Recently in the news it was announced that Google has drawn a line in the sand, requiring the majority of its workforce to be in the office 3 days a week. They claim that there is no electronic substitute for the collaboration that happens when people come together in person, especially when maintaining a culture. More hard-line, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that remote working is an “aberration”, and “one we are going to correct as soon as possible” (Keegan, 2021). This view isn’t consistently held; Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook are planning to give all employees the opportunity to work remotely on a permanent basis. Different levels of the corporate ladder may bring different options too; one US survey in April of 2021 suggested that only 10% of employees want to go back to working in the office full time, while 80% of CEOs want them to do so (Keegan, 2021).
Hybrid working presents opportunities and challenges. Bradford Bell, (Cornell Centre for Advanced Human Resource Studies), suggests that many companies have experienced an increase in trust, a flattening of hierarchies and more agile decision making (Catt, 2021). Many (not all) organisations have noted that remote working has increased employee productivity; one study that polled more than 30,000 workers showed a future productivity increase of five percent, largely attributable to reduced commuting time (Curran, 2021). Some organisations have been proactive in focussing of interconnectedness of employees, and have begun to engage in the challenge of building or sustaining a culture remotely in interesting ways; IBM employees set up small groups to help each other manage childcare, incorporating ideas such as reading night-time stories to the children of fellow employees. Alibaba shifted some of its cultural activities online with its traditional annual celebration, Aliday, becoming a remote quilt-making event to celebrate the values of community and collective activity (Hinds and Elliot, 2021).
Scott Schieman, (University of Toronto) is sceptical that Zoom calls can replace the depth and quality of in-person human interaction. It is harder to build trust remotely, in his view, but screen-based interactions also significantly contribute to potential misunderstandings that can erode trust. There has been some anxiety about employee productivity, leading to some organisations unleashing Microsoft’s camera and keystroke monitoring, and a somewhat sinister “productivity score”. PwC have tested a facial recognition tool designed to help managers check on whether employees were at their desk. These initiatives will surely erode trust within the culture of the organisation, and present examples of solutions that simply create new problems.
There are some genuine challenges presented by hybrid work. One key question is how to may the workplace fair and inclusive when some colleagues aren’t physically present, and others are. It will be critical, in what are likely to be increased numbers of hybrid meetings with both on site and online participants, that these meetings be moderated effectively to draw in all voices, even if this feels awkward and ‘forced’ initially; this will be quite a skill, and one most will still be in the process of developing. Hirsch (2021) suggests that there may be fewer large team meeting occur in the future, and that virtual technology better supports small team discussion; this may not be a bad thing as evidence suggests that individual creativity and small group discovery has been more productive of fresh thinking than the conventional mass workshop.
Although many questions remain unanswered, there is hope that it will be possible to maintain a strong and supportive culture as we move to the hybrid model. Human beings have a strong desire to give and receive empathy, and to connect with one another. What will be needed are more sensitive initiatives that build on virtual communities created during the pandemic, developed with adequate resources and driven by individual employees. In addition, we will all need to continue to develop new skills, and to pay close attention to the culture in our teams, most particularly when we work with some colleagues in person, and some through a screen. Our programme, CMI Level 7 – Leading Hybrid Teams explores these concepts in more detail.
Catt, M. (2021), “COVID-19 is transforming workplace culture”, Cornell Chronicle, 3 March, available at: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/03/covid-19-transforming-workplace-culture
Curran, E. (2021), “Work from home to lift productivity by 5 percent in post-pandemic US”, Bloomberg News, 22 April, available at: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-22/yes-working-from-homemakes-you-more-productive-study-finds
Hinds, P. and Elliot, B. (2021), “WFH doesn’t have to dilute your corporate culture”, Harvard Business Review, 1 February, available at: https://hbr.org/2021/02/wfh-doesnt-have-to-dilute-your-corporate-culture
Hirsch, P.B. (2021). “Sustaining corporate culture in a world of hybrid work”. Journal of Business Strategy, 42 (5): 358-361.
Keegan, P. (2021), “Employees balk at end to remote work: [’] Going back to the office is stupid”, Newsweek, 13 April, available at: www.newsweek.com/2021/04/30/employees-balk-end-remote-workgoing-back-office-stupid-1583059.html.