Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Halfway Through 2023, The Return to Office Debate Still Rages

In workforce and HR circles, one of the main events of 2023 so far has been the return-to-office (RTO) debate – and specifically the opposing viewpoints of those who want to remain remote and those who yearn to be in the office again.

Last year, it seemed like most companies had settled into harmonious hybrid work arrangements, with many mandating that office-based employees report to physical locations one to two days per week. But recently, a growing number of organizations, including Apple and Starbucks, are walking back remote-work policies. And new Congressional legislation aims to decrease telework options for federal workers in the U.S.

Some employees aren’t accepting the changes. SHRM reports that weeks after Disney CEO Bob Iger said he would require corporate employees to return to the office four days a week, 2,300 of them signed a petition asking him to reconsider the policy.

Through companies like Apple, Starbucks, and Disney, we see the pro return-to-office perspective. But it’s clearly not the only point of view. Let’s summarize the main points of each argument in the return-to-office debate.

The pro-office point of view

In his memo to employees, Disney’s Iger stated that “creativity is the heart and soul of who we are and what we do at Disney. In a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe, and create with peers that comes from being physically together, nor the opportunity to grow professionally by learning from leaders and mentors."

Humans are social creatures who bond with one another and often ideate more effectively in a team context. This is why many leaders want people back in the office.

Then there are the financial realities – at least for organizations based in the U.S. As Bloomberg recently reported, U.S. cities and states grant billions in tax incentives to companies who open offices in their areas. These agreements often include an expectation that companies will deliver something in return: full-time jobs, done primarily on-site. These new jobs bring new payroll and tax revenues— but not if they’re performed remotely. Naturally, leaders don’t want to jeopardize these lucrative incentives.  

For the pro-remote point of view, check out the rest of the article on the Ceridian blog!

 

The Plight of the Middle Manager in 2022

Welcome to our blog series on middle managers. Over the next two months, we will focus on the millions who comprise this heroic group. We’ll start with an overview of modern middle manager challenges and follow with some individual perspectives from middle managers. Our final two posts will cover general solutions and technology-specific solutions for supporting the middle managers in our organizations.

When I was 24 years old and working in a junior-level PR job in New York City, I decided to write a book about everything work-related I hadn’t been taught in college. Burnout was top of mind.

As it turns out, I had no idea.

Fast forward 20 years, and many of my generational compatriots are middle managers. They took these roles at a time when burnout had increased so much that the World Health Organization had labeled it an “occupational phenomenon.” And, in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic, late 2021 survey data from Gallup found that manager and middle manager burnout is only getting worse and is precipitously higher than individual contributor burnout.

It's not just the pandemic

It’s easy to attribute burnout to working two years in a pandemic, but the issue is more nuanced and multifactorial. First, let’s consider the role within the organization. A manager in the middle of several layers of hierarchy must maintain relationships with those below them and those above them. “It requires being both a proactive leader to direct reports and an engaged follower to the top management – all at the same time,” wrote Zahira Jaser last year in Harvard Business Review.

Jaser explored other challenges facing middle managers, including the need to create a dialogue with and appease people with conflicting agendas, to amplify the voices of direct reports upwards, and to critically appraise and balance dilemmas.

Do middle managers receive proper training for this complex dance? It depends, but the answer is often no. Ceridian’s 2022 Executive Survey found that while leaders recognize the value of middle managers, they aren’t always great at supporting them.

When Executive Survey respondents were asked how their organizations support middle managers, only half (51%) said their organizations offer management training programs.

A lack of comprehensive leadership development guidance and mentoring often leaves middle managers feeling less secure. Millennial managers are especially vulnerable to getting in over their heads, as they were promoted into supervisory positions much earlier than prior generations. All these factors lead to a profound experience of middle manager burnout.

For the rest of this piece, head over to the Ceridian website.

If You Could Go Back to the Office, Would You?

If you could return to your pre-pandemic work arrangement right now, would you do it?

I conducted an informal email survey last month to hear how 9-to-5 professionals would answer that question. What were their reasons for wanting a more traditional in-office or an alternative working-from-home (WFH) arrangement?

