Feeling empowered to ask to work in a way that suits you, and still feel included.

Before 2020, most workplaces were reluctant to allow their employees to work from home. This was due to misconceptions that people would be less productive at home than in the office, spend too much time watching Netflix or doing the washing than actually working. However, once COVID-19 hit, workplaces were encouraged and, in some cases mandated, to allow their employees to leave their office, say goodbye to Friday drinks and buckle down at home for a significant period of time. This also seemed to change working preferences post pandemic as seen in a UK study. 

What this proved is that productivity didn’t actually dramatically decrease like they thought; in fact it was quite the opposite. Multiple studies have found that working from home actually improved employee engagement and performance, whilst also reducing absence from work. An article released by Forbes states that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook believes in working from home so much that he told his employees they would be working remotely indefinitely. A worldwide survey on the benefits of working from home revealed the main benefit employees valued was the flexibility in how they spend their time and choosing their work location. 

So now that most workplaces have returned to the office, why does it feel so daunting to ask your manager to work a day or two from home? And if you do, why do people sometimes feel removed or not as included in the team? Potentially, COVID was a mass social experiment that sped up the arrival of the ‘working from home revolution’ at a rate that was too fast for some teams to feel comfortable with. Or more likely, employers still don’t have trust in their teams, despite it being proven that working from home does actually work. James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley, made a comment during the pandemic that perfectly encapsulates the common perception of working from home pre-pandemic;

“If you’d said three months ago that 90% of our employees will be working from home and the firm would be functioning fine, I’d say this is a test I’m not willing to take because the downside of being wrong on that is massive.”

Of course, there are important factors of having a presence in the office and socialising with other team members that contribute to a good employee experience. However, employee experience is made up of a number of factors, and being able to work from home on those days you need to, really does make a difference.  

Sitting at work, nervously waiting for your manager to arrive, to recite the well-rehearsed phrase you’d practised in the mirror the night before as to why you need to work from home a day next week shouldn’t have to be such a daunting experience. Perhaps employees think this way because their employers don’t trust them to work from home, and they know it. This lack of trust could hinder employee relationships, contributing to overall employee experience.

So, the moral of the story? Organisations should have a clearly defined hybrid working model and managers should create a safe space for employees to ask for flexibility without fear or anxiety. Hybrid work can be defined differently depending on the workplace, so having this clearly defined will remove any ambiguity and empower employees to ask for what they need to perform at their best and still feel included. 

What has your experience with hybrid work been like? Tell us below.