Part 3

Welcome to Human Work. A series about the changing nature of work today.

Many a modern conversation starts like this: “Do you prefer working in the office or working at home?”

This is a way of dealing with something that is by turns traumatic, exciting, knotty and monumental – work changes wrought by the continued advancement of tools that change how, where, when and by whom work is done.

Asking which of these two models one prefers is a deeply human way of dealing with difficulty. Oasis or Blur? Depp or Heard? Pineapple on pizza, or no? We are, especially en masse, incorrigibly binary – it’s part of what makes us human.

In reality, and eventually, truth reveals itself as more multi-faceted and nuanced.

Boss problem

Recent changes in work differ from previous shifts for a few reasons, including:

•  The changes are hugely beneficial for many workers’ lives
• The power of leaders to mandate ways of working, including working patterns, is diminished
•  Talented people who don’t want to be mostly in an office have more work alternatives today*

In my last piece in this series, I talked about the ‘psychic energy’ shortfall many businesses are experiencing, especially since the pandemic years. One reason for this is the rise of accessible and affordable entertainment and ‘edutainment’. As David Goodhart says in his recent and timely book, The Care Dilemma:

“There is a much greater range of stimulating experiences available – travel, entertainment, food, connectivity, the opportunity for professional or artistic creativity – than a few decades ago, especially for women, and even for people of modest incomes.”

Meanwhile, companies have been telling anyone who will listen how their people and their peoples’ wellbeing are a top priority. So, saying “We want our people in the office so we can harvest more of their discretionary energy spend” is a non-starter. Some leaders, however, have an enduring preference for fully office-orientated work, usually for reasons that relate to control. It is easier to control people who are in one place (or a handful of places), amid dynamics that you understand.

Poached eggs help (but only a little)

How can companies win back some of the attention and energy they have lost?

First of all, it’s hard, and it’s very early days. You may feel we’ve been talking about the office/WFH topic for years, but we’ve barely started discussing the drivers behind it. The pandemic accelerated work change by decades and we will spend the next ten years and more trying to understand and grapple with what has happened, and what will happen.

Here’s a short series of questions and observations to get you thinking and hopefully talking.

• Companies and their leaders must become more interesting and engaging. Think career development and learning, not just poached eggs in the canteen. Espousing bland values and purpose-related statements isn’t going to help much either. People are tired of those. We live in interesting times. So be interesting.
• Next, is it time to map and reward the productivity and creative firestarters in your business, whether they are in the office or not? It’s surely now more possible to map and measure such impact than any time in history.
• How do you reward reluctant office presence? If Jenna prefers to work at home and is paid less than office-bods Mark and Heather, but Mark and Heather function far less well when Jenna is not around, maybe think about rewarding (which most often means paying) Jenna more to turn up more often.
• A message for leaders lamenting the demise of full office work. The workforce is not there as a psychological support mechanism for you. It never was. It was just that office work made it feel that way. Seek that support and strength elsewhere.
• Your competitors are your competitors, but your competitors are also Netflix, PlayStation, Instagram, podcasts, cats and dogs, recipe websites, Spotify and YouTube. Again, be interesting. Competitors for your workers’ discretionary energy already are.Look out for more in the Human Work series soon.

 

*Many companies have embraced remote and hybrid working as standard, which means a much larger market for remote and hybrid work has been permanently established.