Working our way to a new normal roundtable in partnership with RSM

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the way that most of us work has changed dramatically. Where once an entire company would work 9-5 in the office with some being able to work remotely for 1-2 days a week if needed, now we have a workforce that prefers to work from home most of the time. This study by the Office of National Statistics shows that of those who can hybrid work, the most common pattern is to work mostly and home and sometimes from an office. 

Remote and flexible work has become the standard for many traditionally office-based roles. As a result, employers are adapting to this with new procedures, policies, and incentives. Business West got together with West of England Initiative members RSM UK to host an invite only roundtable discussion called “Working our way to a new normal” to share ideas, best practices and discuss how our respective businesses were handling this transition.

Collaboration and Focus

The big balance that many in the room said they found tricky was getting colleagues together to collaborate, versus allowing them time at home to focus on deep work. Most participants had found that their office spaces worked best as a hotdesking environment now, to allow people to sit together to collaborate in the way that suits them best. Others said they often found that when teams mandated a day for everyone to come in the office those who collaborate across teams often spent much of their office time still on Teams calls, as each team was choosing different days for office working.

Networking, Career Progression and Presenteeism

A big problem identified by several participants was that they worried hybrid working was causing new staff to struggle to build professional networks inside the company. This was especially present with younger colleagues, for example those just out of university. In many cases they have just spent 2 years studying for their degrees remotely and many are loathe to give up the freedom that working from home allows, however because they are working primarily from home, they are not getting to know their colleagues on a personal level by doing things like going out for lunch together or socialising after work. Because of the lack of office-related socialising, new starters are not building professional networks which could hamper their chances at long-term career building. 

This also has an impact on retention – if people have no relationships at work, they find it easier to move on, and of course if they have no professional network then they may see less opportunities to advance and so less motivation to stay on that front.

Finally on this point, many sited that presenteeism was still a factor in their workplaces. Being seen to be in the office and working did have an impact on the impression that some colleagues might have of a particular person. Those who chose to primarily work from home might be negatively affected by the impression that some people have of people who are not seen regularly in the office.

Placement Students

Many participants wanted to discuss placement students and their policy on hybrid working for those colleagues. Most of those present said that placement students working at their businesses were required to work from the office every working day, for several reasons:

Firstly, in order to really get the most out of their time in their placement years, students should really immerse themselves in their role. Many managers and their teams struggle with training on complex processes and procedures remotely, and this can mean that if placement students were able to work from home they would miss out on a level of education for their chosen careers. This not only puts them at a disadvantage compared to their peers, but also makes them less valuable team members.

They also don’t get to truly embed in the company culture when working from home and get the experience of what their post-graduate careers might be like. This is a huge part of why many choose to do a placement year, and while it isn’t impossible to get a sense of company culture while working from home, many participants in the room said that they felt in-person interaction was essential to truly living and breathing the company culture.

Finally, taking on a placement student is a huge investment for a business. They take time away from regular work to train and educate a placement student and show them how their chosen career path might look, and many businesses spend a lot of money and time recruiting, training and developing their students. The worry for employers in this situation is that if the students do not get embedded in the company culture, make connections and build a personal network they might not come back to the firm after graduation. If a placement student doesn’t return to be a full member of staff, this often means that the time and money that went into training them doesn’t get any return on investment for the business.

Incentives and Pay

One topic that came up a few times was incentivising staff to return to the office. Several participants said they had laid on free lunches for their staff to encourage more of them to attend the office. This incentive did do well, and many said their offices were often packed when lunch was laid on for staff, however the question in the room was “can we continue to buy lunch for our entire staff forever, and if we stop will people stop coming to the office?”

Another incentive that was discussed was pay related – for example while no businesses at the roundtable offered this, there was discussion around businesses offering increased pay to staff who committed to work primarily from the office. So, when hired you would offer the candidate two salary packages, one higher with a minimum 3 days a week in the office and another slightly lower with no office working commitment. Many around the room said they thought this was a good idea, as it gives the potential new hire the option to choose how they want to work.

On the topic of pay another point came up from a few attendees whose businesses had offices in London – what to do about the bonus pay awarded to staff who work in London but now choose to work remotely from another part of the country. Traditionally if you worked in central London, you would get a small pay bump to cover the additional costs of living in or commuting to the city, but now with some staff able to work from home for the majority of the time do those staff still qualify for the London bonus?

Boundaries

With the worst of the pandemic firmly in the rear-view mirror, many participants were having talks internally around hybrid working and whether it was now time to start setting boundaries. Staff have worked from home for almost 2 years, some fully remotely and some in a hybrid model, but businesses are looking to get staff to return more often now that the danger has mostly passed. 

Some had already set a boundary on post-pandemic hybrid working, for example to be in the office “more often than not” was the approach that several attendees had taken. However, others were worried that requiring more attendance to their offices would lose staff, as people are now accustomed to working from home. Some mentioned that removal of the commuting cost had been an effective pay rise for some of their teams who travelled from a little further out. Asking these staff members to come into the office a few days a week is likely to push them to find an employer who will not require this or lose out in their pay packets.

Positives of Hybrid Working

While many in the room saw a lot of negatives to hybrid working and were looking for ways to get staff together more often, we all agreed that there were a lot of positives to being able to work from home.

One participant said they felt that working remotely had really humanised their company leaders by giving staff a view into their home lives. Seeing a child in the background of a Teams call or hearing a dog bark to be taken out brought a level of connection to leaders that we didn’t really have in an office environment.

Several participants agreed that staff wellbeing had improved by allowing more flexibility in their working time. For those with children, elderly relatives or other demanding personal responsibilities like a sporting endeavour being able to structure their lives a little better and not lose time to commuting has drastically reduced their stress levels. 

Finally, many noted that hybrid working had drastically increased their reach for recruitment. Where you might struggle to recruit outside of your city for an office-based role, a candidate might be inclined to travel much further if they only had to do it one day a week.

Is Hybrid Working Here To Stay?

I think for most in the room, the answer was yes – hybrid working is here to stay. One participant noted that in their hybrid working surveys many staff noted that they wouldn’t give up hybrid working, even though they knew it had its downsides for teamwork and collaboration.

Lastly - on the topic of collaboration, we’d like to thank our gracious hosts at RSM UK for hosting the roundtable in their lovely, brand new, offices in Temple Quay – a vibrant business community right next to Bristol’s main railway station Temple Meads.