Wish you were here: If you’re not coming into the office, at least swim between the flags
Remember the days of “play up, show up”? The old-school laws of the workplace have changed dramatically in the past two and a half years – and in many cases they have disappeared altogether, writes Michael Blucher
The leadership team strategy day was going very smoothly until the conversation swung, inevitably and irretrievably towards one of the more vexing topics currently confronting the professional services sector. Most modern work places, in fact.
Working From Home, or “WFH”, as it’s often communicated to team leaders, via text, without notice, two or three minutes before the staffer was due in the office, you know, in person. Old school style.
Up until that point, the mood in the conference room had been calm and conciliatory. Now it was instantly edgy.
“Don’t start me,” the old bull director in the far corner sniped, having not contributed to any other conversation during the morning session. “I’m ready to ring some necks.”
“Me too – bloody millennials,” another chipped in.
“What’s our official policy?” one of the younger partners asked, at the same time conceding he was “getting smashed” by WFH absentia. “I don’t reckon I’ve had any more than one of my guys in the office at the same time for a month.”
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Pretty quickly, instead of one conversation, there were five or six, the assembled business leaders peeling off into groups of two and three to trade war stories – What about Corporate? Level 6 is a ghost town. Haven’t seen anybody up there for weeks. Yeah, and do you reckon I can get any of my crew to turn their cameras on in Zoom meetings? Not a chance. Suspect half of them aren’t even listening.”
When order was restored, and focused conversation resumed, it was quickly apparent there were two distinctly different WFH schools of thought – the first, the unapologetic hardliners, resentful, cynical, and at best begrudgingly accepting of the new workplace world order. In short, the “back in my day” mob – nobody actually uttered the words but they didn’t have to – the sentiment was implicit.
In the more moderate corner, the pragmatists, those who acknowledged the futility of swimming against the WFH tide, and were looking to unearth positives. Mr “What’s our policy?” bloke. for instance, who was agitating for clear guidelines. “You know, swim between the flags, ” he said authoritatively, citing past experience as a weekend surf life saver in South Australia of all places.
By the pained look on several other faces, I wasn’t the only one who’s mind had clearly defaulted to the haunting image of the same bloke wearing dick-togs and a red and yellow skull cap. It must have been a while ago – these days, said DTs would be at least partially concealed by his ample girth.
Nonetheless, the analogy was a good one – much safer for all concerned, if everybody understands the rules and boundaries, and more importantly, abides by them.
I noticed on the run sheet, the conveners of the morning session had allowed 15 minutes for the WFH discussion, but debate was still raging an hour after the topic had been introduced, with little to no consensus around where on the beach those flags should be placed, or how far apart.
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What was interesting was watching a room full of highly intelligent, experienced professionals get swept out to sea by the emotion swirling around the issue. Never mind the realities of the situation. Here’s how I feel about them. Angry, frustrated, disillusioned, resentful. The list went on.
The truth is that the line between what business owners will and won’t tolerate in the WFH space is shifting all the time, as boundaries are pushed, and new norms are established. The moment one business ups the ante, or loosens the reins, others feel compelled to follow, just to stay competitive.
Of course In the current “low supply, high demand market”, the job hunters hold all the trump cards.
One recruiter I spoke to recently said she had one candidate – apparently very clever, very well qualified – who explained she was only interested in a position if it offered “total flexibility”. “What precisely do you mean by total flexibility,” the recruiter asked. The response: “That I never have to come into the office if I don’t want to”.
No spot for her just yet, but as the old saying goes, “there’s a nut for every bolt”. Or in this instance, a bolt for every nut.
Despite now fully embracing the benefits of working remotely myself (not ashamed to admit, date of birth intervened for a while) there’s still a small cluster of grumpy cells, siloed in the darkest recesses of my brain that have me looking forward to the “correction” in the labour market. More simply, the return of the days where available jobs no longer outnumbered available candidates 10 to one.
The ABS are probably working off a slightly different set of figures, but all the people I know running businesses reckon the available talent pool is so shallow, it might as well be empty. “Can you spell Town Planner? Great – there’s your desk. You can start tomorrow!”
Yes – a little more balance in the job market and who knows, some grace and gratitude might return to the interview room. And over time, we might not have quite as many candidates not just requesting but DEMANDING TOTAL FLEXIBILITY! As an aside, I do wonder where that genius will end up – oh to be one of her employees, just for a day, in the highly unlikely event of her ever running her own business.
Curiously, of all the scholarly articles I’ve read and self aggrandising musings I’ve stumbled upon on “LinkedIn”, none cut more concisely to the core of the WFH issue than a simple observation from one her contemporaries, a “bright young thing” working in a graduate position for one of the “big four”.
Asked about her preference – being in the office or like so many others, working at home (I’m guessing with some sort of “oodle” at their feet – Labradoodle, Cavoodle, Moodle, Groodle etc etc), the early 30-something year-old Commerce grad didn’t hesitate – “If I want to learn and be mentored and mentor those below me, and above anything else, have my voice heard, I’m clearly a lot better off being among my peers, working face to face, than I am dialling in on Zoom.”
Smart young lady, I suspect already on a rocket to the moon.
And who would’ve thought – without demanding a single thing.
