Worklife Isn’t Going Back to Normal—And That’s a Good Thing!

Everything is impossible…until someone does it. Like walking on the moon. Or running a four-minute mile. Or electing an African American President.

Just a few years ago, the idea that most white-collar workers could work from home was, to most business experts, absurd. Remote working—or telecommuting, as some called it—seemed like an invitation to chaos. Left unsupervised, most workers would just “goof off,” managers insisted. They’d spend their time on Facebook or Tik Tok, playing videogames, or going to the gym. Even “responsible” employees would be too distracted by kids, pets, and household chores to possibly achieve the kind of productivity they could at the office. Plus, what about the “spontaneous exchange of ideas” so essential to innovation we hear so much about? 

And then, in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States like a freight train, and everything changed. Offices shut down. Tens of millions of people were forced to work from home. Remote working surged twelvefold between 2017-18 and May 2020. And we all know what happened next. Most businesses did just fine. In fact, some found productivity actually increased. 

What was once thought impossible is now commonplace. And, to many workers, even desirable. Now, more than two years into the pandemic, some companies are trying to return to “normal”—this even though COVID has not gone away. Unfortunately, many companies that are now trying to wrangle workers back into their office corrals are encountering serious push-back. 

Workers don’t want to come back to an 8-to-5, five-day-a-week grind. Just ask Shantay Williams, a 34-year-old program manager for the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Nursing. Interviewed for a recent Newsweek article, she said the following: “I told my supervisor that going back to the office is stupid. I'm very vocal about it. And they know I'm doing the work because they're getting emails from me at 10, 11 o'clock at night.”

Of course, not every worker is likely to be so blunt, but Williams’ perspective is far from an outlier. Many employees feel similarly. They like the flexibility they’ve enjoyed the past two years. They relish being able to go the gym, pick their kids up from school, and do grocery shopping on their own schedules. They sure don’t miss the long commutes. And with unemployment now at historic lows, they have the numbers and the strength to resist.

So, what are employers to do?

First, organizations must accept the fact that the world we once considered “normal” just ain’t comin’ back. Just as we are unlikely to ever see the return of vaudeville, the Jitterbug, beehive hairdos, and leisure suits, the “9-to-5 grinder” is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Not that offices are doomed to go the way of the buggy whip and/or dial-up modems, but their place at the center of our work lives will continue to be significantly diminished.

Next, companies must recognize the reality of the new labor market—and adapt. Hybrid schedules are the future. Surveys of 50,000 workers across the country find most people are comfortable going back to the office half-time, two to three days per week. So, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays could, for instance, be social and highly engaged days full of in-person meetings, events, and connectivity. Mondays and Fridays would then be work-from-home days, for quiet activities, such as reading, coding, accounting, and smaller remote meetings. Research suggests this hybrid approach to work can increase productivity by 5%, on average, compared with the full-time in-person model, making this a win-win for both companies and their employees.

What’s more, hybrid schedules can help “split the difference” between those leaders who want to see their people on site and the workers who desire the freedom, flexibility, and privacy they enjoy at home. In other words, they provide the best of both worlds whilst removing the downsides of either extreme position. They also have positive environmental impacts, as they tend to help conserve the resources otherwise used for transporting millions of workers to and from their offices. Even better, this approach can surely save companies considerable money, as they avoid paying hefty raises many businesses find they must now pay to entice reluctant workers to return to the office full-time. 

Ultimately, as companies think through when and how to return to in-person work, leaders need to be open to exploring different approaches. If all of us seize this opportunity to reexamine the future of work, we can make something positive out of the pandemic. And that’s a good thing!

For help on (re)designing a hybrid schedule that works best for your company, please give us a call. We’re experts on company culture, leadership, and productivity. Email me today at Laura@Conoverconsulting.com. You can find me here…working from home!