I deduced some central themes from the about 100 responses I received. For one thing, people's decisions about whether or not they'd go back were nuanced. Of the approximately 75 percent of my respondents who said they would NOT go back, nearly all gave a qualifier such as "I'd be happier and more productive working from home permanently IF my kids weren't out of school."

 I also heard many of the same pros and cons time and time again.

Pros of Working From Home

Some of the recurring pros reflected that working from home gave individuals control over the typical, day-to-day stress of being in an office. Many find that working from home is a better fit for their comfort zones.

Freedom 

About half of respondents who said they would not go back to the office mentioned freedom specifically. These individuals relish the independence and flexibility that come with working from home.

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“It’s much less distracting and I don't have the wasted time of a commute twice a day,” says Jesse Silkoff, co-founder and president of MyRoofingPal. "It has also allowed my wife and I to have more time together since we can meet up for a coffee break. And, I’ve saved a ton of money having easy access to my own refrigerator, preferred coffee and the casual clothes I want to wear."

Interestingly, one-third of respondents who would not go back to the old way were positive about having a work environment full of kids and pets. When DevSkiller co-founder Tom Winter was working at the office, he was so exhausted when he came home, he didn’t have the energy to play with his children.

“Remote work has allowed me to enjoy family meals and park visits,” he says.

Pet safety company Huan's founder Gilad Rom feels he has a better quality of life with his dog Puppy Pie keeping him company as he works.

“He reminds me to take breaks, he reduces my stress and our bond is much stronger,” Rom says.

No More Sunday Blues

Jason VanDevere, CEO of Goal Crazy Planners, shared that many people who work Monday through Friday often feel mildly depressed on Sunday nights in anticipation of the work week ahead.

“When I was working in the office, it was the typical job and I was in an endless cycle of feeling excited for Friday and dreading the ensuing Monday two days later,” he says. “Working from home, I mostly maintain the same 9-to-5 routine. For some reason, though, I'm less negatively impacted by the prospect of getting back to work on Monday morning.”

Better for Introverts

Most self-proclaimed introverts agreed that overall, WFH better supports their natural tendencies. The extroverts who manage and work with introverts have also noticed the positive impact WFH has had on them.

“Before the pandemic, I would go to my clients’ offices to conduct in-person workshops,” says Dave Collins, CEO of corporate education firm Oak & Reeds. “Now, my company has pivoted to virtual-only training, and I’ve found that this format gives the quieter, more introspective workshop participants more of an opportunity. In a live group setting, I might have really had to push them, but the virtual privacy gives introverts a bit of cover when sharing their experiences.”

For more where this came from, check out the full piece at AMEX Business.

Are You Ready for the Rise of the Contract Workforce?

When we think of the gig economy, ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft come immediately to mind. However, it’s much bigger than that. The US Department of Labor actually breaks down the four main types of alternative work arrangements into independent contractors, on-call workers, temp workers and workers employed by contract firms.

Since 2005, the number of workers in alternative arrangements has climbed by more than half, rising to nearly 16 percent of the workforce from 10 percent a decade ago, according to new research by Alan Krueger of Princeton University and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University. But the on-demand workforce (i.e. companies like Uber) employs only about 600,000 people or less than 0.5 percent of the workforce, the research found.

Krueger and Katz hired Rand Corporation to replicate their survey, sampling roughly 4,000 people. The findings showed how alternative work has spread across industries and occupations—including those not usually associated with the gig economy. For example, they estimated the share of workers in alternative arrangements has more than doubled to 11 percent in manufacturing and to 16 percent in health and education. It has quintupled, to 10 percent, in public administration.

For more about the professional contract workforce, visit the SilkRoad blog.

Telepresence Robots Coming to an Office Near You

Using telepresence robotics technology by Double Robotics and others, organizations are virtually sending their employees on client meetings and speaking engagements every day. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

Telepresence is one of the few commercial applications of robotics technology that I’ve been genuinely excited about. Now that remote work is significantly on the rise, I view telepresence as a terrific means for professionals to virtually project themselves into an engaging human office environment.

