Office-life restarts: but there’s no finishing line

We’re back! Hope you had a great summer and found some sunshine somewhere.

I’m excited about this next leap into hybrid work: I hope—believe?—we are embarking on an adventure to find out what makes us more productive, builds better working relationships, and helps us manage the balance between home and work more successfully.

The challenge is that many CEOs and leaders are feeling like they’re carrying a weighty burden. One CEO described to me how he is pushing uphill to try and get his team back in stages:

• 2 days a week (now)

• 3 days (Christmas)

• 5 days (April 2022)
  

But his usually loyal and enthusiastic team aren't on side. Not at all.

Employees vs. Employers

A McKinsey report defines the conundrum: bosses want employees in on average three days or more, while employees want to be home for two days or more.

There is a lot going on with those ‘or mores’.

Employees want two days WFH to be the norm going forward, while many leaders want to increase the share of time inworkplaces.

This is a risky time for conflict, as leaders also know that many of their team (40% perhaps!) are considering changing roles in the next year (global data from Microsoft).

The takeaway here is that, as the McKinsey report says, there is no finishing line for this transition. We can only go into it with open minds: observe, listen, and reflect on what does and doesn’t work, improving as we go.

Which is why we’ll be in organisations over the next year, interviewing people about what works, what sucks, and what we can do better.

Next week: 

Those that said they wanted to come back to the office… where the hell are they?

Christine