to be on site even though the company isn't going
to require others with different job responsibilities and requirements to do
likewise. Worse yet, they're going to have to tell a bunch of mid-level workers
who clearly thought otherwise -- and believed that they had a lot more
flexibility and control over their lives than the folks on the factory floor --
that they too are expected to show up. This latter news is likely to be the
rudest of all the awakenings, because it's as emotionally bound up in matters
of perceived status as it is with regard to commuting costs, productivity and
other domestic issues.
Some of the companies that have tried to make the new
requirements applicable across the board have found that - unlike the
lower-level blue collar and no collar folks who pretty much knew that they were
screwed since the pandemic started - the folks in the middle are already
raising the biggest stink and threatening to go elsewhere, which is really the
last thing these firms can afford at the moment.
Unfortunately, a lot of these "knowledge" and creative
workers believe, rightly or wrongly, that they have many other alternatives rather than
forlornly marching back to their cubicles. We'll know soon enough whether their
confidence is well-warranted or sadly misplaced. My own guess is that a lot of
these folks will find that the type of positions and salaries they're looking
to replicate aren't exactly abundant in the newly streamlined economy. And the
ones wrapped up in the idea of simply starting their own businesses are even
more likely to end up unhappy.
Another key part of the problem is that many of the senior
people making these decisions have ridden out the crisis with minimal
disruption, smoothed and softened by a robust stock market, so they don't
necessarily understand or appreciate just how radically millions of lives and
circumstances have been changed, uprooted and transformed. Nor do they
get just how long and painful the return to whatever the new normal is likely
to be for families concerned with continuing health and housing issues, their
kids' education, rearranging and resuming child and pet care, and supplementing
lost spousal incomes.
Management has neither time nor the option to see what
competitors are doing or how the variants are progressing when the day-to-day
demands of the workplace and the requirements of the reinvigorated economy
require clear and consistent answers and directions for their people. Now's the
time to bring people back to reality as well as the office, because, if you
aren't structuring and leading the "back to work" conversations, you
can bet that the vacuum will be promptly filled with commentary, complaints and
criticisms that aren't likely to be helpful in any way.
While there aren't any perfect answers, here are four important
ideas to keep in mind as you craft a policy and, more importantly, as you try
to honestly communicate it to all the members of your team.
(1) Explain what applies to everyone.
These conversations should start by making clear that the
overall policies of the company are generally applicable to everyone (as they
always have been) and that everyone is expected to comply. There will be
exceptions based on a variety of reasons and criteria as there also have always
been. But no group of employees is being specially treated or afforded
privileges that don't have a clear business-related purpose and value to the
firm.
(2) Note that there have always been variable
shifts, seasons and schedules.
In many respects, once we return to the "new" normal,
the way that the business will operate won't be materially changed for most of
the employees, and it's important to make this clear. If the company's basic
policy is going to be "all hands on deck," which it always was
pre-pandemic, then there's not really much left to discuss. It's just getting
back to business.
(3) Make sure your distinctions are meaningful and
matter.
You can be sure that everyone in the firm will know exactly who
is being asked to do what. That means it's very important that you have a
precise and ready rationale for each group of employees who are treated
differently in some respect. Having your senior team lead by example and make
it their business to be on site and visible will be very important.
(4) Focus on what you can fix.
It's essential to show all the team members that the company is
being proactive and helpful in addressing and providing assistance and
solutions for the various recurring issues that many will be dealing with.
Flexible hours including early departure times, pet friendly offices, in-office
Covid testing, and vaccinations are some of the common remedies. But be ready
to improvise.
AUG 17, 2021
