Executive Work and Health in Hybrid Work Environments

The pandemic – “Canadians are counting on us.”

Pride is at 88% and the majority of executives (57%) report a strong commitment and dedication primarily due to the sense of purpose which they felt in supporting Canadians through the pandemic. However, executive drive came at a cost. Burnout levels are at heights never before seen. In the summer of 2021, three out of four executives identified exhaustion combined with high rates of cynicism (39%).

In July 2022, Deloitte / LifeWorks reinforced the APEX Study findings (Wellbeing and resilience in senior leaders | LifeWorks) and underscored the fear that many executives have in reporting exhaustion.

One may describe executives as having weathered the storm of the pandemic.  Bruised and weary, executives are looking for relief and needing time to recover and refresh. Not all executives are experiencing the same operational reality. There are disconnects between levels of executives and within equity seeking groups.

Individuals have responsibilities, such as stating and committing to personal boundaries for recovery time. However, the research is clear that much of the burnout and exhaustion is traced back to structures and systems.

To use the analogy of the highways and bridges, one can discuss the impact of the pandemic. The cause in the failure of the highways could be attributed to the effects of climate change which were manifest in the heavy rains and winds. However, that was not the key factor in the collapse of bridges and roads being washed away. The issue is with the lack of ongoing maintenance over an extended period of time such that key infrastructures were weaken and susceptible to failure once placed under stress. Some of that was also due to inadequate design which did not take into account the potential for such severe stress. Even the mudslides had been predicted from modeling identifying the loss of forest cover along key highways.

Moreover, one cannot place the onus on the truck drivers for not being able to deliver on time, when the roads were impassible. It was not individual resilience that comes into question but rather the resilience of the system and its associated infrastructures.

Calls to Action

Research shows that while many organizations have had to manage a remote work-force for the last two years, many haven’t actually made any changes to how they get work done. This is a problem. Bringing people back to an environment where ‘how we work’ has not changed will not break the trend of increasing exhaustion and cynicism.

The call to action is with superiors and organizations. Inclusion and social support are key drivers of both individual and organizational health outcomes. Supervisors also need support, recognition, and appropriate leadership competences.

Executive report erosion of recovery time in large part due to increasing interference between work and home. This was particularly notable during the pandemic and the move to the virtual workplace. As organizations and individuals work to implement a more flexible workplace, systems and structures need to be re-examined. Is recovery time built into the plan? Are there clear expectations in terms of boundaries?

Hybrid is People First

Hybrid work is a way to have it all – the autonomy of remote working and the social and cultural advantages of in-person contact. Making it work draws on new leadership skills, moving away from compliance management, to support employees finding the evolving environment difficult to navigate. What are your new leadership skills?

Over the coming years, organizations will need to refine their approach to replicate the social connections, friendships and collaboration that, until now, people could only achieve on-site and in-person. Otherwise, feelings of isolation, boredom and low morale could escalate.

Principles to Reshape the Hybrid Approach

People

Too many organizations are putting the priority along with the time and money to redesign the physical lay out of the office without consideration for the people who will be there nor the types of work – purpose and processes they will be using.

The research suggests that the future workforce won’t be driven so much by financial gain but by a better work-life balance and a recognition of the value of their contribution. People want a job that fits in with their lifestyle, values and professional goals. They want to be judged on the value – not the volume – of work they deliver.

Purpose and Processes

The pushback from people is inspired by a renewed sense of purpose – why we go to work in an office.

We’ll swing back and forward until we realise that there is a happy medium of time spent in the office with a few days at home. Notably, the time spent in the office, collaborating in person, cannot be spent in endless meetings; we need to rethink the purpose of going into the office, period.

Performance

Now is an opportunity for radical thinking such as measuring work based on output, not input, abolishing presenteeism and allowing anyone working anywhere to get promoted, upskilling managers to work in a distributed and asynchronous way and embracing a truly agile way of working is required.

Years of compliance-based management has created an environment where we too often measure time – how many hours a day we could see you – but not necessarily what you were doing.

Inclusion in the Workplace

Organizations and leaders need to set out principles and guardrails that make distributed work successful for all types of people. Without being intentional about broader behavior change, leaders risk widening the equity gap.

Simply put, challenge yourself. Pay attention. Are you inclined to offer the benefit of the doubt to the member you think is terrific? And do you rebate the needs of the worker who bothers you?

You should give heed to how you spend your day. With whom you’re spending the most time in your office? Is it the members who are in the office with you? Finally, make a rigorous effort to be better, but don’t assume any of this will be as easy as pie.

There is growing awareness among executives of the risk of proximity bias, or favoritism toward colleagues who work together in a physical office.

To combat this, leaders need to intentionally align on principles and guardrails that outline how hybrid work will work at their organizations. For example, limit the number of days per week that executives spend in the office, or setting a meeting policy that if “one dials in, all dial in.”

Planning Principles

• Safety remains the top priority; Decisions to move forward with hybrid work is grounded in the latest health guidelines and scientific research.
• Most staff have proven they can work effectively from anywhere.  ​
• Many enjoy remote working and would prefer ongoing flexibility; there are benefits to the employee and the employer​.
• Benefits of working together in person need to be re-introduced differently (team dynamics, work relationships, culture, informal interactions, social contact).  ​
• Most will have the opportunity to continue some remote working in some capacity, provided their role can be effectively performed remotely. ​
• Staff will return to the office in some capacity, appropriate for the nature of their work and position.
• Remote working will look different in the transition to a hybrid model.

In-person time should be primarily social and focused on relationship building—not big-picture stuff or anything really difficult, save those tasks for remote work.

