Steve is the cofounder and CEO of Awardco, a fast-growing rewards and recognition company.
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A recent point of contention between employers and employees is one of the far-reaching effects of the pandemic: flexibility.
Employees are used to working from home and want a healthy work-life balance, and they’re not happy if they don’t get it. In fact, 76% of employees in a survey stated they’d quit if flexibility was taken away. On the flip side, 90% of companies plan to implement return-to-office policies by the end of 2024, showing that many leadership teams want people back in the office full time.
This situation seems like a textbook definition of a conflict of interests. Many organizations may feel stuck between a rock and hard place when trying to find the right balance.
At my company, Awardco, we weren’t immune to this proverbial tug-of-war. Ever since our inception, we as a leadership team have supported a strong flexibility policy. But at the same time, after the pandemic, we saw how important in-person collaboration truly is to both our culture and business success.
Through a process of trial and error, we’ve now struck what we feel to be a healthy balance between in-office expectations and a flexible policy. And while no strategy will fit everyone or please every employee, I want to share three of the things we’ve done to make finding the right balance easier.
1. Make the office a place people want to be.
Employees have to enjoy the office if they’re going to agree to spend most of their days there again. And no, the excuse of “they were fine with it before the pandemic, so they should be fine with it now” isn’t going to fly.
After years of working from the comfort of their own home, not having to commute, having access to convenient food and all of the other amenities a home brings, going back to the office will be a bigger challenge than it ever was.
Office upgrades come in many shapes, sizes and budgets. Here are some to consider:
• Reorganize your space to create quiet areas. Some people thrive in an exciting office environment. And some prefer somewhere quiet to focus. Make both possible with spaces for each purpose.
• Provide time and space to exercise. Help employees stay active and healthy by providing time and space to exercise. Whether that’s an area for lunchtime yoga or two breaks a day for walks outside, anything is good.
• Upgrade office equipment. Give everyone equipment such as supportive chairs, adjustable desks and ergonomic keyboards to make each person more comfortable.
• Offer food and snacks. Set up a break room with plenty of healthy (and some sugary) snacks. If you have the budget, provide catering or subsidized meals.
• Encourage team activities. Teams are where employees spend most of their time, so provide a budget for each team to go to a meal or an activity on a regular basis.
• Plan activities or celebrations. Fun, companywide activities are a great way to build a culture that people love to participate in. Employee Appreciation Day, Spirit Week or some random holidays are a great way to surprise your people with a fun day.
Before people are okay going back to the office more often, the office has to be a place people want to be.
2. Set expectations but leave room for exceptions.
This is one strategy that has worked for us. We’ve made it clear that the expectation is coming into the office if able. This expectation is the undercurrent to our entire flexible policy.
However, if an employee is unable to make it into the office for any legitimate reason, managers are instructed to support them in their needs. So if they don’t have a car, if they have a doctor’s appointment, if their babysitter is sick or anything like that, we let them work from home.
The key here is trust. Make it clear that employees should be in the office as often as possible. And when they can’t, don’t micromanage them or ask for proof. This balancing act is still a work in progress, even for us, but we’ve started to see the benefits of combining in-office work and flexibility this way.
3. Schedule required in-office time.
To have a more clear-cut balance between in-office collaboration and flexibility, consider scheduling set times that everyone has to be in the office. Then, on the other days, allow employees to do what they prefer.
For example, ask that everyone come into the office from Monday to Thursday. Then, let people work from home on Friday if they so choose. Or, require working in the office from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then let people go home to finish the day if they want.
This type of schedule ensures that everyone works together at the same time to encourage collaboration, without completely eliminating at-home work for those who enjoy it.
Keep all your spinning plates in the air.
I know that it can be tough trying to balance productivity, burnout, collaboration, work-life balance and everything else that’s part of a corporate job. However, from my own experience, I also know that striking a healthy balance between flexibility and culture can create a workplace where employees feel encouraged, empowered and listened to. Hopefully, these strategies will help you do so.
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