As the world is entering a new post-pandemic era, there will be new, exciting and innovative ways to work. Some sectors, such as Wall Street, are requiring people to return to an office. There are remote-first organizations that don’t have a headquarters or any offices at all. The tech space has coalesced around the hybrid work model. This entails coming into the office on two or three designated days a week.
In an interview with Francine Katsoudas, a 25-year veteran of Cisco, a global leader in technology that powers the internet, she offers insight into the interesting ways that the tech giant is navigating this new environment. Katsoudas serves as the firm’s executive vice president and chief people, policy and purpose officer.
She has the desire to continually empower employees and improve their work lives. Katsoudas says that a successful hybrid work model is built upon a foundation of flexible, empathetic leadership.
Flexibility And Empathy
Cisco conducted a hybrid work survey of 28,000 full-time employees across 27 markets. The study shows positive results. “For most, across different generations, gender and seniority, work performance has improved as well as employees’ well-being, work-life balance, relationships and even personal confidence.”
With this in mind, Katsoudas does not order people to come into an office on appointed days. Instead, the philosophy of the tech company is to decentralize the decision-making process so that team leaders and staff can arrive at mutually beneficial work styles. This means, in reality, the individual is afforded the freedom to decide when it’s best suited to come into the office. The flexibility woven into the model allows a person to work from home in the morning and then come into the headquarters for lunch to meet up with colleagues that they haven’t seen in person for two years, then head home before the afternoon commuting rush.
Leadership Is Key
Katsoudas is a proponent of giving the tools, guidance and advice to cultivate successful leaders. Progressive, forward-thinking managers connect meaningfully and intentionally with their team members. They inquire about how they are doing, ask if they are getting the support and technologies they need and whether they are continuing to learn, be challenged and grow professionally.
Along with offering autonomy, it’s important that leaders offer direction, goals and team-building events, as well as allocate time together and keep a clear line of communication open. In an era characterized by the Great Resignation with people freely quitting on a moment’s notice, having a positive leader will help stem the tide of attrition, retain talent and signal that the company is a great place to join.
It is unreasonable to expect a manager who has never overseen a distributed hybrid workforce to make everything magically work overnight. Companies need to equip and support leaders with the new skills required for a flexible hybrid model. Some of the attributes required in this new world are empathy and mindfulness. To some, this comes organically; others may need some help in the form of coaching, handholding and mentorship.
It’s mission-critical to create and cultivate a conscious culture for people to thrive. It would be naive to believe that everything will fall into place right away and stay that way. The reality is that companies will need to iterate and conduct A/B testing to see what works and what doesn’t. By asking and receiving feedback from staff, along with constructive criticism, the hybrid model will improve. When people are heard, given choices and feel that they’re being taken care of, the organization is moving in the right direction.
How Offices Will Change
Having enormous real estate holdings may not be in the future. There will be a change in how offices are used. No longer will it be necessary to go into a central location with hives of cubicles, plus offices for executives and conference rooms.
The office will be the place to go for meetings with clients, team bonding events, brainstorming sessions and all-hands-on-deck matters. Offices will likely be converted to feel comfortable and feel like being at home. It will be a place that you actually want to come into a few days a week.
It is more likely to become a meeting place for in-person group collaboration and work, where it is required, and for social connection and interaction with colleagues. With this, organizations must rethink how they see their office space, why employees will need it, and how they use it.
Work-Life Balance
In the survey, focusing on work-life balance, the vast majority of respondents (78.9%) felt this had improved with time away from the office. Most respondents attributed the improvement in work-life balance to the policy of flexible work schedules.
Commuting time serves as a major contributing factor to a lower quality of life. While not having to commute was the single biggest time-saver, more than three-quarters of people said that they shaved off around four hours a week by not having to deal with the usual office gossip, chatter and interruptions.
Nothing is perfect. Hybrid does have its distractions. Working at home, as people have seen throughout the pandemic, work and life blend together. When working remotely, it’s easy to put in more hours. Around 70.9% of respondents cite that they have not seen an improvement in work-life balance because of the inability to switch off work mode.
Almost 30% reported that the hybrid work model is more relaxed with less pressure and stress. It seems that hybrid working improves company culture and makes employees happier, more motivated and more likely to remain at the organization.
Building Trust
Trust within an organization is a critical issue. An astounding finding in the research determined that employees trust their managers more than their peers. One would have thought that it’d be the other way around, but it does make sense. Over the last two years, there has been less in-person interaction between co-workers, whereas the lines of communication with managers have been necessary to keep abreast of what is happening at the organization. According to the respondents, over 70% of them believe their managers trust them when it comes to being productive at home, whereas 58.9% believe their peers can be trusted when working remotely.
Technology Lets People See The Real You
Understandably, people miss in-person interactions and experience Zoom fatigue from the constant back-to-back video calls. The survey disputes this mindset. The results indicate that technology, at times, is kind of cool and fun. Nearly 50% of survey respondents said that they enjoy gaining a sneak peek into a colleague’s life. Seeing a glimpse of their pets, kids running around and interesting decor choices is endearing and makes for a great way to connect and learn more about a person’s real life.
Source: Forbes
