I was recently asked how COVID-19 impacted my work life and what types of thoughts I have for folks that are navigating this ordeal. Before I dive into my answer, I want to first highlight my bias: I am a full-time, in-office employee that has wanted to see a hybrid work model while revisiting how we interact in shared spaces. I have a track record of bringing up these topics and COVID-19 certainly forces the discussion from new angles. Even so, I still believe in the major gains and opportunities alongside the newfound discoveries in the past months due to the pandemic. For the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on three themes:
- Work/Life Balance
- Employee Hiring, Engagement, and Retention
- Trust and Communication
Quick aside: I deemed myself unfit for WFH roles early in my career. Not due to experience, but simply because I’m a wildly extroverted person. I figured I’d thrive best in spaces with people and energy to gain from interactions. Plus, so many warned me that I might get a little antsy if I ever tried. I agreed with these perceptions and nixed remote opportunities as a result. The past months have not only granted me a glimpse into the world of remote life, but I’ve gotten to truly test my personality against the realities. Turns out, I thoroughly enjoy the setup! Now, I’m quick to discern the “WFH life” from “surviving a pandemic” life, as conflating the two would undermine the devastating reality we’re facing right now with COVID-19 affecting our world. I’ve noticed an uptick in WFH analysis, but many fail to acknowledge the endless variables in play e.g. employees taking on the roles home schooling and/or caregivers. We must remember we’re home for a reason and not because we want to see how work goes; we’re all trying to survive a pandemic.
Let’s get back to the gains and opportunities! Starting with:
Work/Life Balance
One of my favorite elements of WFH is the ability to further blend our lives with our careers. Instead of burning time getting ready and taking a long, traffic-filled drive to the office, we can sit right down to our work and assess our upcoming day. I read my schedule from bed when my first wave of alarms is going off (I am not a morning person; I set an obnoxious number of alarms), as it helps me warm up my brain so I can at least function in the early hours. As a result, I’m in work mode an hour earlier than if I were to show up in the office. On the flip side of that morning reality is the fact I can tune back in and work during later hours, when some flow is easily attained. Being able to shift a work schedule to my circadian rhythm is priceless and an immediate gain in work quality. Do you have laundry to do? Get a load switched between meetings and enjoy the concurrent progress of home and work tasks and a shorter weekend to-do list! There are some down sides to the blend, as some may fail to create a healthy division and end up working more hours than if they were in the office. Plus, others simply need to get out of a house or have that change of scenery to get into a new mental space. Hybrid models can help cover the varied ways in which employees maintain that healthy balance.
Employee Hiring, Engagement, and Retention
Companies want to invest in, train, and help employees thrive so they continue to deliver great work. With in-office models, companies are bound to regional talent and those willing to relocate or travel, which can be a pricy endeavor. Subsequently, if the employee has to move for any personal reason, that domain knowledge walks out the door with them. What if we could find and hire people from anywhere? Or, what if we offered people the ability to work in a manner that best suits their lives wherever they are? Such questions shift the discussion down the path of inclusion and diversity efforts, as employees with different needs and experiences could benefit from WFH flexibility. Consider those with medical conditions, parents of kids with varying needs and schedules, those without a reliable means of transportation, or simply the fact that neurodiversity plays a role. Expecting every nuanced, human experience to fit within the linear, cookie-cutter, 9-5 work models felt antiquated ahead of the pandemic. Now, the ethical duty to give ourselves space to adapt to the “new abnormal” is intensified, as our worlds are completely shifted in order to reduce the spread of the virus. This mandate and sudden WFH reality has helped highlight the importance of “keeping it human” and doing what we can so that we all get through this together. The companies that nail this attitude are those that will benefit from not only a sense of doing what’s right, but the increased loyalty and mutual respect from employees, which tends to lead to increased engagement and retention. Plus, being able to WFH will ensure that those that hear about what we did in these days will be able to apply from wherever they are. Opportunities abound.
Trust and Communication
I left this theme for the end because I believe it’s the most important in any workplace dynamic and, unfortunately, trust and communication are sometimes found lower in the priority list if not boldly considered as a given. The best work models can be doomed by a lack of trust and poor communication regardless of WFH standings: micromanaging tendencies, employees dodging accountability, fear-based leadership, blame culture, etc. Beyond the employee impact, products can fall victim to Conway’s Law and reflect the disjointed nature of a company lacking in adequate structures. (I’ll resist that topic, as it’s one of my favorite concepts to explore and is guaranteed to take me down a rabbit hole). The pandemic brought forth many challenges and one of which was a trial in how much we trust each other to uphold our responsibilities from home. Companies that already embraced WFH flexibility are shining in this time, but they’re not exempt from having to balance the various ways in which we cope with COVID-19. The most consistent and reliable workers can be leveled by a sudden need to homeschool their children, falling ill, a death in the family, or whatever could land in the reality of quarantine mandates. Not to mention the invisible struggles of mental issues, which do not mix well with days (and months) of deep uncertainty that the virus brought with it. Quite simply, the companies that have established the culture of trust and open communication within their workforces are far more likely thrive in just about any conditions and, yes, that includes a pandemic. Culture change takes time especially with the added pressures of survival, in all senses. While we’re likely to lose time adjusting to mandates, I still hope to see the prioritization of trust and communication so that we can come out of this as a stronger workforce.
A final theme worthy of an “honorable mention” in the time of a pandemic: the potential end of open-office concepts, “hot desking”, and other, popular forms of shared spaces. Reducing the spread of germs and viruses will be the name of the game in our near future and our current office trends do not offer a great starting point. Working from home is the viable option for now, but I look forward to the evolution of both our understanding of this virus and the ways in which we can start to coexist in physical spaces again. We have a lot to learn and, with that knowledge, a lot to gain. Make the best of it! Onward!
