Homeworking: A disaster waiting to happen?
We need to collectively stop assuming that working from home – or hybrid working – is right for everybody. It really isn't.
Social media is full of articles and research suggesting the majority of workers want to be able to work from home. Benefits spouted include greater productivity, improved work-life balance, and redistribution of wealth away from commercial hubs and back into local communities.
From the conversations I’ve been having, this isn’t the whole picture…
Bosses are telling me that their people now working harder – and for longer – than they ever had in the past. They’re not getting commuting hours back to spend with their families.
They’re also worried about the lack of visibility over their teams - not because of productivity dips as we might cynically imagine, but because they fear their entire relationship with their team members is based on what can be caught on a webcam. Those struggling can easily ‘perform’ on an hour-long call whereas in the office you’d see them peaking and troughing and would know when to step in to help.
Then there’s those who live in the cities who report being lonely; their social lives have died along with the theatres, bars and pubs. Unable to travel, they’re often shut in small, expensive apartments and unlike those who have families in the country, have nowhere to escape to.
On top of this, leaders themselves are:
Working harder for longer. I’ve heard how they’re not getting commuting hours back to spend with their families either, but are instead working later into the evening as stakeholders pile on the pressure in an attempt to get back to ‘normal’.
Worried about the lack of visibility over their team members, their own productivity dips because spend a disproportionate amount of time planning conversations with their people rather than having them, damaging the relationships that have become more formal then they need to be.
Reporting loneliness themselves.
I had a call with a leader recently who is working from his central London apartment. As a divorcee whose kids live with their mum, his work is his life. When he separated from his ex, he chose to embrace his new life and build fresh connections at work. It was this attitude, he believes, that fundamentally changed the way he leads others: the close connections with trusted colleagues and work mates; the sense of purpose that got him out of bed each day with a spring in his step; the after-work social life that kept him young and relevant.
Now, in the morning, he folds his mattress against the wall so he can fit in a proper desk. His colleagues with two incomes and kids at private school shout over him in meetings when he says he thinks being at home isn’t good for everyone. Despite only being 42, he’s feeling old and irrelevant; the buzz has gone, he has nobody to bounce off, his creativity is waning and he’s second guessing his decisions.
Moreover, he can sense his team drifting away from him. He knows one of them – a younger woman who loves the London lifestyle and brings huge energy into the building – isn’t coping very well but refuses to answer calls. He’s tried to refer her to occupational health, but they require her permission to engage and say they can’t force help on her.
He simply doesn’t know how to lead in this new world, is worrying about the potential impact on the business, and his confidence in his ability is sliding…
Three things to reflect upon if you’re pushing the work-from-home agenda:
Is it really in everyone’s interest? Are you just being swept along by this new trend without considering the implications for those with a different frame of reference?
If homeworking is the way to go, how are you making sure your leaders are prepared not only practically, but also emotionally and mentally?
Rather than sending out surveys asking people what they think, take the time to pick up the phone and talk to them. If Brexit has taught the world anything it’s that those who want change are far more likely to push for it than those who are happy as they are. Make sure everyone’s voices are heard.
We need to collectively stop assuming that working from home – or hybrid working – is right for everybody. Don’t force it on people. Think about others and check in. Get someone to help every member of your team work out what this newer styles of working means for them personally as well as professionally.