The Compulsory Quandary
The 2020 pandemic’s mandated work-from-home policy for a time hit most businesses, forcing them to rethink how they work. As the world reopens, many are faced with the decision of having their workforce work in-office, remotely or somewhere in between.
For those that create compulsory attendance policies, should likely brace themselves for the cost higher employee turnover and higher demands on salary.
The challenge for those with compulsory attendance in 2021 is that talent today has now all experienced working from home. Some don’t prefer it, but many do. Those companies need to brace themselves for the cost that I believe will come along with compulsory attendance, higher employee turnover and higher demands on salary. Employers will pay for the high value employees place on “freedom” of when and where they work.
Employers will pay for the high value employees place on “freedom” of when and where they work. I originally wrote this article in February of 2016, long before the 2020 pandemic mandated work-from-home policy hit. My opinion is the same as it was back then:
If you want the best talent in the industry, especially that requires creativity, you have to prioritize what’s best for your clients and employees first.
It’s not just about employees. Clients today demand more than ever at lower cost. Companies need operate efficiently in an era of transcontinental teams and multiple time zones. In 2016, according to most published human resource studies, employees today are concerned most with location, commute, flexibility and work/life balance right alongside salary and benefits.
Messing with key priorities of employees in a such a big way, like eliminating the option to work from home, is obviously going to wreak havoc on a company’s culture and morale. It does not communicate trust and empowerment, key attributes of any healthy organization. Working virtually should not be considered a variable employee benefit, but the very definition of the corporate culture itself.
CMA is a human resources consulting firm in St. Louis. Dana Borchert, a CMA Ph.D. licensed psychologist and job candidate assessment analyzer stated back in 2016, “There are some traits that are hard-wired and impacted by motivational factors. Research from classic studies as far back as the 1970’s from both Kyrter and Glass and Singer have both indicated that people have less stress and perform better when they feel they have control over their environment. Especially for employees who’ve had autonomy and independence, sudden restrictions can be extremely demotivating. It’s is likely that the combination of characteristics and motivators that made an employee successful when working out of the office could make it difficult for them to re-enter.”
It is important to note that working remotely is not for everyone and in every industry. It’s important to have a proprietary assessment to screen team members for potential de-railers, including employees that struggle to organize their own approach, lack initiative or require a great deal of guidance. In addition, cognitive capability is important to consider, as remote workers will need to make decisions independently more often than when working in the office.
Managing Gerard Marketing Group’s team of 12, operating 100% remotely from 2010 to 2018 had benefits well beyond other options like telework and flextime. Post-pandemic many organizations experienced the reduced overhead costs of maintaining an office space and higher productivity from employees working more hours with less time commuting and in-person hallway conversations.
While unplanned hallway conversations do have value, they can be replicated with planned meetings without an agenda or occasional in-person attendance.
At GMG I found that there is less time wasted at work and maximum flexibility. We save on overhead costs that can then be invested back into employee salaries and high-level training. The value to our clients is in the work, not the space we create it in.
Aligning job candidates with a virtual company’s culture and values can be a challenge, but with a committed and conscientious leader can be achieved. A primarily virtual culture works best, like anything else, when its leader fully embraces the concept, has clarity, communicates well to the team and is willing to do what it takes to overcome the approaches’ challenges.