Return-to-office (RTO) mandates are again in the headlines: the British Chambers of Commerce reports that of 583 firms (mostly SMEs), almost half expect all working days to be on site in the coming year. As corporates such as Microsoft tighten in-office policies, many executives are asking whether to follow suit.

Any decision is wrong

One thing is clear: whatever decisions you make about remote, hybrid or on-site working will be wrong. After all, do you ever see consensus when colleagues discuss matters that affect them personally?

Some employees say office conversations foster creativity; others find teammates a distraction. Remote working brings a sense of isolation, whereas the cubicle is a panopticon of management surveillance. Some enjoy meetings dressed in a suit; others, video calls in pyjamas.

Working from home lowers the cost of childcare and makes the school-run manageable, whilst fuzzy boundaries between job and family mean emails over supper and Microsoft at midnight.

Many colleagues find a commute into the city tires them out, whereas others are glad to be out of the house. John insists his team members are more productive at their desks, although he himself prefers tennis and lunch with a neighbour.

Executive merry-go-round

When work location is on the agenda, this is an executive committee meeting no one wants to attend. Every member of the team has heard, and said, it all before. Since COVID-19, firms have been on this merry-go-round three or four times. No longer fun, the ride causes friction and strife.

Eight questions HR can ask

Location strategies are complex: they shape employee experiences, how work is done and managed, and also outcomes. This explains why firms get stuck, why tempers flare, and why decisions come slowly.

How can you, as an HR professional, striving to balance employee and firm interests, move things along?

When enabling firms to ‘turn the corner’ and pursue novel strategies, I find teams can agree and act upon ideas when they have clarity in vision, leadership, culture and teamwork. This progress can happen in as little as three months.

With these four areas in mind,  here are eight questions you can ask to help your organisation move toward a future that works for, if not all, then as many colleagues as possible.

Vision

1. How will we involve everyone?

Executives and senior managers may set initial direction, but the clearest and most practicable vision emerges through dialogue between employees, customers and other stakeholders.

Invite people to talk about problems they face and ambitions they want to pursue. Allow time to see how various location strategies enable or hinder desirable performance, cooperation and other imperatives.

2. What is the real question we face?

Such conversations will reveal how office, hybrid or remote working is not the endgame. Politics aside, a meaningful policy cannot be settled until you know what you want to achieve.

Do you hope to raise employee wellbeing, boost day-to-day innovation or revamp customer service? Such aims are the ‘whys’ that justify your strategy for on-site versus remote working.  As teams answer these questions, a collective vision will reveal ways forward.

I say with confidence: whilst industry and roles have some bearing, in general a hybrid model is most suitable. The extremes of five days in the office or a whole week at home constrain everyone’s efforts to reconcile complex work and personal demands.

Leadership

3. How might managers get in the way?

RTO mandates that call for full-time presence in the office may be motivated not by value creation but by managers’ desires to exert control. Bureaucracy is, after all, easier than leadership.

Explore how influential personal agendas, often taken for granted, are shaping the discourse. Help people imagine new ways of working; equip managers to manage better.

4. What is our leadership promise?

What we call the ’leadership promise’ is the simplest way to capture how managers can enable new practices. The promise synthesises agreed leadership behaviours with fresh, topical ideas.

What are the main ways managers can role-model new ways of working? For each, what three or four practical behaviours are required? Your promise fits on one page.

Culture

5. What beliefs should we abandon?

Culture is not a woolly notion invented by consultants, but refers to the unspoken assumptions that shape everyday choices and actions.

New location strategies likely call for creative thinking. Provide a forum to question accepted ideas about roles, relationships and performance. This helps secure buy-in for new methods.

6. What principles will enable the shift?

If culture is not given an airing, new office-versus-home practices either will not stick or will harm relationships and engagement.

That said, do not spend three years gazing at the firm’s navel. Agree what values, or principles, must be uppermost in people’s minds if they are to live by your location strategy.

One likely value is the principle of ‘Yes, whenever we can’ or ‘We shall make it work’. Five-day RTO mandates are a blunt tool of control in that what suits the organisation or employee today may well be an obstacle next week, next month or next year.

Teamwork

7. What simple changes can we collaborate on?

Teamwork is where ideas on vision, leadership and culture are turned into practice. Settle on small-scope projects that give people reasons to join forces in new ways.

Work location strategies touch almost everything. For a confident shift within three months, direct energy toward visible practices that yield a high return and leave little room for old ways.

8. How will we celebrate?

Location strategies revolve around cooperation, which means personal investment. Once teams are pointing in a fresh direction and doing novel work, employees deserve to celebrate.

Recognise these efforts in ways that reinforce the ethos of your thinking on location: an office party at seven o’clock on a school night may not work for everyone.

Let teams see around corners

With work location, emotions run high and differences are hard to reconcile. Avoid the wrong headlines by involving team members to craft a meaningful vision, make decisions at pace and take initial steps forward.

Complex problems require imagination if teams are not to get stuck. For more ideas, download our short guide on what truly matters when you hope to move in new directions.