RIP 9-5 in the office
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It’s Sunday morning, and there are various stories in the UK newspapers about “the week we went back to the office.” Numbers certainly increased significantly over the past two weeks since WFH restrictions were relaxed - journeys are up in the main financial districts of London by 33%, for example. Given that’s still a third lower than pre-Covid times1, though, I’m not sure it’s quite as significant as some would have you believe.
Among the numerous significant changes to our work/lives over the past couple of years, the place we spend our time actually doing the work has to be the most obvious, if not necessarily the most significant. It therefore makes sense that we've become so preoccupied with the debate over office vs hybrid vs remote.
However, with every new announcement that comes from governments and employers about 'returning to work' (by which, of course, they mean the office), you can't help but get the sense of vested interests pissing in the wind. In this case, the splashback is getting worse and worse as the relative strength of workers increases. Praise be for the effects of the 'Great Resignation' because, come on, who really still believes that we should all travel, to work in the same room as each other, day after day?
What's interesting is how the conversation about hybrid - the preferred option for the vast majority - has shifted. If you trace the polls from when they first began in the summer of 2020, the split between the preferred number of days in the office compared to 'at home' continues to roll in the home's favour.
Suppose you play this scenario out to its full extent, as I did on the podcast with Bruce Daisley this week. You end up with the rational conclusion at which some firms have already arrived - that operating fully remote is not just acceptable but preferable. By the way, from what I've seen, those companies are the current winners in the highly competitive talent market.
Although you’re probably well aware of the benefits of this approach by now, let's break them down again.
- You save money on office space.
- You can access a global talent pool.
- People save money and time on commuting.
- People can divert the time they save into spending more time with their family and on their wellbeing.
- People can spend the money they save on goods and services other than transport, boosting the economy in unexpected ways.
On that very last point, even with the keenest mind and backed with historical data, you can't anticipate everything, which is why making bold pronouncements about the future is inherently problematic.
As Nobel prize-winning game theorist Thomas Schelling said:
"One thing a person cannot do, no matter how rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination, is to draw up a list of things that would never occur to him."
That being the case, it's possible that as we dip our toes back into in-person meetings and spend our days around others in the office, the trend will reverse, but let's just assume it continues on its current trajectory. One thing we know for sure is that a reduction or complete removal of face-to-face interactions will fundamentally change how we relate to one another. For all the many benefits of digital communications and autonomy in where we work, we lose some of that magic of connecting with someone in real life. As plenty of research has shown, staring into someone's face through a screen is a poor substitute.
As Bruce pointed out, while plenty of us would have a sense that we've become more efficient since our shift to remote work, few would profess to having experienced more joy in the work we do. To illustrate why this might be the case, he gives the fantastic example of the idea of Simcha, a Hebrew word, which, although literally translates as joy, is only experienced collectively.
Has a lack of relatedness to one another caused by the lack of a shared physical experience, removed the opportunity for Simcha at work?
Certainly, when I cast my mind back to working in the office, it was often filled with random moments of laughter and relationships built through shared experiences, both positive and challenging. Could I honestly tell you that the last couple of years have been packed full of these emotions? No, but then I guess the point here is what's the trade-off we're willing to accept? Is it more important for me to get my fill of Simcha in the office or to work in close proximity to my family, exercise bike and a comfortable spot to nap?
Of course, this needn't be a binary choice, which is the argument for hybrid work. As I've said before, the problem is that we're still missing a trick by limiting the conversation only to whether we’re TWaTs or not.
Among well established, fully distributed teams, regular meet-ups are an essential part of the culture, but we're talking monthly or quarterly on-sites designed to combine longer-term strategic conversations with some good old bonding sessions. Surely we can wrap our heads around this idea and take it as inspiration to create something bespoke that fits each organisation’s requirements and circumstances?
As our working experience becomes more fluid, it's also worth considering how we might experience Simcha outside of the traditional corporate context. The number of people 'going solo', whether as a freelancer, contractor or entrepreneur, continues to increase, so encountering moments of collective joy may be reserved for new types of relationships with a more diverse collection of collaborators.
It may be those we work alongside in flexible working spaces.
We may limit our in-person interactions to a select group of industry colleagues or a mastermind group.
Or, might we find online communities offer the opportunity for meet-ups IRL, something I've now enjoyed several times over the past year.
Whatever the scenario, although the location and frequency with which we congregate with others will change, it's still both possible and desirable to cultivate relationships that offer genuine connection and that all-important sense of relatedness.
I'll be exploring the themes of community and networks over the coming weeks, so if you enjoyed reading and haven't already subscribed, please make sure you do so and maybe share it with someone else who might find it interesting.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week,
Ollie
✓
Any Other Business:
According to this MIT Sloan Management Review, ‘Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation”. It shares the top five predictors of attrition, and four actions managers can take in the short term to reduce it.
The soaring rates of burnout don’t help either, and this is, as ever, a particular issue for women, as this McKinsey podcast explores.
When it comes to Gen Z, 65% of whom are considering looking for new jobs this year, according to this Business Insider article, the primary focus appears to be on finding roles that give them purpose. 42% surveyed placed this top of their priority list, while more millennials (49%) and Gen X (56%) would rather work for a company that pays more. Is this just a reflection of life stage or a generational shift?
Using AI to speed up and scale the interviewing process within large organisations seems a logical application of the technology, but it’s also leading to a poorer quality of interviews in many cases. As reported in the Harvard Business Review via The Week:
“A growing number of employers are using automated video interviews, in which job candidates "record themselves on an interview platform, answering questions under time pressure." The video then gets assessed based on visual, verbal, and/or vocal cues. Our research suggests job seekers' experience with these AI-based interviews was poor. Most candidates didn't understand the technology and "felt that they had to behave like robots" in order to pass the interview. The AI experience was especially difficult for young job seekers from less-privileged backgrounds, but for all kinds of applicants, trying to appeal to a computerized interviewing system was exhausting "both emotionally and cognitively."“
There have been plenty of these articles over the past couple of months, but I think this one from Joris Luijke did a neat job of summarising “Post Pandemic Predictions for HR”. Among his more notable thoughts:
HR will review exclusivity contract clauses that assume ‘monogamous careers’ to allow ‘polygamous careers’ (various interests fulfilled by different employers). HR will increasingly find talent on sites like Polywork (showcasing work vs company history).
For HR in large companies it makes more sense to create purpose built company resort in inspiring locations for rotating team/departmental offsites.
HR will add the essential remote skill in training & performance reviews; written communications. Remote-first companies know that having excellent written communication skills is a must for a remote worker to succeed as most work is done async.
HR will be teaching management new skills as they move from orchestrating work meetings to becoming more a work flow facilitator and life coach with personal and work merging, for better or worse.
And finally, this study of physicists and writers showed that when you’re stuck creatively, the secret is to let your mind wander by doing something completely unrelated to the task - more reasons to intentionally build downtime into your day. On that note, I’m off for a long walk.
1 Transport for London data