Hybrid work isn’t good enough.
As the pandemic wanes in the U.S. and offices reopen, employers’ strategies vary wildly. Companies like Apple and Google have settled on a “hybrid” model, with employees coming in the office three days a week and having the option to work remotely the other days (or longer stretches with approval). Others, like JPMorgan, seem committed to more or less snapping back to the routines we abandoned in early 2020.
Both of these approaches miss the mark. Employees have spent the last year forming new routines and sending signals about how they work best. Hybrid models with rigid rules and mandatory in-office days pay lip service to the idea of employee freedom, but end up adding even more structure. These policies seem to acknowledge that things have changed while also telling employees, “We still don’t trust you.”
JPMorgan’s CEO recently said that he expects by this fall, “It’ll look just like it did before.” If that’s the case, I think it’s a failure of organizations to learn from the past year and a half, and respond to a changing world. Sure, executives have rent and office space to consider, but these factors shouldn’t dictate their teams’ future. Work is defined by why, not where. An employee’s preference to stay completely remote says nothing about their work ethic beyond the fact that they’ve discovered how they work best.
Companies viewing this time as a race to roll out the best hybrid work strategy misunderstand the moment. As business leaders, we have a chance to prove we can be responsive to the ever-evolving way in which people work — and that doesn’t end with one policy. It’s not a time to “return to normal,” but to forge a new, better normal. Amid changing work dynamics, here are my guideposts for building a workplace that keeps employees engaged, wherever they’re logging on from.
Embrace Flexibility
Last year, parents became homeschool teachers and childcare providers, roommates became coworkers and our entire lives were confined to our homes’ square footage — almost overnight. Something had to give. At Brooks Bell, we implemented a flexible work schedule policy, trusting employees to get work done without forcing them into a schedule that was unsustainable in a freshly flattened world. While we had already developed a culture that encouraged flexibility and stepping away as needed, this policy reinforced that idea.
Flexible schedules made sense amid self-isolation, but employees’ personal lives always matter, not just during a pandemic. Is being in an office 9–5 p.m. so important that we should expect our teams to build their lives around it? Of course not. I enjoy going into the office and seeing team members, but sometimes I have an appointment or a kid’s soccer game or simply don’t want to iron a shirt. As a leader, I’d rather accommodate employees’ preferred working styles and schedules than dictate how they work, or demand they commit to a fixed schedule.
In practice, embracing flexibility starts with me. Everyone at Brooks Bell knows I’m not 100% in the office or 100% at home, and I encourage them to take advantage of both as they see fit. We’ve also standardized Slack statuses that broadcast whether we’re working from home, in the office or unavailable during certain hours.
If our team members needed to be closely monitored to do their jobs, we wouldn’t have hired them in the first place. This baseline of trust means they have the freedom to step out for a walk or a kindergarten graduation or a mental health day because I know they will deliver what’s expected of them — even if it’s after hours when they feel most productive.
When we roll out policies like giving employees Election Day off, I often hear, “That only works because you’re a small company.” But in some ways, these moves are easier to implement for bigger companies with more resources. Anyone can do it, it just takes a commitment to your values and ongoing evolution.
Rethink the Office
People have become accustomed to working at home. After gaining the freedom to sleep in, cook lunch or work from their comfiest chair, some employees are understandably less than enthused about returning to sterile, rule-governed offices. The solution to this challenge isn’t to mandate their presence and hope they adjust, but rather to make the office a welcoming place to work and build community for employees who choose to come in.
Working from home and returning to the office doesn’t have to be a binary choice. At Brooks Bell, we’ve adjusted and think of the office not as space that’s interchangeable with a home monitor and IKEA desk, but as a distinct experience with its own benefits and culture. Our office isn’t just a place we work, it’s a place we work together. We’ve shifted common spaces to be more collaborative (while still spaced apart), creating environments similar to hotel lobbies that enable small group meetings and individual work. Along with traditional desks, we’ve added modules with comfortable chairs, a light source and an internet connection. Now, employees can hunker down and feel like they’re working in their living room rather than a desk.
We’ve also considered culture and community in our office reopening plans. We now frequently offer free lunch for all employees in the office, strengthening team bonds with group meals and a break in the day. Our team is also inviting employees to “magnet events,” like a forthcoming food truck rodeo in our parking lot. After so much time apart, optional events like these help people (like me) who crave social interaction with teammates reconnect and enjoy time together.
None of these perks or initiatives are designed to pressure employees into coming back. We have other things in the works for remote employees, and our processes will always accommodate both. But for those who’ve been eagerly awaiting a return, we want to show that we know work looks different now, and we’re committed to changing with the times.
Question Everything
Creating a vibrant workplace and building a roadmap for your business’s future often start with one essential question: “How are you doing?”
Turning this simple pleasantry into an honest inquiry is a good starting point for creating an organization that keeps employees engaged and evolves with the world. These check-ins became more regular during the height of pandemic uncertainty, but they are equally important outside of crises. When leaders know what people are dealing with, we can quickly roll out policies and make changes to address issues.
Beyond one-on-one conversations, I am a big advocate of design thinking. The willingness to question tradition and the fortitude to act on these insights is what sets disruptors apart from the status quo. We’ve adopted this attitude at Brooks Bell — for instance, job descriptions became job designs that center employee growth and company needs. Today, we can do the same thing with office reopenings.
What is employee engagement? For some, it translates to comfy chairs and a food truck buffet, but others thrive when they can work in their own space, away from big personalities and fluorescent lighting. Talking to employees has shown me that sometimes, keeping employees engaged just means leaving them alone. Business personalization strategies require responding to individual customer needs in real time, and your approach to team management should be the same. Everyone at your organization has a way they work best. Employee-first policies start with helping your team discover this style and then creating spaces — physically and virtually — that allow them to do their best work.
Facing the Future
However your organization plans to tackle the changed business landscape, it should be clear that this period isn’t a “return to work.” We’ve been working this whole time, and if anything, the last year and a half of “wartime” should serve as a launching period for a new era of work. My biggest takeaway is also what makes the next step challenging: There is no one way you “should” move forward, as long as your strategy is informed by employee needs and right for your organization. And most of today’s “hybrid” models don’t meet that standard.
Strong core values allow organizations to set plans in plaster rather than stone — able to be broken and reformed as you reevaluate success and learn new information. While you may have an official “office reopening” date, these policies are more about the journey than the destination. Leaders will be hungry for KPIs and measurements of program success, but when your values lead the way, this isn’t the point. Your strategy isn’t about whether one program sticks, it’s about what you stand for.
At Brooks Bell, our true north is to be better humans and kick ass together. Wherever our remote work plans take us, these values will be the driving force. Business is changing — but as long as we know who we are, we can evolve along with it at every stage.