Realising the Potential Benefits of Hybrid Work: Exploring Perspectives, Practices and Policies

Where we work can have a huge impact on our experience and outcomes both in work and life. It is a complex and emotive topic with no real answers. The debate continues and in this episode I present some different perspectives, practices and processes.

I suggest how we might design hybrid work arrangements that work for everyone - the customer, the workforce, and the organisation. From outlining strategies for smooth transitions and successful implementation to emphasizing the need for technology support, education, diversity, inclusion, regular check-ins, and connection opportunities. Please join me as I share my own journey and thoughts on the topic

The Reimagined Workforce podcast is brought to you by Workforce Transformations Australia Pty. Ltd.
All opinions expressed are the speaker's and not the organisations they represent.
If you have a story about a workforce transformation to share and would like to be a guest on this podcast, please contact us at kathhume@workforcetransformations.com.au.
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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

This is the Reimagined Workforce Podcast from Workforce Transformations Australia, the podcast for people and culture professionals seeking to drive meaningful, impactful and financially sustainable workforce transformation through curiosity, creativity and data science. In this podcast, we hear from talented and innovative people making a positive difference for their people, their organisations and those their organisations serve. They share stories and learnings to help others on their path to transforming their workforce today and tomorrow. Now here's your host, Kath Hume.

Kath Hume: 0:42

Hi everyone. It's Kath Hume here, and this week it's just me, and I'm sharing some musings on the topic of hybrid work. That is, work that's completed in some combination of both on-site and remote work. I think we're all well aware that hybrid work accelerated during the pandemic. It's now August 2023 and in Australia, there's still a hot debate going on around hybrid working arrangements. I'm closely monitoring the policies of our major banks and the impacts that that will have on things like employee engagement and retention. From the 17th of July, one of our major banks are mandating that all employees spend at least half of their working hours in the office, and the Finance Sector Union are planning to challenge this at the Fair Work Commission, which is our government authority dealing with workplace relations that helps to resolve workplace disputes. In contrast, the Australian Public Sector Commission has confirmed that they will not be mandating a minimum number of days in the office, and they've agreed that any employee can request to work from home every day. Obviously, then, decisions would need to be made on a case by case basis. The former Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kenett, has made a very unpopular suggestion that employees who work from home should be paid less, as they're incurring lower costs. So there's a lot going on and there's no really clear answer, and I don't know if there ever will be.

Kath Hume: 2:05

In a bid to measure whether hybrid work is a good idea, organisations are engaging in what Microsoft refers to as productivity theatre, where they track activity rather than impact. While the COVID pandemic has forced this global social experiment, many of those who could work from home became accustomed to the arrangement and the many personal benefits that come from having extra hours in the day by avoiding the lengthy commute. Most people I speak to believe that we are more productive working at home, but few really mention the long-term costs to our wellbeing, workplace cultures and ongoing personal and professional development. For example, some companies, like the large telco, Telstra, had instigated working from anywhere policies well before the pandemic and are likely to continue the arrangements into the future, but many other organisations are struggling to work out where to from here. What's the best path forward that will deliver mutual benefits for our customers, people and organisations, and the jury is well and truly still out. The Gallup State of the Global Workforce 2023 report found that employees who work remotely but are mandated to go in the office suffer from a lack of autonomy, leading to lower engagement. The research shows that employee engagement is lowest for those who could work remotely but are forced to show up in person full time.

Kath Hume: 3:27

Sometimes the discontent experienced by mandating days in the office is not necessarily about the impact on the person's life, but also the loss of personal agency the person experiences. I know myself that I want a choice and if I can provide the same quality output and the outcome for my clients doesn't change, then I'd like the choice to decide where I complete the work. I like being able to look at what I need to get done and make a decision about where I would do the best job. I know whed I'm in the office there are far more social interactions. Some of them are super productive, some of them are merely social. I would argue that both are important and whilst the social conversations might distract me from my work on my office days.

