Balancing act on blended working

OVER the past few weeks, there has been much discussion around various employers’ long-term plans for the location of their workforces.

Some companies have been very vocal about getting everyone back in the office as soon as possible. In contrast, others have indicated their employees can continue to work from anywhere they want to permanently.

The return to the office versus the end of the office is a debate that is going to dominate the next few months. There is, however, a really nuanced issue here despite the soundbites and headlines: it is just too early for employers to be making final decisions on their workplace strategy.

In the last 12 months, we have seen that many of the long-standing concerns about letting people work remotely have been debunked. It is also very clear there are huge wins in terms of flexibility and inclusivity. The opportunities remote working provides in accessing new pools of talent could be critical for many companies because we are seeing skill shortages in key business areas getting worse.

At the same time, there is a desire from many employees to return to the energy and serendipity that face-to-face working brings.

One of the biggest challenges for companies has been how they retain their unique cultures remotely. There is also a significant economic threat from the impact widespread long-term remote working will have on the commercial property market and city centres’ financial health, something the UK Government is clearly worried about.

Hybrid working will be a popular strategy with a mix of face-to-face and remote; however, there is still much work that needs to be done to make this practical. Asynchronous working and communication will be important here, and even after 12 months of working remotely, many employers are still struggling with this.

It’s also important to remember people have been working under the stress of a global pandemic, often in less than ideal working conditions. There is a big difference between forcing people to work remotely and them choosing to do so.

In future, the most successful employers will be those that listen carefully to their employees. Much experimenting will need to be done with the tools, technologies and techniques available so as to find workplace strategies that are productive and inclusive.

What is clear is that things are never going back to how they were in February 2020 – doing what you used to do is not an option.