Gratitude vs. Attitude in Work from Home

I recently heard an interesting point of view on the work from home vs. return to office topic from a prominent Newsweek journalist - Batya Ungar-Sargon. She made the case that employees who have been able to transition to WFH represent a privileged segment of the workforce. She went on to say that the entire debate around work from home reflects that, even at work, we see classism.

Put simply, and building on Ungar-Sargon’s thoughts, there are far more workers among us who did not and do not enjoy the option of working from home. They have shown up every day throughout the pandemic, in production, manufacturing and warehouse settings, or public service, healthcare and other jobs, without fail. So why are the workers who have enjoyed the opportunity and privilege of working from home so worked up? Why are there so many articles and opinion pieces published daily about these employees’ preferences and sense of entitlement? Today, it’s not uncommon to hear candidates demanding remote work. 

Of course employees have had personal revelations in the past 2 years. And of course companies should accommodate flexibility where possible. That’s common sense. Most companies are well past the remote discussion and are committed to giving office-based employees more flexibility. The remote or flexible approach is nothing novel or unique anymore. So what is with the oft-combative attitude from employees on this topic? Why does the noise continue? 

To my friends, employees and colleagues who have worked from home these past couple of years, I respectfully say can we all chill and have some gratitude? To Ungar-Sargon’s point, we are unbelievably fortunate, (or yes, privileged)! To never have missed a beat in our work, our professional status, or more importantly in our paychecks, has been a gift. To have been able to move somewhere new without losing a job has been unprecedented. To never have had to risk our health or that of our families has been an incomparable blessing.

Really just take a minute and consider the sheer number of workers who have not the luxury of home-based work. Their quiet dedication and constancy in the past two years has helped keep their companies running. Regardless of personal risk, they masked up and showed up. And they did all of this with little complaint. It should make all of us who have been yelping about having to go back to an office a few times a week cast our eyes down in shame.

I’d personally like to say THANK YOU to all the frontline employees, not only at Omnicell, but around the world, who never stopped standing up and showing up. THANK YOU for shouldering that risk each day and facing it with professionalism and grace.

And maybe those of us who have been asked to return to the office on a flex schedule, or even occasionally, can stop making this a hill to die on. Instead, can we reset our sensitivity levels to “normal” and turn our attention back to the employee experience?

Making People & Culture a Priority Again

Given the last two years, it’s safe to say all company cultures have felt some unexpected impact. “Isn’t our culture the same as pre pandemic,” you may ask. Well, even in normal times a company’s culture constantly evolves. It changes with leadership, with growth, with technology advances, and certainly with major world events and sociopolitical shifts. 

For example, how companies responded to the work from home transition, if that applied, either helped or hurt employee experience and culture perception. Similarly, how companies navigated vaccinations, mandates and masks created some angst but also provided the opportunity to shine with how they communicated and assured employees. Beyond this, companies struggled with how to keep teams connected, how to stimulate innovation, foster community and recognition and often how to onboard employees in a whole new way.

But the real impacts of the pandemic on culture are not yet fully understood.  There is a loss that we haven’t yet been able to measure on goodwill, social capital and trust. It’s a fact that employees hired during the past two years have not experienced the same culture that they would have pre-pandemic. Many of these employees have never met a single colleague, or even their own manager in person. There are some early studies showing higher attrition in that group, associated with a reported lack of belonging or connection.

Leaders in every organization are now going to be challenged to figure out how they can build team spirit and trusting relationships among their employees when office visits may be greatly reduced and also unsynchronized. Evaluating this challenge and trying new ideas is going to be critical.

In my own People organization, I am planning to host a global summit for all my employees, to connect in person, meet newcomers, hear about our strategic direction and how they will play a part. My leadership team and I believe there is no substitute for in person connection and we are building calendars to create regular contact among our teams. We are also encouraging our local Employee Activities Committees to host “Welcome Back” events, like parking lot celebrations, food trucks and music.

Like many others, we are also working to modify and refresh our offices to yield new energy and facilitate collaboration and convenience. And we are working closely with leaders to help determine how they can draw employees together in productive and fun ways.

At the heart of it all, we will be looking to inject and sustain a spirit of gratitude…for where we’ve been, what we’ve accomplished and the opportunity to build a future together.

I would love to hear what steps other leaders are taking to move beyond the arguments on office/remote and get their employees excited again about their company and their culture!