3 return to office tips for business leaders

Fortune

Return to work mandates are happening. Here’s everything managers need to consider when bringing employees back to the office.

Transcript

00:00 Return to work is top of mind for a lot of people

00:02 because it is important and it's happening.

00:05 The mandates are rolling out.

00:07 I'm seeing largely negative reactions to mandates.

00:11 There sometimes is a lack of clarity around the purpose

00:15 and value of being physically back in offices.

00:19 Folks that have been called back into the office

00:22 question the reason because they're not doing

00:23 anything differently than what they would be doing at home.

00:26 They're just physically at a desk,

00:28 typing on their computers, answering emails.

00:30 The most important piece of this is backing it up.

00:32 We can't just say it, send the memo,

00:34 and then have everyone come back.

00:35 It is because of this, because of this purpose,

00:39 collaboration of connection,

00:41 and we see these results because of that.

00:43 That's more of the conversation

00:45 I think leaders should have.

00:46 I think the burden of proof sits with leaders

00:48 that are unveiling these transitions.

00:55 Something that leaders should be really cognizant of

00:58 is not stopping at just bringing people

01:01 physically back together.

01:03 How are you cultivating the social proximity,

01:06 a social connection, a social thread, a fabric of trust,

01:09 particularly amongst diverse teams,

01:12 diverse groups that are gathered for your organization?

01:15 How do you create spaces that social proximity can thrive?

01:20 Leaders assume that the happy hour, the events,

01:23 the yoga, the wellness, whatever it may be,

01:26 is doing its job, and that's just frankly not the case.

01:29 I think social proximity is built on authentic experiences

01:33 in team building exercises and retreats

01:36 in difficult conversations around collaboration

01:40 and really honoring the authentic contributions

01:43 of every team member in a space.

01:44 Anything that builds that fabric of trust and connection

01:49 builds social proximity,

01:51 that when you go to the happy hour,

01:53 you wanna be there with the people that are there,

01:55 not necessarily just assuming that because we have

01:58 a happy hour, people are connected.

02:00 The in-office experience is not the same for everyone.

02:07 We have a lot of conversations around black professionals,

02:11 leaders of color, who for them, remote work,

02:14 offered a moment of respite away from microaggressions,

02:18 navigating workplace bias,

02:20 even some hostility in some cases.

02:22 And then we can also think about caregivers,

02:24 which is largely still women who carry that load.

02:27 Remote work offered flexibility to be able to juggle career

02:32 and those caregiving responsibilities

02:35 in a way that's sustainable,

02:36 that actually could benefit them

02:39 in their career trajectory.

02:40 And so that hesitation towards coming back into the office

02:44 is not just because someone wants to work

02:47 in their PJs at home.

02:49 It can really mean a lot of different things

02:52 for different people.

02:53 In order to really make effective organization-wide policies

03:00 and practices, you must understand the totality

03:04 of the context within which folks are working.

03:07 In that, you then better design ways that all can thrive,

03:12 that is aware of the different experiences

03:16 and isn't the kind of wide swath change

03:19 that a lot of times I see

03:21 that doesn't have any consideration

03:22 of those that might be experiencing this

03:25 with marginalized perspectives.

03:26 That's gonna be the challenge of today's leader.

03:29 And I encourage leaders to really be thoughtful

03:32 and aware and grounded in the context

03:34 that all team members are coming into

03:36 to experience a workplace that they can succeed in.

03:42 We're all feeling this as the potential

03:45 of a future of work moment.

03:48 I feel like we'll look back on this

03:50 and think this is where things shifted.

03:53 We have some opportunity to really change things

03:55 and shift the direction of what work can look like.

03:58 (upbeat music)

04:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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