Insights from Best Practices

Create guardrails, not just boundaries

Boundaries are personal. They are the responsibility of the individual. Guardrails are policies that everyone in an organization buys into—like not emailing off hours to prevent burnout—so they become part of the corporate culture. They protect everyone.

Set guardrails to build productive teams and avoid inequitable experiences.

Leaders and organizations are adopting rules of the road to avoid the pitfalls of “the messy middle” of hybrid and help create predictability without taking away flexibility or freedom for people. What works well and how these practices take shape in your organization will vary across teams, organizations and cultures. A few examples of guardrails to consider across several core themes:

Workplace Structure

1. Shared space is for teamwork first. Leaders need to reimagine how they use shared space for collaboration, while still meeting the needs of individuals. They will need to experiment but also redesign the shared space to be a more flexible, activity-based workplace that better supports the needs of teams. Make sure these spaces are insulated from the other staff who are working in individual spaces.  Noise will be a major issue in the redesign of spaces.
2. Depth over breadth for team time. Teams should be thinking about organizing around monthly or quarterly events with sufficient advance notice, instead of focusing on which specific days of the week people come into the office.
3. One dials in, all dial in. Leaders need to drive a consistent experience and level the playing field by avoiding “in-person favoritism.” Outside of intentional time together, meetings should be structured to enable remote participants to be equally present and part of the discussion. That might look like a “one dials in, all dial in” policy, utilizing a digital whiteboard instead of a physical one or designating a hybrid meeting moderator. Ultimately, being intentional about inclusivity and getting this right will require experimentation.

Leadership and Culture

1. Lead by executive example. If executives are still coming into the office five days a week, then employees will expect to do the same for access to opportunities and growth. Instead, led by example and ensure that senior executives are just as distributed as employees and/or aren’t coming into the office more than two to three days a week regularly.
2. Take symbolic actions. Storytelling is just as important to reinforce this change from the top, especially when the team is distributed. Find small ways to highlight flexible work across the organization.
3. Reskill leaders to unlock productivity and talent. The role of frontline managers has increased in scope as leaders become critical for maintaining culture across distributed teams, creating equitable opportunities, and enabling flexibility. Reskill leaders to measure success on outcomes, not attendance, and build psychological safety in teams. Hire for “soft skills” and emotional intelligence as well as expertise to drive lasting results.
4. Go “digital-first” versus centralizing power at headquarters. Embrace flexibility and ensure executive leadership is not centralized in any one physical location but rather in a “digital headquarters.” Make executive leadership accessible to more people through programs like digital office hours instead of relying on a serendipitous elevator conversation. Leverage digital tools to host town halls and company-wide communications virtually.

Ways of Working

1. Core team hours. Establish core team hours, an approximately three- to five-hour timeframe when teams must be online for collaborative in-sync engagement. Free up individual flexibility in managing their work schedules beyond core hours. Make it possible for working parents, caregivers and people of all life stages to balance work with life responsibilities. For example, creating four-hour core collaboration hours that align with time zones versus physical locations.
2. Measure impact not actions. The only way to allow people flexibility is to measure the impact they have versus the time “at desk.” Instead of tracking hours, ask their internal customers to rate their impact, e.g., an internal Net Promoter Score.
3. Eliminate or disaggregate meetings. Challenge every recurring meeting to make discussions more meaningful. Move status checks or information sharing into asynchronous formats like updates in-channel or over email, and reserve team time for meaty discussions or team building to create more opportunities for asynchronous work and time flexibility.
4. Brain-write over brainstorm. Augment brainstorm meetings with digital collaboration tools such as digital whiteboarding. Focus on engaging diverse types of people (e.g., introverts) by allowing for idea generation ahead of idea review and creating psychological safety for diverse teams.
5. Monitor microaggressions: “Microaggressions are some of the worst forms of workplace discrimination that anyone can experience. They’re extremely disruptive. Some managers get tripped up when they deal with a microaggression because they focus on the intention—like, why did someone do it?—when it’s really about stopping the action.”
6. Think like a chef: A chef works on only one task at a time and then cleans the workspace. Turn off notifications and make sure there’s only one thing open on your computer so you can focus. There’s abundant research that says multitasking prevents you from getting to a higher level of creativity and quality.”
7. Be the leader you want to work for: Lead by example.
   1. Be as flexible as possible; don’t impose artificial constraints.
   2. Invest in technology to ensure everyone’s included, regardless of their location.
   3. Encourage trust and accountability; remind managers that being able to see someone in front of a computer doesn’t mean they are being productive.
   4. Facilitate communications between teams so they can learn from each other and find solutions to the challenges they face.
   5. Develop your approach in collaboration with employees.
   6. Build relationships and communicate regularly so people are confident to raise issues or seek support when needed. Don’t assume people are okay.
   7. Build in regular time for teams to get together physically. Encourage employees to use the office purposefully.
   8. Accept that you might not have all the answers or that things might not work out, but be committed to putting them right.
   9. Focus on what you are trying to achieve as an organisation and as a team and challenge existing practices that do not support this.
   10. Let colleagues own their own work – a heightened sense of ownership makes people more driven and passionate about what they do.
   11. Consider the employee experience from a property, technology and HR lens and bring leaders and influencers on the journey.
   12. Start small and scale up, incorporating lessons learned.
   13. Have connection points to maintain engagement, mutual learning and
   14. Don’t underestimate the wellbeing aspect.

Summary

We’ve yet to see how the hybrid work model will play out in the long term. You will surely face bumps along the way. Be patient and humble. The good news is you can acquire new skills and apply systems that will back you up for the rest of your career.