In the spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, I served on an ad hoc well-being committee for the University of South Florida Muma College of Business. The Dean (now USF President) Moez Limayem wanted to know how remote work was affecting everyone. What struck me from the results of the survey we conducted was that the non-instructional staff were struggling with being isolated from supervisors and peers in the office. They could no longer just walk down the hall to get an answer to a question, but had to rely on email where they might have to wait hours or overnight for an answer. Fast forward a few years, and we find in many organizations employees are again struggling, but this time as virtual employees are required to work in the office. Although organizational change can require an adjustment period, there are things that can be done to overcome resistance to return to the office.
Fairness and Transparency
One of the things I have come to appreciate in my 5 years at Tampa General Hospital is the importance of transparency and explaining The Why of a decision. I have seen units in turmoil over a decision that seemed arbitrary to employees totally turn around when the why was explained. We see this for many organizations when they mandate that employees return to the office. Employees are often upset at no longer being able to work from home, but when no explanation is given, employees invent their own and what they invent is likely to be negative.
Fairness goes hand-in-hand with transparency. Whatever the virtual work policy is, it should be applied according to clearly stated principles and not be left to the discretion (or whims) of individual managers. It will seem unfair if an administrative assistant for one manager has to work from the office whereas the admin for another manager is allowed to work from home. That is likely to create resentment and resistance.
Why Return to the Office?
There are good reasons for organizations to require that employees return to the office.
- Social isolation is not good for mental health. Self-determination Theory notes that there are three basic human needs and one of them is for connections with others. Working in the same physical location with colleagues can meet this need, whereas working from home can make the person feel isolated. Although people whose jobs became virtual may have adjusted, it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have their social needs better met by returning to the office.
- Teamwork can suffer in virtual teams. Sure, virtual teams can be effective as individuals can still complete their tasks working in isolation. But virtual teams have a more difficult time communicating, have lower team performance, and struggle to build trust.
- Informal idea sharing disappears. One of the things I noticed when I started attending virtual meetings is the loss of informal conversation. With a face-to-face meeting, there is generally time before and after for you to huddle up with individuals to ask questions and share ideas. I was at a business dinner last night, and there was a half hour welcome reception to allow for that sort of interaction.
- You can’t build culture virtually. More and more organizations are understanding the importance of building a cohesive culture, and as TGH CEO John Couris likes to say, you can’t build culture on MS Teams. For that people need to come to a common location where they can experience the totality of the physical and social environment.
Overcome Resistance to Return to the Office
Too many organizations approach return to the office as a simple policy change. A mandate is delivered that on a certain date, everyone is expected to work from the office. There is little effort to treat this as a managed change effort that requires careful implementation, so not surprisingly, it creates resistance by managers and their employees. After all, what many consider a benefit is being taken away, and people are losing autonomy. A better approach would be to follow some basic principles of organizational change.
- Begin with the why. The first communication should be an explanation of why the organization wants people to return to the office. What is management trying to achieve? What is the problem they are trying to solve? This blog article provides some of that explanation.
- Allow employee input. Transparency should not be a one-way communication but a conversation. Individuals should be allowed to express their opinions and provide input. It doesn’t matter if people agree with the change, just understanding the reason and being able to respond makes it easier for people to accept. Furthermore, sometimes an employee will have a suggestion to make the change better.
- Apply the change consistently. An organization should not allow some managers to opt out of the policy. If the decision is made that employees return to the office, all managers should be held accountable for implementing it unless there is a compelling reason not to. That reason should be made clear so everyone understands the why.
- Allow flexibility. In most cases, face-to-face versus virtual is not all or nothing. Hybrid arrangements can often provide the best of both worlds. When I was a young faculty member I used to come to the office Monday through Thursday and work from home on my “Research Fridays”. This was the day I worked on papers because I had an entire day of uninterrupted time which made writing easier. Organizations can use the same approach in requiring a certain number of days in the office and allowing flexibility in working from home on other days.
With any organizational change that affects people, there is likely to be some resistance. It takes time for people to adjust, and changing work locations can be a big adjustment. There can be drawbacks, for example, commuting takes time and costs money. On the other hand, there are positives to working from the office in terms of a clear separation between home and work, and access to colleagues and supervisors. Organizations should carefully plan their approach to overcome resistance to return to the office.
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