The relationship between employers and employees is stuck in transition. During the pandemic the focus understandably swung towards employee wellbeing – keeping people safe and giving them all the tools needed to continue working from home (for those not in frontline sectors). If flexible hours and hybrid working weren’t already part of an employer’s suite of benefits they soon were, and as lockdown lifted and offices re-opened they became part of the ‘new normal’.
But what about now?
Since then, many people have grown attached to the personal routines that enrich their lives, whether putting a wash on, walking the dog or caring for loved ones. Some of these routines boost our wellbeing, support our productivity and fit in well with the preferences of other team members. However, the reality is that some personal routines do not – and our expectations of what is reasonable to expect from each other may need to re-adjust.
At the same time, employers are under pressure to boost growth, adapt to changing markets and grapple with rising costs. The need to have every team maximising its impact on performance is higher than ever. Many are losing confidence in the benefits of hybrid working and are bringing employees back to the office full-time. Sadly, this risks damaging engagement, productivity and retention.
It’s time to build next-level relationships
Pecan’s recent research found three themes underpinning a Culture Fit for the Future. The first of these is ‘next-level relationships’. For a successful future, leaders need to build transparent, inclusive, adult-to-adult relationships with their teams. They need to be skilled in navigating the nuances between being inclusive and flexible with being boundaried about what’s needed for a team to perform at its best.
Where the balance between employee and employer needs has got out of balance, leaders need to reset expectations and the psychological contract that results in high engagement and high performance.
In our experience of partnering with clients to evolve their culture, we find the devil is in the detail. Many leaders implement their policies and principles inconsistently, often due to lack of personal skill and confidence in having difficult conversations where needed. Straight-talking managers are also in deficit. Unfortunately, this creates an environment that feels unfair and unproductive, with ‘burnout’ for some and ‘coasting’ for others.
Ask yourself…
In your organisation:
- How consistent are people managers’ expectations around working hours and location?
- How creative is the organisation in fulfilling career aspirations?
- How effective is the balance in responsibility for people’s wellbeing?
- Are you at risk of taking employee wellbeing too far?
If you’re falling short in any of these areas and stuck in a murky mismatch of expectations between employer and employees, it’s time to address this.
Tips for next-level relationships
These steps will help you reset the psychological contract and build next-level relationships
- Run a short survey and focus groups to find out what’s working and what’s not
- Find stories and examples that bring this to life – from diverse employees’ perspectives and from the employer’s perspective
- (Re)define a simple set of principles that guides the contract between employer and employee, including reasonable expectations about
- Hours of work
- Location of work
- Career aspirations
- Second jobs
- Studying for qualifications
- Develop people leaders’ mindset, skills and tools to run socially intelligent ‘reset’ conversations with their teams. These conversations should reflect on what’s working or not in their team, plus raise self-awareness of routines that people have grown attached to and are not working for the team
- Support people leaders to have emotionally intelligent, adult-adult conversations to re-contract with individuals where needed
- Strengthen everyone’s resourcefulness and confidence to manage their own wellbeing
For further details on next-level relationships, access the full Culture Fit for the Future report here.
Read more about how to re-set your approach to hybrid working, by focusing on the quality of relationships and conversations, rather than just the policy. Hybrid Working Refresh is one of Pecan’s core services.
