Many organizations are mandating a return to the office, but leaders must ensure their workplace cultures are up to the task.

When re-establishing an in-office footprint, leaders must expand their thinking and re-create, once again, an environment of camaraderie, safety and flexibility. Carolyn McGourty Supple recently wrote a Workplace Report edition about the mind-set shift required to foster team agility in a hybrid workplace.

Irina Konstantinovsky is chief human-resources officer at global biopharmaceutical company Horizon Therapeutics PLC. When organizations invite employees back to the office, Ms. Konstantinovsky says it is essential to communicate how working together in the same space drives interpersonal interactions that aren’t possible via Zoom. “There needs to be a sense that if you stay home, you might miss out,” she said.

Prioritizing relationship building starts at the top. Managers must lead by example and show up if a return-to-office plan is going to work. Horizon Chief Executive Tim Walbert hangs out at his office’s coffee bar and hosts live events with employees.

It also helps when companies reimagine office space as a destination employees want to visit. In addition to providing on-site daycare and exercise facilities, Horizon reduced the density of its office space to create more openness and comfort for those who wish to social distance and designed casual lounges to support engagement and the spontaneous meetings that connect teams.

Taking a fresh look at in-office culture presents an opportunity to better understand the needs of all employees. “Long hours and commutes are difficult for caregivers who are disproportionately women, people from underestimated identities struggle with bias and microaggressions, and some employees are immunocompromised,” said Ruchika Tulshyan, author of “Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work.” “In my experience, the more social privilege an employee has, the less challenging an in-office return will be for them.

Ms. Tulshyan suggested that leaders assign dedicated days for working in the office and offer flexibility on the remaining days. They should also respond appropriately to concerns affecting specific groups. Noting the rising rate of anti-Asian violence, she said that leaders might budget taxis for employees who don’t feel safe taking public transportation to the office.

Here are some other things to keep in mind when reinvigorating your in-office culture.

• Beware of proximity bias. Prezi Inc., a visual communications software company, found that over 66% of hybrid workers feel that workplaces favor employees who are together in a physical office. To combat this, level the playing field in how you structure meetings. “Everyone should join video meetings from their own computer to avoid highlighting remote employees who are unable to be in the office,” said Prezi CEO Jim Szafranski.
• Co-create new norms. Revise your performance expectations to assess employee productivity by output rather than hours in the office, and make sure there is a mix of in-person and virtual opportunities to network and advance. As Ms. Tulshyan said, rather than having only leaders call the shots, survey your employees to find out what policies work for them.
• Deliver on the promised value. If you are requiring employees to be in the office a few days a week, don’t have them sitting in a room by themselves. Ms. Konstantinovsky put it this way: If a person’s team isn’t there and they’re sitting at their workstation all day and not interacting, they could have stayed at home.
• Provide extra assistance. An in-office mandate should be matched with benefits that make it easier to come to work, such as equal parental leave policy and, as Ms. Tulshyan suggested, mental-health resources for employees of color affected by traumatic acts of racism in the news.

Managers are caught between the often conflicting expectations of senior leadership and their employees.

Technology company Microsoft Corp. surveyed 31,000 people in 31 countries and analyzed trillions of “productivity signals” in Microsoft 365 to develop its 2022 Work Trend Index Report.

The research found that over half of managers (54%) feel leadership at their company is out of touch with employee expectations, while 74% say they don’t have the influence or resources they need to make changes for their team.

Microsoft reported that 50% of leaders say their company already requires, or plans to require, full-time in-person work in the year ahead. When 52% of Microsoft’s respondents say they are likely to consider shifting to hybrid or remote work this year, there is an obvious disconnect. If employers aren’t willing to provide people with flexible work options, their most talented workers will find companies that do.

Whatever organizations decide with respect to in-office time, communicating with employees is a must. According to Microsoft, 38% of hybrid employees say their biggest challenge is knowing when and why to come into the office, but just 28% of companies have established team agreements to clearly define the new norms.

Access the full report.

It isn’t just remote workers who have gained leverage over when they work.

Shift workers such as assemblers and hotel maids are also getting more flexibility to set their own hours as the pandemic and the historically tight labor market change the economy.

Manufacturers, hotels, warehouses and restaurants are allowing new hires to work just a few days a week, take on four-hour shifts or even choose new hours daily using phone apps, according to the companies, job boards and economists.

Over the past 12 months, 11% of postings for in-person jobs offered flexible hours, according to the online job board ZipRecruiter. The flexible openings typically peak in the run-up to the Christmas season as retailers and warehouses staff up. In October, 29% of job listings offered flexibility. One recent posting for a home health aide in Boston advertised weekly paychecks and custom schedules: “Choose your own hours!”

• A New Work Anxiety: Will I Be Penalized for Working From Home? (NPR)
• ‘Hybrid Guilt’ Is Plaguing Employees, Proving Going to the Office Part-Time Is the Worst of Both Worlds (Fortune)
• Creating the Culture You Want to See in Your Company (Forbes)
• Author Malcolm Gladwell Slams Remote Workers: ‘You’re Just Sitting in Your Pajamas’ (Entrepreneur)
• Company Forcing Staff to Work in an Empty Office to Boost ‘Culture’ Slammed (Newsweek)
• CEOs Can Often Sabotage an Inclusive Culture. Except This One (Inc.)
• Companies Are Cutting Back on Maternity and Paternity Leave (WSJ)

Alexandra Levit is a business and workplace author and speaker. Chitra Vemuri curated and edited this newsletter.

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