Confrontational tone of the home working debate is not helpful - Andy Holt
The debate about ‘back to the office’ (BTO) has reheated in the last few weeks, battle lines are being drawn, and everyone is getting hot under the collar. The push to return is coming from some big names with the likes Asda, Amazon, Barclays, Boots, Santander, and even Manchester United leading the charge.
The public sector is facing challenges from disgruntled staff fighting the BTO mandate. The arguments flow back and forth on issues of productivity (pros and cons), innovation, workplace collaboration and social cohesion.
The arguments for hybrid and a return are well known and, despite the tone of the debate, there’s merit on both sides. What isn’t helping is the confrontational language from the likes of Lord Sugar and Lord Rose who publicly derided the popular working from home model. On the other side, the pro camp suffers from serious overreach of the benefits of home working, conveniently ignoring how our workplaces have been hollowed out at the altar of flexibility.
What are employees to make of all of this and what’s the implications for HR and internal comms who need to navigate this minefield?
It still feels like we need to have a direct and grown-up conversation with our people. Post-Covid, businesses quickly grappled with the new shape of work and assumptions were made on both sides. It’s time to restart the dialogue with employees about the pros and cons of the remade workplace.
Any hybrid, or even full return argument, needs to be framed in explaining the vision and values that drive the business, its working practices and the demands on the business. In this climate employees can at least be active participants in any decision so the business will find the best way forward together.
Managers are key to driving the conversation, testing the climate and feeding back to leadership. It’s not enough to just talk, managers and leaders need to walk the talk. How many businesses do we see where managers come into the office less than their younger employees (cocooned in their comfy home offices)? It’s bad for ‘on the job’ development, weakens morale and isn’t a good look.
One of the challenges for businesses, particularly with frontline colleagues, is that parts of their workforce have seen no change to working patterns but see their colleagues in HQ benefiting from home working. This divisive culture can be navigated if fair, sensible, flexible policies for all colleagues are adopted uniting the workforce rather than ignoring the issue.
Another challenge is, to drive change, your internal communication (IC) strategy and internal channels need to be fit for purpose. While the business may have moved on, many organisations have neither radically overhauled their IC strategies nor reviewed their channels. As such many are encumbered with legacy channels with limited reach, that fail to acknowledge how employees want to be communicated with.
It’s important to recognise we are social animals. Getting folk in the office needs to be a blend of purposeful team collaboration and social moments to just be with your tribe. Again, talking with your people will identify what they value most, and some analysis will identify what benefits the business most in terms of productivity, creativity and innovation and culture.
In essence, I think it’s important in this debate to listen and talk a bit more and meet your people where they are, not where you think they are.
Andy Holt is principal of engagement and experience at Definition.