Kath Hume: 4:14

there is certainly value in the incidental. @Oh, while you're here" sort of conversations, personally I'm in a real quandary about the ongoing debate around hybrid work. I worked in a hybrid manner for over 20 years when I started incorporating some working from home days

Kath Hume: 4:31

I was literally the first person in my organisation to do so, and it was a very large organisation. At the time, I had a baby girl who I desperately wanted to spend time with. Due to our financial situation at the time, I had to return to work when she was six weeks old. The guilt, oh the guilt. I knew she was fine and our day-care mum was the most beautiful human and cared for her probably better than I did. While I had no choice over going back to work, the time I spent travelling to and from work seemed to be such a waste of time that was keeping me away from her Time that I could have been spending with her. By working from home, I gained an extra two precious hours with her. Without those two hours, the times I was seeing her awake would honestly have been when I changed her and fed her in the morning, or when I picked her up, took her home, fed and bathed and put her to bed. I will forever be grateful for the absolute privilege of this extra few hours I got each week. In those hours I got to read with her, dance with her, do craft with her and watch our beloved Better Homes and Gardens every Tuesday night. I knew how fortunate I was and I did not want to risk that opportunity. So I did everything within my power to prove that working from home was beneficial for my employer as well. I also felt enormous responsibility because I felt that if I did not make it work, I was ruining this opportunity for people coming after me. I learned how to separate work from home and to ensure that I was distraction free whenever I was working. When the organisation I was working for was taken over and my position was made redundant, I felt it would be virtually impossible to recreate the same working arrangement. So I tried my luck and set up a business as a freelance instructional designer.

Kath Hume: 6:20

When my fourth child was born, I had a contract where I only had to go into the office for meetings. Those meetings were an hour away and on several occasions I managed to take my baby boy to my mum and dad's place, breastfeed him, drive into the city for the meeting, attend the meeting and then hightail at home again before he was due for his next feed. I thought I was superwoman for that achievement. When I look back at that, knowing what I know about the impact of stress, I would do things very differently. On one occasion I was so distracted by the race that after the meeting I could not even remember where I had parked my car. It was in some underground car park that I entered from one street but exited from another, and it took me forever to find it again, which didn't help with my stress management, that's for sure. When my kids were all in primary school, I had a contract where I didn't need to go into the office at all and I could go days without interacting with anyone at work.

Kath Hume: 7:15

While eliminating my commute altogether seemed like the perfect scenario, the impact on my wellbeing was huge. I was oblivious to the fact that the social isolation I was experiencing was having a detrimental impact on my wellbeing. I was absolutely miserable but couldn't understand why, because in theory, my life was absolutely perfect During COVID. I cannot express how much I loved having every member of my family at home in one place, busily working or studying, and then meeting in the backyard for lunch. This, for me, was a great combination of no commute with a bit of social interaction mixed in. How good, I'm not sure that my kids would agree, but I was really happy.

Kath Hume: 7:58

I tell these stories to explain that the experience of hybrid work will vary depending on a range of variables, some of which are completely outside of the employer's control. The conclusion I've arrived at is there is no, and never will be, a one size fits all solution, and no, I don't think I'm brilliant for working that out. But I think the best way forward is to move away from blanket policies and treat employees in our organisations as humans who have lives outside of work that are impacted by the decisions their employers make. The way forward really needs to evolve. We need to ensure every employee has the opportunity for their voice to be heard in these discussions around what's next. That doesn't mean that every employer gets exactly what they want. The employer-employer relationship must remain a mutually beneficial arrangement. Like any relationship, it will be dysfunctional if one party has more power than the other.

Kath Hume: 8:55

During and in the aftermath of the pandemic, the world experienced the great resignation as employees started to reconsider whether they were prepared to tolerate the impact that work was having on their lives. Employers struggled with work-walk shortages and the pendulum of power swung in the direction of the employee. With economic conditions tightening, I'm sensing that the tide is slowly turning and the pendulum is swimming back towards the employer. What concerns me is that employers will take this opportunity to leverage that power to make decisions around hybrid working arrangements based on assumptions and limited evidence, with damaging impact to the customers, employees and the organisations. While hybrid working benefits employees through reduced commute time and expense and provides greater flexibility to fit work into life, there are benefits for the employer as well. These include increased productivity, access to a broader talent pool, reduced costs to facilities, improved employee experience, more attractive employee value proposition and adaptability to respond in unexpected events like public transport delays or natural disasters.

