Return to the Office or Not? That is the Question.

The answer depends on how important diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is for your company. Do they pay it lip service and check the box by sending every employee to mandatory unconscious bias training, or do they integrate DE&I into all their decision-making?

The challenge for organizations is to figure out how to articulate their commitment to diversity and inclusion by going beyond compliance training and marketing strategies. Organizational leaders need to re-shift their commitment to actual outcomes that demonstrate how they are putting DE&I into practice.

You may be wondering what does this have to do with returning to the office after the pandemic? Let me share what motivated me to ignore an increasing workload and instead focus my attention on writing this blog.

This week I saw a segment on the Today Show[i] about workers’ mixed feelings about returning to the office. As we get closer to achieving a post-pandemic life, many companies and their employees are trying to figure out what the new work environment will entail. Whereas some CEOs are pretty firm on their position…everyone is returning to work, and we are burning Zoom in effigy.

Bloomberg reported that 39% of 1,000 adults surveyed, said they would consider quitting if they were forced to return to the office without flexible remote working options.

This got me thinking about the conversations I have had with CEOs and senior leaders about this very topic. Some are totally open to remote work, whereas others are dead set against it.

My opinion on the matter? We are focusing on the wrong thing.

One idea I try to reinforce over and over again with leaders is that you do not have to have all the answers, nor do you need to make all the decisions. For some confident, experienced, and decisive leaders, this comment may be very triggering for them. If you are a Gen X or a Baby Boomer, this type of thinking may make no sense to you. We were raised by bosses who told us what to do and not to ask questions. Our purpose was to get it done. Full stop! We would only see our boss when we screwed up. That was our generation’s version of a reward and recognition program. But things are different now.

The newer generation is fundamentally different than we were. Many of us wanted to have a family and own a house. Our job was a means to an end with a paycheck. But Millennials and Gen Z have different priorities.

For Baby Boomers and Gen X, financial stability was one of our top priorities. Whereas Millennials and Gen Z are more concerned about diversity, inclusion, and want to work for a company that cares about their well-being.

According to Gallup[ii], Millennials and Gen Z are the first generation willing to take a $7,600 pay cut to work in a culture that is affirming.

Whether you agree with this or not, you have a couple of options. Ignore the data or start listening. If you select option B, start listening, I encourage you to consider the following six approaches when devising your return to the office strategy.

1. Make a visible commitment: articulate your commitment to your employees and use a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) approach when devising return to work policies. GBA+ is an analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men, and non-binary people may experience policies, programs and initiatives. The “plus” acknowledges that GBA goes beyond biological (sex) and socio-cultural (gender) differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are.

2. Be aware of your bias: are you the leader that wants everyone to return to the office because you believe in-person Mocktail Monday, or Taco Tuesday is truly what makes your company’s culture? That brainstorming and collaboration isn’t effective virtually? I think that may say more about your needs and level of comfort than others. Dive deep into your belief system and explore how your values guide your decisions and may be contributing to blind spots. Rather than solely focusing on what you want, begin to re-shift your focus on what your employees, organization, and clients need and value. Let that guide your decision-making.

3. Be curious: listen loudly and ask brave questions. Create a brave space for people to discuss flaws in your system and work hard to ensure equity. You can also ask a very simple question, “tell me more about what kind of a work environment we should create post-pandemic and why”. Being heard and understood are important for psychological safety in both our personal and professional lives.

4. Focus on outcomes not outputs: whether you decide to have everyone return to the office or try a hybrid return to office/remote strategy, you need to know how you are going to measure success and how to track it. It will be important to measure whether your strategy is working or not. Unless of course you really don’t care about your employees. I doubt this is the case because you probably would not have read past the first sentence of this article.

5. Share success: if you were working remotely during the pandemic, provide evidence to highlight whether this method was working or not. If it was working, collect the data and share it with others. That way when skeptics suggest “they can’t measure performance”, or “this might reduce the quality of our services”, you have a simple counter argument at the ready: proof that hybrid and/or remote working is beneficial to the company and your customers.

6. Emotional intelligence: is the ability to identify and understand emotions in yourself and others. I call this leading with the heart. If you want to create brave spaces where people can contribute to decision making, challenge the status quo, and share their experience of inequality, we must demonstrate an open mindset and deep curiosity about others, listen without judgment, and use empathy to seek to understand those around you.

Creating a workplace environment that embraces and nurtures DE&I, means no one will be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. When pondering a return to office approach, try one of the six approaches. Start with one and see how it goes. What can you learn if you approach things with a curious mindset, or if you apply a GBA+ analysis when devising a new policy?

The better you are at including diverse perspectives (gender, race, ethnicity, etc.) in your decision-making, the better you, your team, and organization will be at navigating through an ever-changing world.

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About the Author

Dr. Johanna Pagonis is the owner of the leadership consulting firm, Sinogap Solutions. She has 20 years’ experience in leadership and organizational development gained throughout her professional and academic career. Her company supports organizations in achieving their mission by maximizing the human potential across their workforce. Dr. Pagonis is also the author of Choose to Be a Leader Others Would Want to Follow – How to Lead with Heart and Purpose. Available at Amazon.

Citations:

[i] Today Show: https://www.today.com/video/management-and-workers-are-divided-over-returning-to-the-office-114464325705

[ii] Gallup: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/336275/things-gen-millennials-expect-workplace.aspx?utm_source=workplace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=workplace_newsletter_apr_04062021&utm_term=newsletter&utm_content=four_things_textlink_1&elqTrackId=330cea48a09a4ef487b6dab425bc0475&elq=c0ccb21ce39a4d348688db7e731e21a4&elqaid=6326&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=1324