Since I don’t have a telepresence robot myself yet, I checked out some opinions from those who have used them. Do the currentmachines live up to the hype, and are they a nightmare for IT staff to manage and secure?

In theory

Over at TechCrunch, Peter Hirst wrote about his colleague at MIT Sloan Executive Education, Paul McDonagh-Smith. Paul’s based in London, but his telepresence robot from Double Robotics allows him to present at a conference in Singapore first thing in the morning, then have a business meeting in Cape Town, South Africa and later that afternoon, meet with team members on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“In our office, telepresence robots are no longer a novelty, but an everyday tool we’ve been using to enable our remote team members to be more engaged,” said Hirst. “Double’s robot units are available regularly for team meetings or one-on-one visits. We all enjoy the ability to be truly present in our interactions with colleagues and clients — an experience that feels much more natural and personal than a phone call or a videoconference.”

In practice

Emily Dreyfuss is a remote worker at Wired. She lives in Boston, but most of her colleagues are in an office in San Francisco, and she was feeling left out. Her boss bought her Double Robotics’ creatively named Double, which sells for around $2500. The telepresence robot was Dreyfuss’ physical embodiment at headquarters. Instead of legs, she moved on gyroscopically stabilized wheels. Instead of a face, she had an iPad screen. Instead of eyes, a camera with no peripheral vision. Instead of a mouth, a speaker. And instead of ears, a tinny microphone.

At first, Dreyfuss was enamored with the experience. “It’s thrilling. I am in the office! There is the kitchen! There is Sam! Hi, everyone! I am here!” she exclaimed. Her robot, nicknamed Embot, attended meetings. “Plunked at the end of the conference table, my iPad head tracked the conversation, listening.”

Although Embot put Dreyfuss physically in the office, her co-workers could only see her face and not her body, and therefore were not constantly reminded how pregnant she was. “The visual reminder of my changed condition was not in their faces,” she said. “I have worked at places before where women start getting treated differently when their bellies show.

Dreyfuss realized, however, that current telepresence technology has its limitations. For one thing, people were always touching her robotic body without asking, either to help her move if she got stuck or just because they felt it. It was awkward for her – and her colleagues too. As one reported: “You know, when Joe lifted you up and carried you – with your face on the screen, it looked really inappropriate. Like he was cradling you in his arms.”

Embot was also a little rough around the edges technology wise. Dreyfuss couldn’t hear meetings very well. Robots, of course, live off power and and Wi-Fi, and signal strength proved to be a big problem.

For the rest of the article, check out QuickBase's Fast Track blog.

Do You Have One of Those Time-Waster Personalities?

When I met Dana Brownlee, the founder of corporate training company Professionalism Matters, we got to talking about time wasting habits. It turns out that certain types of people are actually prone to ineffective time management.

Being the productivity nut that I am, I naturally probed a bit deeper on this one and asked Brownlee to describe her four personality types, and how to stop struggling if you have one of them.

The Fire Extinguisher

This person has no real plan for their career or even the day ahead. All she can do is focus on the latest fire or the most recent request in front of them, with no organized system to manage all of her tasks. Brownlee says this time bomb approach explodes when something really important falls through the cracks.

The Checklist Checker

This personality is more focused on checking off items on his “to do list” than the real accomplishment of important items. Focusing too much on small tasks rather than the critical (and yes, daunting) ones is a dangerous approach because it gives the false illusion of achievement.

The Manic Multi-Tasker

This personality is convinced that one has to do 2-3 things at a time to be efficient. This person often can’t distinguish what can be multitasked versus what can’t. This can set her up for negative consequences (e.g. quality lapses, errors) that result from lack of attention and concentration.

For more where this came from, check out the QuickBase Fast Track blog.

Do New Paid Sick Time Laws Affect You?

This year is shaping up to be an interesting one for HR compliance. The most buzz, it seems, is occurring around paid sick leave. In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama asked the U.S. Congress to pass national legislation granting American workers the right to paid sick days when they or their family members get sick, or to deal with sexual assault and domestic abuse.