Kath Hume: 10:06

I was a little perplexed last week when I read a post on LinkedIn by Dr Ben Hamer that was suggesting that some CEOs and landlords are demanding people return to the office because they have vacancies in their office spaces. In a recent report titled how Hybrid Work has Changed the Way People Work, live and Shop, mckinsey asked people across the globe who were able to work from home for the reasons they choose to either work in the office or from home. The top three reasons for working from home were to save the commute time, increased productivity and to save money, while the top three reasons for working in the office were to work with their team to comply with their employer's policy or to increase their productivity. While I don't think there's any surprise here, I do love that employees are at least reporting that they are basing their decisions on productivity and seemingly seeing the importance of delivering value for their employer, not just themselves. What I did find really interesting was the fifth item. On each list, respondents reported that their fifth reason for working from home was to work in a more pleasant space, and the fifth reason to work in the office was to get better access to tools and technology. This tells me that if we want people to work in the office, we need to ensure it's a pleasant place, and if we want people to work from home, then we need to provide them with the technology to do so.

Kath Hume: 11:28

So before we jump to a decision that could have a major impact on employee wellbeing, performance, culture and retention without knowing if there's likely to be any real benefit, let's consider how we might arrive at a workable solution that meets the needs of the customer, the workforce and our organisations. That would include co-designing the work arrangement with employees, clearly articulating a compelling mission and vision of the organisation to ensure employees understand their place within the organisation. Deciding and communicating the non-negotiables and the negotiables, and providing genuine reasons based on the needs of the organisation. Asking for and listening to the needs, preferences and suggestions of all employees. Empathising with each other's experiences and expectations. Avoiding judging people's reasons and focusing on whether the work can be performed to the standard required. Trusting that employees are good people who want to do their best for the organisation. Focusing on performance, not just productivity, to allow for curiosity and courage to thrive. Gathering and analysing qualitative and quantitative data to ensure that decisions are informed by evidence and not assumptions.

Kath Hume: 12:43

And avoiding the assumption that simply by having people in the office, culture, social relationships, mentoring or other outcomes will magically materialise. It won't, unless it's designed to do so. If you want mentoring to happen, match mentors and mentees based on areas of expertise, responsibilities and interests, and provide guidance and structure to allow time for it to happen. As a side note, one of the best mentors I've ever had was Michelle Ockers, and I think we had that relationship for three years before we ever met face to face. So being face to face is not necessarily essential for a good mentoring relationship. So once you have agreed with your workforce on what the hybrid arrangement will look like, there's a couple of things that we can do to make it work, as I said before. Ensuring employees have the technology and internet services to enable them to work remotely. Educating people on the benefits of working in different environments Melissa Marsden's episode on workplace design provides a great explanation of the different types of workplaces and the type of work that gets done in them.

Kath Hume: 13:50

Encouraging people to craft their own work to make the best use of their time. For example, you might encourage them to monitor the fluctuations in how they feel throughout the day to determine what work they perform best at those times. Building and sustaining positive working relationships. Prioritising diversity and inclusion to ensure every person feels they belong. Making it a priority for managers and colleagues to check in with every employee regularly. Making people to share what's happening for them, both at work and outside, and explain how that's making them feel. Manufacturing moments of connection. Arranging communal lunches and making it clear that they're being organised to build social connection between people.

Kath Hume: 14:33

Avoid comparing your own arrangement with other people. That might just be soul destroying, and you can never assume that you know what's happening in anyone else's life. Avoid assuming that busy work is important work Work ways of working If people are on teams meetings in the office in separate meeting rooms, encourage them to book a larger room where everyone can come together and make an effort to speak to people, even those you don't know, and, importantly, remind people hybrid work is a privilege, not a right, and that these arrangements are subject to change. And I do note that many of these actions hold true in a purely on-site environment as well. In closing, could I just add that we need to be careful of the one and done approach. These conversations need to happen regularly, because the organisations and people's needs will change and these arrangements will need to adapt. So that's my two cents worth anyway, and I would love to know what other people think. Take care and thanks for listening.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Thanks for listening to the Reimagined Workforce podcast. We hope you've found some valuable ideas that you can apply to transform your own workforce today and tomorrow. Additional information and links can be found in the show notes for this episode at workforcetransformationscomau slash podcast. Please share this podcast with your community and leave us a rating to let us know what we can do better for you.