After meeting with senior leaders almost every week over the past five months, it’s never been more clear that one size does not fit all.
In our Great Place To Work® community, we counsel companies that have been fully remote the past two and a half years. We also have great companies like DHL, FedEx, and Target that have had people physically interacting with each other and customers every day, regardless of the latest pandemic surge.
Yet to some degree, all companies have some things in common.
Their people have been through traumatic experiences.
There is internal tension between employees who were able to work from home and those who were not.
There is tension between employees who received pay adjustments and those who did not.
There is tension between employees and management over demands that workers give up the flexibility they have come to expect over the past two years. This “flexibility tension” increases the friction between workers who have already been back in the workplace and those still pushing for remote options.
Many leaders don’t know how to manage these issues, so they retreat to what they know: command and control. They are using different terminology (they’ve been hearing and reading a lot about empathy) but coming through their new words is an old-school approach.
It’s not going well.
Inflation is real. Higher interest rates will be with us for quite a while, and it certainly feels like we are in a recession, doesn’t it? Maybe not technically — but we all know things are slowing down due to uncertainty while at the same time there are a lot of job openings and low unemployment.
That’s about to change. Many leaders have been doing quiet “modeling exercises” that look like reduction in force (RIF) plans to me. Leaders are saying, “This is not a RIF; this is just good business.” And I agree 100% that a sound business leader is always mindful about when it is necessary to trim the rose bush so that it grows back stronger, bigger, and has more roses, but I’m concerned that many organizations aren’t prepared to make these decisions in ways that are equitable and build trust.
After the last couple of years, it is very hard to equitably measure performance. How can leaders make cuts when there are employees they have never met? How do leaders compare an employee that comes to the office (when it was strongly suggested) with an employee that cannot be at the office due to childcare unaffordability or unavailability (remember inflation?).
Here’s how I recommend leaders manage this transition fairly and equitably:
1. Listen. No, really.
At Great Place To Work, we’ve measured the impact of listening to employees — all employees. In the current moment, ask your workers what they need in terms of flexibility with one vital constraint: How will fulfilling their request improve the customer experience?
2. Trauma is real.
Trauma appropriately forces a person to focus on themselves, to protect the self and then heal. We must help employees expand their focus to the customer, or RIFs will be here for real and there will be no debate over what they are called.
3. Change takes time.
It would be great if leaders could lead in a new hybrid way, immediately. But that’s just not how all human beings work. It will take time for each company to find the right way to do this.
4. Transparent communication and measurement is key.
Leaders must be explicit. Let employees know that, while there might be a new way to innovate, collaborate and improve the customer and employee experience, most leaders need to lead in the way they know how — which in many cases, is in the office.
For some, hybrid work will support their leadership style. For others, it will not. Leaders need to say this to their employees directly and ask them to follow. Let workers know you will continuously measure the employee and customer experience, and that adjustments will be continuously made.
This candor, when fueled by trust, is the new way forward. Leaders will do what they know how to do. That’s what they should do. The uncertain times ahead are not the moment to try to instantly become something different.
For HR executives, leaders will need help not regressing into the pre-DEIB mindset, which tends to favor the familiar and the comfortable.
We go from one major, tragic test into another. The good news for our Great Place To Work community is that you and your people have proven the most important thing: With trust fueled by diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, your people will enable your business to do great things — for all.
Michael Bush is CEO of Great Place to Work®. Driven by a love of business and an unwavering commitment to fair and equitable treatment, Michael joined Great Place to Work as CEO in 2015, bringing 30 years of experience leading and growing organizations. Previously, he was CEO of Tetra Tech Communications, a billion-dollar global telecommunications infrastructure firm and was a member of President Obama’s White House Business Council. He earned his M.S. in Management from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
