The Pendulum Swings (Quickly)

People are still asking about hybrid programs.  As I have pointed out before, this is the number one question we receive when we talk with candidates about new opportunities (searches we are conducting).  Hybrid has no precise definition.  My definition is based on what I have experienced since March 2020.  Each company handled their version of hybrid differently.  Each person experienced and reacted to this new work arrangement differently. 

Companies Want People Back

It is hard to go even a few days without reading an article in a business journal about companies wanting people back in the office.  While I have not seen it overtly stated, it seems leadership teams and boards of directors feel productivity and innovation has suffered and that bringing people together for interaction will reverse this trend, leading instead to increased productivity and innovation. 

Two Recent Terms 

• Emotional Salary – this was a term I found in an article in July (Fox News).  The headline – “Companies are beefing up ‘emotional salary’ to address today’s disengaged workers”.  Emotional salary includes the non-monetary aspects of a job, such as culture, career and work-life balance.  
  • My ‘take’ on this – we need to give people a reason (more than ‘we say so’) to come back physically to work.  
• Fauxductivity – this was a term mentioned last month in the MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Business Journal.  It was defined as faking activity or productivity.  Faking activity could include things like using mouse jigglers and falsifying timesheets.  The article went on to mention that PWC’s UK office will now be tracking the location of its employees.   
  • It was reported on the news last week that there is a notable increase in coworkers who are coming to work, ‘punching in’ for coworkers who are not there (and this is then reciprocated later), and ‘punching out’ for others who may have left early.

Clients Have A Clear Preference

As I look to the searches we are currently conducting as well as the searches on our prospect list (searches we are being actively considered for), there is not one on the list where remote is possible.  Regarding hybrid, this is also not a big possibility.  Are employers being flexible when a person has a need to occasionally work from home?  Definitely!  Is this an organized program?  Rarely!  We are seeing a trend toward (1) returning physically to work and to (2) ‘common sense’ flexibility – there are simply times when people need to work from home (ill child; important home appointment, etc.).  That was the ‘old’ normal and is becoming the ‘new’ normal again. 

What Does This Mean?

• Employers need to create a reason for being in the office.  It could be the business; it could be the way in which business is conducted. 
• Company leaders need to lead by example.  If they want employees in the office, they need to model the behavior – create the ‘why’ and model the behaviors daily. 
• Employees need to make a decision.  That may be when they look to a new position OR it may be how they look at their current employer.  March 2020 was not even five years ago (although it feels like decades ago for many reasons).  The work environment each employee needs has to be defined and sought proactively, either with a current employer or a future employer. 

The pendulum is not likely to swing all the way back, but it had swung pretty far in 2020.  It is indeed coming back.