'Culture does not go away when the office is a bit emptier.'
For some companies, there has been a battle brewing between employees and management over employees’ reluctance to return to on-site workplaces on a full-time basis. It’s ironic where we see these battles happening. At Apple - fomenter of the personal and mobile computing revolutions — employees have been resisting calls to return to the company’s Cupertino headquarters. Even the venerable New York Times — publisher of endless articles gushing about the remote work trend — is facing resistance from its staff to return its New York offices.
This resistance suggests there is an abundance of corporate cultures — even at supposedly with-it entities such as Apple and the New York Times — that simply aren’t designed for the flexibility of hybrid workplaces. There’s still the tired-old belief that there’s the office or there’s remote work, with nothing in between.
The key to satisfying the needs of both employees and managers is through a hybrid work strategy, where the workplace is run like a college campus, with work still getting done and on deadlines, but within environments of employees’ own choosing. The role of the “campus” is for people to meet, learn, and socialize.
“We believe work is an outcome, not a time or place,” Jenn Saavedra, chief human resources officer for Dell Technologies, notes in a recent post, along with additional observations provided for this article “’Culture can’t sustain’ is a common myth about hybrid models.”
The challenge for business leaders and managers is developing new types of skills and approaches that foster participation and inclusiveness across all modes of workplaces — and understanding that it isn’t necessary to have an employee right in front of you. “This feeling of belonging has become challenged as we’ve shifted away from in-person interactions and found ourselves relying on video calls and screen activities to stay connected,” Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, chief innovation officer at ManpowerGroup, and Katarina Berg, global head of strategy operations at Spotify, write in Harvard Business Review.
Saavedra notes that Dell has a relatively long track record with hybrid work, and was able to readily adapt to circumstances such as the recent Covid crisis. “We've offered flexibility and the ability to work remotely for more than 12 years, allowing us to navigate the pandemic with a strong understanding of how to do hybrid and remote work — and do it well. Our flexible workplace shows that we’re succeeding with a positive and healthy organizational culture.”
Hybrid work is deeply embedded within Dell’s corporate culture, and has been for more than a decade, Saavedra says. "Our team members have the opportunity to choose the work style that best fits their personal and professional needs, and to manage their work/life balance. We don’t believe one approach works for all roles, teams or individuals,” she relates. “There’s no room for broad mandates in any direction. Our flexible workplace shows that we’re succeeding with a positive and healthy organizational culture.”
Culture “does not go away when the office is a bit emptier, nor does it cease to evolve," Chamorro-Premuzic and Berg state. "However, as the experience of culture the way we have gotten used to defining it has become more diffused, elusive, and subjective, it’s harder for organizations to connect with people and connect them through a homogeneous cultural experience."
Connections are important, but is there a risk of more visible employees gaining the edge in career advancement? With its experience with both on-site and remote work, Dell found most employees feel they have the visibility needed for recognition and career advancement as well. “In our recent team member survey, 90% of our team members said they felt everyone has development opportunities to learn new skills and that we have a culture that enables learning,” Saavedra says. “This feedback remained consistent across remote, hybrid or fully-in office team members.”
Dell also found “no meaningful differences across promotion rates, performance, engagement or rewards between team members who are remote, hybrid or office based,” she adds. “We attribute this response to our high-performing culture and the fact that we offer a wide array of on-demand virtual learning solutions, which enable us to help individuals achieve their goals, no matter where they work.”
Chamorro-Premuzic and Berg provide recommendations for adjusting corporate culture to better meet the needs of hybrid workplaces:
Retain the social element of work, even when people continue to work from home. “Work is not just a vehicle for productivity, but an opportunity to have meaningful connections with others, which can enhance our overall experience of life. This is also the main reason why many people miss the office: the desire to regain some of the lost magic that makes work more human.”
Balance the tension between a strong culture and effective diversity-inclusion-belonging practices. “Spotify defines diversity as being invited to the party; inclusion as being asked to dance, and belonging as when they play your song,” they relate. “Sounds simple? Perhaps, but when you want to dance with a wide range of personalities, and you want to cater to everyone’s unique preferences, you risk having no one come to your club.”
Have the courage to let the culture evolve. The future is difficult to predict, but hybrid work will certainly a part of it. “Perhaps offices will play more of a collaborative, creative, and innovative role, serving as a catalyst for stimulating in-person encounters, and checking-in with colleagues to get our minimum dose of physical contact,” Chamorro-Premuzic and Berg state.
