Ready to bring employees back to the office?

By: Michèle Parent
MScA, CHRP, Associate Vice-President, Organizational Health

Recent surveys indicate that many people are anxious about going back to how things were before the pandemic. According to the results of a Léger survey posted online on May 26, 2021,

https://leger360.com/surveys/legers-north-american-tracker-may-26-2021/

52% of Canadians are anxious about post-pandemic life. That's not surprising, given that we've been living in a strange world we couldn't have imagined almost a year and a half ago.

We all had to quickly adapt while dealing with personal constraints. Most of us were working from home, with many also juggling childcare because schools and daycares were closed. We may have also had a spouse working remotely. Yet others found themselves alone, cut off from all contact with anyone.

Everyone's day-to-day has looked very different. Some people got COVID-19 or had family members become sick or even die. And even those who weren't personally impacted may have been afraid that they or someone they love would contract the virus.

Others said their lifestyle and habits had changed during this time of upheaval, with increased consumption of alcohol, drugs and cannabis and spending on gambling, as indicated in the latest Léger survey published on June 22, 2021:

https://leger360.com/surveys/legers-north-american-tracker-june-22-2021/

Workplace of the future: a hybrid model?

The post-pandemic workplace could be very different from how it looked before COVID-19 hit.

The pandemic showed that many of us could work productively from home and that most business activities could be conducted remotely, making it easier to balance work demands with personal lives and family responsibilities. That seems to be the conclusion of a survey by the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines (June 14, 2021 – In French only): https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1801349/futur-teletravail-sondage-ressources-humaines-

The survey also shows how at odds employers and employees are over the future of remote work. As shown in the table below, 38% of workers want to work remotely full time, while only 1% of organizations plan to offer that option. It seems that whether or not employees want to return to the office is influenced, among other things, by age, with younger employees wanting to return to a physical workplace in greater number.

Employees are expressing a real desire to maintain absolute flexibility, while organizations have to contend with legitimate priorities and concerns, like teamwork, organizational culture, maintaining group productivity and so on. That's why so many of them plan to offer their employees a hybrid model that requires them to be at the office a set amount of time.

Given the current labour shortage, requiring employees to work full time at the office could have a real impact on organizations' ability to retain and attract talent. Employers will have to be more flexible than before. In a recent Ernst & Young survey, 93% of respondents said they would probably stay with their organization at least another 12 months if their employer was flexible in terms of when and where they could work. However, 54% indicated they were willing to quit if they weren't offered the flexibility they wanted. Many employees discovered that they actually liked working from home and most want their employer to offer a hybrid model going forward.

Surveys show that working from home has been positive for most employees. According to the May 31, 2021, Léger survey: https://leger360.com/surveys/legers-north-american-tracker-may-31-2021/

82% of respondents said their work-from-home experience had been positive. Reasons cited for wanting to keep working remotely:

• Convenience (67%)
• Money saved on gas and transportation (64%)
• Greater productivity compared to the office (39%)
• Lack of a long commute (35%)

That means it's conceivable that more employers will want to offer a hybrid workplace. Before the pandemic only 10–15% of employers gave their workers that option.

Employers will also need to consider times when employees might be required to come in to the office: maybe on specific days or for team meetings, team building activities, celebrations, major project milestones and so on.

Some advice for employers

• Remote work policy

A remote work policy that covers the major points and outlines the employer's philosophy should be implemented, if it hasn't already been. It should be signed by interested employees. The policy might define how often employees can work remotely, where telework is permitted (outside the country, for example) and also what equipment will be provided.

• Gradual return to the office

It took awhile to get used to a new way of working and it will take some time to readjust to this new normal. For example, we may have been getting up or going to bed at different times or been more physically active and want to maintain this healthy habit. As with any major change, it's best to proceed gradually.

• Flexibility

As mentioned before, not everyone experienced the pandemic in the same way; all our lives were disrupted to different extents, but those disruptions may be more permanent for some people. That's why it's wise to offer employees flexible work hours, depending on the nature of their job.

• Communication between immediate managers and employees

Of course, it's important that immediate managers clearly communicate what they expect from employees when working remotely compared to working at the office. Although there may be an organizational policy, how it is actually applied and how successful it is largely depends on how supportive managers are of the policy.

Since March 2020 the world has changed and the workplace has transformed in ways many would have believed impossible such a short time ago. This pandemic has left its mark and it seems to have forever changed the way we work. To attract and retain talent, employers will have to be more accommodating and receptive than ever to their employees. This pandemic has accelerated changes that employees have long wanted.

Resources:

Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés, Guide to transitioning to hybrid work,  June 2021: https://carrefourrh.org/nouvelles/2021/06/guide-accompagnement-travail-hybride

Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés, Guide d’encadrement du télétravail, September 2020 (Only available in French) : https://ordrecrha.org/ressources/guides-outils/guide-encadrement-teletravail