The corridors of Zoom’s headquarters, once bustling with remote work advocates, felt the tremors of irony last month. The video conferencing giant, emblematic of the remote work revolution, commanded its employees within a 50-mile radius to clock in physically at least twice a week.
Contrastingly, some companies are rolling out the red carpet rather than the iron fist, treating their employees to perks and flexibility as enticements to return. So what is the more effective strategy? The tale of two approaches unfolds.
The Iron Fist
A series of companies like Amazon and Google are reading from the same playbook as Zoom. For them, it’s a return to ‘business as usual’, codifying penalties for those who don’t comply with their office return edicts. Publicis Groupe, an advertising behemoth, threatened repercussions impacting employees’ financial futures if they failed to show up thrice a week.
“Workers are irked,” says James Arnall, of Perkbox, a firm that had to backtrack on its initial four-days-a-week office mandate after facing a deluge of worker complaints. “We underestimated the shift in mindset.”
The Velvet Glove
Enter Dylan Wickenden of EMCOR UK, who chose a softer approach. He knew the stick wouldn’t work, so he brought out the carrot. The new policy involves a majority of time in office but also offers asynchronous working hours. “It’s about meeting them halfway,” he explains.
Perkbox itself pivoted to a more laissez-faire approach, offering perks like subsidized lunches and Netflix subscriptions to those who choose to come in.
The New Employer Mandate: Understanding
Incentives, as Liz Kislik, a management consultant suggests, need to be tailored. From spaces designed for new mothers to even considering pet-friendly offices, the focus has turned towards creating an environment that employees would naturally want to be part of.
“Companies are realizing that they need to offer something more than just a desk and a paycheck,” says Kislik. She urges employers to answer one critical question: “Are we providing value so that a day at the office is a day well spent?”
The Workers Union Says…
”At the heart of the tug-of-war between home and office lies a fundamental question that managers must grapple with: what does the office offer that a home cannot? The answer to this question may very well dictate the success of any ‘return to office’ policy. Therefore, the strategies that companies adopt have broader implications for both the quality of work and workers’ overall well-being.”
