One thing we learned during Covid about the workplace is that some people actually perform better working from home.
The quietness of their home, being around their pets, and not having to commute made them less stressed and more focused on their work responsibilities.
If this is the case, then why did many companies decide to make everyone come back to work five days a week?
The answer that is usually stated is that by having everyone in the office there is better collaboration and engagement.
This may be true for some companies, but I question why all five days?
How do some, like salespeople who are on the road most of the time, still feel a sense of camaraderie?
Do they feel they part of a team or not? How do leaders know what they are truly up to and do they trust them?
More companies are using advanced technology to make sure that their employees are indeed working if they are not on-site.
Laptop cameras and how many times an employee moves their computer mouse are being monitored but does it really work?
The real question here is what is the best way to make employees work at their peak performance?
In other words, what do leaders have to do to make their employees successful?
The answer is simple. Don’t treat them as a “one size fits all”.
Each person is unique, and it goes beyond the distinguishing characteristics we normally think of such as gender, race, etc.
Everyone has different learning and communication styles but they also have different energy levels.
As an example, I am writing this blog at 6:15 am. I like to do my writings in the morning regardless if it is a blog, a report, or a chapter for my book that I am co-authoring with a colleague.
By 3:00 pm, I start to check out so I try hard not to schedule meetings that go into a lot of details, but I can manage ones that are more lighthearted.
If I worked in an office, I would want to beat the traffic so I would want my hours to be something like 6:30 am to 2:30 pm.
Even that is not great because the bridge that I have to travel on is under construction so it is most likely that my 20-minute morning commute will be an hour at a minimum coming home. Ugh!
Obviously not every job can be structured around the employee but having the conversation with each subordinate regarding when they feel they are performing at their best would be productive.
I have heard from my clients that many feel that if they could control when people should be in the office that the three days in and two days out model is ideal.
This way small household responsibilities can be accomplished at lunchtime when they are home or when they normally would be commuting.
This way all the chores that are usually crammed into the weekends can be spread out more so employees don’t feel exhausted by Monday.
They also can have better quality family and/or me time. Costs for pet care and other things are reduced as well.
Now that it has been over five months since many companies instituted the five-day-in-the-office mandate at the beginning of the year, isn’t this a good time to review if this is really working?
Senior leaders need to analyze if their expectations are really matching up with reality.
With mental health issues still continuing to rise, isn’t it important to re-evaluate their workforce and ensure that they are looking out for the best options for each of their employees or are they going to stick with the old 9-5 mentality?
It will be interesting to see what happens the second half of the year.