Paid sick leave is another benefit that most develop countries provide to workers but the U.S. has up to this point resisted. Instead, most employers have what is known as a single-bucket system for any and all paid time off.

Since nothing goes through Congress quickly, Obama also recommended that state and local governments pass legislation. Now, in 2016, this is where most of the action is. Since Obama’s call, four states and 23 cities have already passed sick leave laws, and as a result, nearly 10 million Americans are now covered by a guarantee to earn paid sick leave.

In cities like Spokane, WA, the new legislation requires businesses with 10 or fewer employees to allow them to earn up to three paid days off a year, and larger ones to give workers five days. Spokane’s sick leave bill exempts construction workers, those doing work-study jobs, and seasonal and temporary employees. 

For more on this issue, head over to the SilkRoad blog.

Entrepreneurs: How Work/Life Balance and Growth Can Mix

Those who believe starting a business means fewer hours will probably find themselves mistaken. In reality, small-business owners may be some of the hardest working people in the world, regardless of industry or sector.

It can be especially difficult to sustain effective work-life balance when your business is growing and it feels as if there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Additionally, when the pace of business has picked up substantially, you and your employees may be feeling the pinch.

Since a culture of good work-life balance can be established and encouraged from the top, I asked three small-business owners how they achieve work-life balance during growth periods and also how they model and promote healthy habits for their employees. Here are the insights William Bauer, managing director of Royce Leather Gifts in New Jersey, Rob Biederman, co-founder of Hourly Nerdin Boston, and Mike Mannon, president at WD Communications in Philadelphia, shared with us.

During times when your business is growing like gangbusters and it seems you’ll never get everything accomplished, is work-life balance still a priority for you?

Rob Biederman: Work-life balance is always difficult to maintain in hyper-growth mode. However, through long-term planning, I aim to maintain an average balance over the course of a year, even if there are certain weeks and months when work takes over a relatively unhealthy amount of time. I’ve tried to align my formal work breaks with periods of customer slowness—typically, August and late December holidays—to maximize selling time as a percent of my working year, and to be most impactful in those interactions.

William Bauer: Work-life balance always has to take priority. The more my employees and I feel as though our lives are out of balance, the more likely we will pay a physical and emotional price—and so will our business.

Mike Mannon: In times of intense growth, work-life balance is a priority, but home life definitely takes a hit. I feel like I'm better than I was at 30, or 40. When I'm at home, I want to make sure that I look my kids in the eyes as they're going off to school, try to give them a big hug and an "I love you." Same for my wife! It helps me breathe better when I have to duck back in to start the cycle of calls and meetings and decisions.

How do you model good work-life balance for your employees—meaning, how do you show them that as an owner, it’s possible to do a good job and still pay attention to other priorities?

Bauer: Especially as my business is growing, I find myself immersed in the day-to-day needs of the company—from finding and hiring talent to marketing the opportunities. It’s hard to break away even for an hour, much less for a vacation. However, I take all of my allotted three weeks of vacation time, and I encourage my employees to do the same. After a vacation, we come back to work feeling refreshed and more productive. 

Mannon: I’ve personally stopped cell phone use at family meal times. Also, I take one week of vacation a year to a location with no cell service. The Blue Ridge Mountains are my respite.

Biederman: The employees will only have work-life balance as healthy as the executives demonstrate. Consequently, it’s important for executives to spend some of their working time “secretly”—e.g., at home and not signed in to office communication software. This way, owners can get in all of their required working hours but without setting an “always on” example for the junior staff who will look to them for guidance.

If you observed that an employee was working himself or herself to burnout, what would you do?

Mannon: I have observed it, and it's tough. We're in an industry where, because of the travel and client demands, there are times during the year when there's very little down time. During those times, I ease off on the additional project work and try to be as supportive as possible. If we can bring in another consultant to give someone a break, we do it. I've learned the hard way that the bit of profit you lose is worth it. 

