Whether dealing with employees who are working in the office, remotely or on a hybrid schedule, here are some of the key mistakes that bosses should avoid with returning employees.
Treating employees like children
When workers suddenly went remote, bosses worried that teams’ productivity would nosedive. Without the presence of managers and co-workers to keep them focused, workers would surely spend their time bingeing on Netflix, sightseeing and taking their dogs for long walks. Instead, managers soon realized (in line with decades of studies), remote work doesn’t pose a threat to productivity; in fact, remote work actually makes us more productive. Research shows that many people thrive when they have autonomy over their work, their environment (no more thermostat wars) and flexibility in arranging schedules. With less stressful commutes and more flexibility, most of us are more available to bring our A game to work.
The question is whether bosses are prepared to accept this. Whether it’s for remote, in-person or hybrid workers, managers must avoid the mistake of reinstating the control practices that were standard for so long. If decisions about who works where and when come unilaterally from the top down, it will most certainly be met with a backlash. Employees have tasted freedom, and they won’t give it up easily.
Of course, a certain level of structure and consistency is still crucial, especially as we adapt to a new normal. What we want to avoid, though, is for the personal preferences and biases of managers alone to inform these decisions. Instead, we need to make sure that there are centralized and equitable guidelines, which managers and teams can interpret together.
>> Read more: How to keep your employees motivated during Covid-19
Reinforcing tech exhaustion
Bosses have gotten accustomed to using technology in ways that seemed necessary during the prolonged shutdown — scheduling video meetings back-to-back or on a moment’s notice, for instance. Those worked in the short term, especially when people were stuck at home. But the resulting tech exhaustion won’t be tolerable as things return to normal.
Whether meeting in person or virtually, we need an in-between period to decompress, digest information and prepare for the next meeting. And bosses can’t expect that remote workers will continue to be available all the time, anytime.
Instead, managers must cultivate a more-sophisticated awareness of which digital tools to use and when in a hybrid world. Some tools, such as videoconferencing, increase immediacy and intimacy, while other asynchronous tools, such as email, are designed to formalize processes and policies. Meanwhile, no digital tool can fully replace in-person interactions even though it may have seemed otherwise during lockdown.
Going back to the ‘butts in seats’ metric
The remote-work experiment also exposed the holes in long-held practices of performance evaluation. Whether managers consciously realized it or not, a key indicator of office performance was the archaic “butts in seats” metric. Employees who spent more time in the office were perceived as more productive.
But as it turns out, getting in early and staying late isn’t necessarily related to performance, although it may very well be performative. As a result, as many workers return to a hybrid or remote workplace, managers need to stop rewarding people for their presence, and focus on the work itself.
>> Read more: Mental health and wellbeing in the workplace
The implication of an outcome-based appraisal of workers is that managers have to equip people with skills, tools and resources, and get out of the way. Trusting that workers will have or seek the insights into how best to achieve their work goals will be crucial.
Refusing to experiment
Ultimately, the biggest mistake managers may fall prey to with returning workers is overconfidence (which bosses have in abundance). Managers think that they can draw on their extensive experience as we return to work, and that they understand how the new normal will unfold.
A mind-set that anticipates a lot of trial and error and accepts that it will take time to learn how to navigate the new normal is the best way to manage returning employees in the coming weeks and months.
Bibliography:
Neeley, T. (2021, August 14). The biggest Mistakes bosses will make with Workers returning AFTER COVID-19. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/bosses-mistakes-return-work-11628795898?mod=business_minor_pos1.
JobHopin Team