The need to balance intangibles in today’s workplace

Many organisations are grappling with the complexities of navigating the return to the office. As the debate continues, one thing is clear: it is not yet a success for many people.

The pandemic had dispersed people to the confines of their homes so quickly. In a rush to keep disruptions to businesses minimal, a raft of intangible elements of office benefits were lost. As well as face-to-face meetings and mentorship, there was a loss of accidental culture – the unscheduled conversations and chance encounters that often yield ideas worth exploring and help develop career-defining connections.

On the other hand, remote work has allowed employees to balance work with home responsibilities and removed the hassle of the daily commute to the office. This saved time and costs and offered them the flexibility that traditional work ways did not.

There is a tension brewing between those who enjoy the autonomy of remote work and resist a return to pre-COVID work rituals and those who crave the rewards of being together in the office. Working hard used to be balanced with social and leisure activities. Today, this balance is leaning too far towards work. Leaders will need to shape and drive a new approach that is mutually beneficial, beyond drafting new policies.

Define clarity of purpose, then clarity of policies

The office is important for fostering camaraderie and mentorship, which can be hindered by remote work. Face-to-face interactions allow for more effective communication and feedback, which is impracticable when people are remote working as it requires more effort scheduling calls or sending emails to employees as opposed to having a quick chat.

Defining the clarity of purpose is therefore important to inform clarity of policies. Leaders need to communicate their organisation’s objectives effectively and explain how employees can contribute to achieving them. They must be firm in their convictions and prepared to lose employees for whom the plan does not work. However, to avoid a top-down approach, leaders should adopt a life-centric approach while implementing these policies.

For this to be successful, the responsibilities of leaders and managers should expand to include event management. Leaders must strive to make people’s commute to the office worthwhile and rewarding for their employees, beyond offering basic perks like free coffee.

Earn people’s commute with promise of community

Around a third (35 per cent) of Australians said they would quit their job or start looking for another if their employer forced them to return to the office full time. The primary reason: to avoid the commute.

People will only be willing to come to the office for the promise of community, relationships, and factors that enrich their careers. No two teams nor people are alike – instead of continuing to improve what exists, companies should completely reimagine work. Earning people’s commute demands proper investment in designing intangibles into a hybrid working model. This means starting from scratch and considering all ideas and their value to the business.

This will require imagination to create solutions and plenty of drive to embed them. The idea of planning for spontaneity sounds absurd, but it is doable with creativity. Time should be strictly ringfenced for celebrating successes and sharing ideas, building relationships and having inconsequential conversations. This all goes back to leading with a clarity of purpose and prioritising factors like team dynamics and outcomes.

Rethink rituals, tools and spaces with a focus on intangibles

The importance of fun at work should never be underestimated. Measuring “productivity” generally focuses on output and fails to quantify what really matters: outcomes. Evaluation of outcomes should encompass qualitative factors like the experience of work itself, not quantitative metrics like leads followed up or sales made.

To make space for intangibles, new rules should be implemented to reduce online meetings on days when people are in the office. Calendar etiquette should be redesigned to allow for rescheduling calls to accommodate being in the office. Tools are a key part of the redesign, and leaders should scrutinise each for its suitability for hybrid working and ditch those that fall short.

Space design and office environments are also important, and some organisations are already creating spaces that foster deeper connections with colleagues. A lot of people find much-needed balance in the opportunity to choose when they go to the office or work from home.

Think about this: the generation who joined the workforce since March 2020 has yet to benefit from the intangibles as they have been predominantly remote working. There have been three years of new joiners who have been affected by the change in learning, development and experience of work – and the numbers are rising each year. Those workers could become increasingly out of kilter with older colleagues, or simply less engaged with work.

Leaders must now determine the most effective approach for their business and workforce. It is no longer about just where people work – it is how they work and the value exchange between employer and employee beyond remuneration.

By Sarah Kruger, Accenture Australia and New Zealand, talent and capability lead