Returning To The Office: How To Make It Work

The Return: Excitement, Memory Loss And Anxiety

There is an excitement around. People are looking forward to seeing each other again. Humans need to socialise. When isolated, we actually lose social memory for names and faces, and working memory for the regular routines and the local jargon. Thankfully, once we are in the office and mixing with others again, recovery is quick. It is also natural to be anxious about what to expect when returning to the office, but if it’s simply business as usual it will feel hollow as humans benefit from rituals to mark change.

Rituals To Mark Change

Rituals, psychologically and socially provide a bridge for passing from one state to another. As returning to the office is now likely to be the most significant change for many people, it is also a focal point for people’s desires to mark the change.

People are likely to naturally come together to talk about what has happened to them and share their personal stories from the pandemic. Time should be allowed for this bridging process to naturally take place.

Psychological research shows that rituals also have a causal impact on people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

As a focal point, the office may be where people’s sense of loss during the last couple of years resurfaces, the loss of normal life that has occurred. as well as the loss of some of the ease and benefits of working at home five days a week.

Coming together is how as communities we ritualise communal change. So arranging a breakfast get together, a lunch or a welcoming town hall, is important. Rituals mitigate a sense of loss. They also are likely to reduce the uncertainty and anxiety people feel returning, allowing them to share and settle in again.

Hosting

Leaders and managers have a role in making people feel comfortable again, just as we do when people visit our home. Walk around and check in on people, hear their thoughts, listen for their expectations, and respond to them. Listen for what is needed. It is likely, for example, that workers in industries who have been in the office holding the fort without normal operations might actually need some time out. Thank people for what they have done through COVID.

Reteaming

Team relationships are formed from shared experiences. Now is the perfect opportunity to spend some time sharing what has been done together, what you want to bring with you as a team from life before and during COVID and what you are proud of, to re-create or cement the social bonds that engender productively working together.

Moving Forward

Despite its ills, the internet itself has been a democratising space.

The expectations of the internet generation are already based on the idea that anyone can lead, anyone can pitch in, no one can dictate etc. The instantaneous transition to home working for many companies added to this as management simply had to trust that people would get on with it autonomously. The research into home working showed that productivity increased when employees took greater responsibility for themselves and their daily achievements working remotely, and that trust issues were created by middle managers who were checking up on rather than checking in with their staff.

It is not only that expectations have shifted during COVID, but also that there have been significant productivity gains through some of these changes that it would be wise to maintain, especially as they will have an impact on employee retention and satisfaction.
(see article: https://careyglass-85728.medium.com/?p=7f42b17b2824)

Expectations of doing things differently are not likely to go away. We have got to know each other in new ways, seen each other’s homes, dogs and children and enjoyed it.

Management needs to be up to the task. Now is the time to show your organisation that you have been thinking about how to move forward and have conversations with staff analysing:

What worked in lockdown that we wish to continue and adapt to the office environment?

How will we maximise the benefits of the opportunity to be together again and how do we wish to be culturally following a much more informal experience?

Within what operational requirements will we need to make our decisions around working from home or in the office?

Finally, if management wish to introduce change, now is the time as while some organisations have continued to develop through COVID, there are others where staff are waiting to see what will happen and would like some certainty about the future.

Carey Glass is an expert in change with ease. Her work is based on the simple reality that change happens all the time and is not new to organisations or their employees. She works with individuals, teams and organisations to harness their own capacity for change rather than impose change upon them. Her coaching has been cited by Harvard University’s Institute of Coaching and is particularly effective in limiting the number of sessions required. She is co-editor of the international journal InterAction, devoted to adaptable and flexible approaches to individual, team and organisational change in complex environments.