Bauer: I tell my employees who seem to be burned out to embrace the off button. Every phone, computer, etc., has an off button. It's there to be used. When you unplug and step back, you will start to experience one of life’s greatest treasures: perspective. You will think about problems you are wrestling with greater clarity. You allow yourself the freedom to be more analytical and less emotional when you step away and think versus just diving in and responding in the moment.

Biederman: We strongly encourage longtime employees to take vacations—true ones, where they really unplug totally. Many of the diehards will try to avoid these rules. But, typically with some coaching, junior folks will understand that investing in a quick break one to two weeks a year can make them materially more effective during the remaining 50 weeks.

For the rest of the interview, head over to the AMEX Open Forum.

Balancing Business Realities with Employee Well-Being

Those who believe starting a business means fewer hours will probably find themselves mistaken. In reality, small-business owners may be some of the hardest working people in the world, regardless of industry or sector.

It can be especially difficult to sustain effective work-life balance when your business is growing and it feels as if there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Additionally, when the pace of business has picked up substantially, you and your employees may be feeling the pinch.

According to a 2015 Ernst & Young study, a third of full-time employees in some of the world’s largest economies say maintaining good work-life balance has become more difficult in the last five years.

Since a culture of good work-life balance can be established and encouraged from the top, I asked three small-business owners how they achieve work-life balance during growth periods and also how they model and promote healthy habits for their employees. Here are the insights William Bauer, managing director of Royce Leather Gifts in New Jersey, Rob Biederman, co-founder of Hourly Nerd in Boston, and Mike Mannon, president at WD Communications in Philadelphia, shared with us.

During times when your business is growing like gangbusters and it seems you’ll never get everything accomplished, is work-life balance still a priority for you?

Rob Biederman: Work-life balance is always difficult to maintain in hyper-growth mode. However, through long-term planning, I aim to maintain an average balance over the course of a year, even if there are certain weeks and months when work takes over a relatively unhealthy amount of time. I’ve tried to align my formal work breaks with periods of customer slowness—typically, August and late December holidays—to maximize selling time as a percent of my working year, and to be most impactful in those interactions.

William Bauer: Work-life balance always has to take priority. The more my employees and I feel as though our lives are out of balance, the more likely we will pay a physical and emotional price—and so will our business.

Mike Mannon: In times of intense growth, work-life balance is a priority, but home life definitely takes a hit. I feel like I'm better than I was at 30, or 40. When I'm at home, I want to make sure that I look my kids in the eyes as they're going off to school, try to give them a big hug and an "I love you." Same for my wife! It helps me breathe better when I have to duck back in to start the cycle of calls and meetings and decisions.

How do you model good work-life balance for your employees—meaning, how do you show them that as an owner, it’s possible to do a good job and still pay attention to other priorities?

Bauer: Especially as my business is growing, I find myself immersed in the day-to-day needs of the company—from finding and hiring talent to marketing the opportunities. It’s hard to break away even for an hour, much less for a vacation. However, I take all of my allotted three weeks of vacation time, and I encourage my employees to do the same. After a vacation, we come back to work feeling refreshed and more productive. 

Mannon: I’ve personally stopped cell phone use at family meal times. Also, I take one week of vacation a year to a location with no cell service. The Blue Ridge Mountains are my respite.

Biederman: The employees will only have work-life balance as healthy as the executives demonstrate. Consequently, it’s important for executives to spend some of their working time “secretly”—e.g., at home and not signed in to office communication software. This way, owners can get in all of their required working hours but without setting an “always on” example for the junior staff who will look to them for guidance.

For more where this came from, head over to the AMEX Open Forum for the full piece.

Video Interview: Mass Career Customization with Deloitte's Cathy Benko

Technology advances have made it possible for organizations to customize employment and human resources practices, and companies that treat each employee as a “workforce of one” are experiencing improved productivity, higher engagement levels, and lower turnover rates.

I conducted an interview with Cathy Benko, Vice Chairman & Managing Principal at Deloitte and author of The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance in the Changing World of Work, to learn more about this topic and how Cathy and Deloitte have been able to implement this strategy.  

Check out the video on the SilkRoad blog.