As Offices Start to Reopen, Going Hybrid May Not Be Enough

The following is republished with the permission of the Association of National Advertisers. Find this and similar articles on ANA Newsstand.

By Marie Griffin

As employers prepare to reopen their offices, they will greet workers who have been through a considerable amount of turmoil. During nearly 18 months in pandemic-induced limbo, workers have had time to reevaluate their position within the so-called “work-life balance,” what they want out of their career, and what they’re willing to tolerate from employers. Unlike the shared experience of being stuck in one place during the pandemic, the great reopening will release pent-up energy in multiple directions.

Three interweaving trends are spurring change throughout the workplace post-pandemic. How proactively CMOs adapt to these changes will divide those who ride the tailwinds from those who struggle in a new, albeit uncertain environment.

First, with COVID-19 restrictions loosening (and getting eliminated altogether), employers can expect a “turnover tsunami.” Because of the pandemic, job hunts were put on hold for more than a year, employee dissatisfaction was magnified by the dual pressures of work and home schooling, people had time to prepare for new careers, and COVID-19 relief checks helped would-be entrepreneurs start new businesses.

Second, the traditional in-office working week will become an option, not an edict, as employees look to break the strings. While some people will continue to work remotely, many want to return to the office — but not every day — and they are demanding a mix of in-office and remote work, or a hybrid model. Indeed, tech company Kickstarter announced in late June that it plans to experiment with a four-day workweek in an effort to offer workers more flexibility and additional time to spend on creative pursuits, according to Axios.

Finally, the technologies that enable remote work are now de rigueur, and employees have gotten comfortable with them. Employers and employees alike can take advantage of working remotely and still connect with one another, despite geography.

More than half (52 percent) of full-time workers said they will look for a new job this year, according to a survey released earlier this year by Achievers Workforce Institute, up from 35 percent in 2020. The survey is based on the responses from 2,000 people, who said the main reasons for the surge are better compensation and benefits (35 percent) and better work-life balance (25 percent).

Workers also are ready to start anew. A recent survey of 1,003 workers by Eagle Hill Consulting shows that 57 percent of U.S. employees are feeling burnt out. People who report burnout are four times more likely to leave their jobs than their colleagues.

“We’re going to see the greatest rate of turnover in history because economics isn’t the only consideration anymore,” says Ted Kohnen, CEO of ad agency Retina, whose clients include Audi, Cisco, and Oracle. “It’s also a quality-of-life decision.”

Companies that try to shut down or tighten controls on hybrid and remote work arrangements are taking a big risk, he adds, predicting that such actions will only backfire on employers and accelerate the exodus.

Flexibility Is Paramount

Full-time workers are flat out demanding hybrid work arrangements. According to an Accenture survey of more than 9,000 people, titled “The Future of Work: Productive Anywhere,” 83 percent said they prefer a hybrid work model once their office reopens.
“More support for working remotely allows recruiters to draw talent from beyond traditional hotspots, expanding the pool of available recruits and access to a more diversified skillset for marketing operations.”— Nick de la Mare, managing director and North America design lead at Fjord

If their needs are not met, they’ll vote with their feet. Indeed, workers are heading for the exits already. In April nearly 4 million workers left their employer, pushing the quit rate to a record high since the government began tracking it about two decades ago, per Slate. A Microsoft report says over 40 percent of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer this year.

The marketing industry is hardly immune to the swirl. Simon Fenwick, executive VP, talent equity and inclusion at the 4A’s, told Ad Age in late June that in 10 years, 50 percent of the advertising industry could be freelance.

Flexibility from the top will keep employees in tow, or at least from bolting elsewhere. According to Gartner’s 2021 Hybrid Workforce Panel, 55 percent of people with hybrid schedules stay with their employers in part because of that flexibility.

The survey, which took the pulse of more than 4,000 workers, found that 66 percent of the respondents said their hybrid/remote work situation affects whether they stay with their current organization.

Jay Wilson, VP and analyst at Gartner for Marketers, says marketing is more prepared than other disciplines to navigate the shift to a hybrid system. “Marketing teams and the collaboration tools they use, as well as their agencies, have already been at the forefront of hybrid and distributed/remote work models,” he says.

Nick de la Mare, managing director and North America design lead at Fjord, which is part of Accenture Interactive, stresses that hybrid arrangements can lead to a more fundamental reset of the workplace.

“We have the opportunity to redefine our workflows,” de la Mare says. “There are moments where it makes more sense for people to come together — ideation and synthesis — and moments where people are more effective apart (production work and documentation). Tailoring our interaction types to phases of work will serve both the business and employees.”

Work From Anywhere

While it may be disruptive to the day-to-day operation, higher-than-average turnover presents an opportunity to rethink job roles and align positions with emerging needs. With geography no longer an obstacle, marketers can pull from a wider pool of prospects and screen for people who will thrive in a hybrid work environment.
 
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“We are going to see marketing organizations and agencies tap into remote workers more aggressively to fill gaps in skillsets that had previously been challenging to fill due to geography,” Wilson says. “This will be accelerated by the desire to insource, which we’ve seen accelerate during the pandemic, with about a third of marketers saying they’ve taken work in-house from agencies over the past 12 months.”

Retina, which has eight offices throughout the world, including California, Toronto, and Madrid, continued to hire during the pandemic. The agency has offered a “work from anywhere” option since 2011 and “we like to offer the office as an option in that model,” Kohnen says, adding that virtual recruiting enables Retina to hire beyond its previous geographic boundaries.

Those who thrive when working beyond the designated four walls share intangible qualities that make them curious, adaptable, and empathetic, along with all the requisite job skills. “There’s no type or amount of technology that can substitute for the way someone approaches global collaboration,” Kohnen says.

Providing more opportunities for remote work can also tie into larger efforts among brands and organizations to increase diversity and inclusion.

“More support for working remotely allows recruiters to draw talent from beyond traditional hotspots, expanding the pool of available recruits and access to a more diversified skillset for marketing operations,” de la Mare says. “This also often creates a more diverse and inclusive workforce necessary to tackle the problems of the future.”

Embrace Empathy

While employers have accepted that they need to go with the flow and provide such options as hybrid work arrangements, they may be missing the bigger picture.

Having reviewed their work-life priorities under the cloud of a global pandemic, more and more people are deciding to leave organizations that don’t show empathy or recognize individual needs and contributions.

Companies that don’t take this mindset shift seriously not only risk losing more employees in sheer numbers, but also missing out on the benefits of instituting a flexible work schedule. According to Gartner research, human-centric work design — featuring flexible work experiences, intentional collaboration opportunities, and empathetic management — can boost employee performance by as much as 55 percent.

Kohnen is moving in that direction, as Retina prepares to reopen its offices. “We’re trying to understand holistically how opening an office and coming back impacts the lives of everyone. The journey will be nuanced for each individual,” he says. “We’re just trying to be a company that is a platform for supporting all those journeys.”