WFH WFO WTF…

Shweta Sampat, Vice President, HRD & Personnel, MullenLowe Lintas, shares her views on the different working environment and models put forth by companies – WFH, WFO, Hybrid, etc.

Take 1 –Adapting to a thing called new normal - WFH

Catch that extra 15-minute snooze in the morning, because you can chomp into the time window of the otherwise mind-numbing and pocket draining commute to office. Imagine – reducing greenhouse gas emission into our environment and contributing to oil savings by being off the streets!

How lovely it is not to have someone constantly hovering around you to ask unnecessary questions, distracting you while you are trying to focus on that report or presentation. It is true that no one loves a helicopter boss, constantly pinging to micromanage (simply because the lack of sight of their team compels them to keep checking in)

Get your dose of serotonin and dopamine without struggling too hard. Squeeze in that spin class or yoga routine. Walk your dog. Have a meaningful chat over a cuppa with your folks. Take a quick round of the park with your little one. Eat fresh, hot, home-cooked meals with your family.

Wonderful indeed!

Hang on, that is just one side of the story.

Take 2 – Rewire to WFO

Metrics in a report by the United Nations International Labour Organization published the flipside.

A valid and equal opposite view of the kind of life we were compelled to adapt to during the pandemic.

Several employees have declared that they forget to take breaks when they work from home, and don’t manage stopping work at a reasonable time. Some even admit to not knowing when is a reasonable time to stop. Working hours stretching into odd hours, blurred work-life boundaries, intense work pace resulting in heightened stress.

Boom! With that, the mental health struggle just quadrupled itself. Good ergonomic design was never a part of home décor, so the crick in your neck is a gentle reminder that you have physically aged 4X if not more in the last two years, thanks to that chair you borrowed from the dining table.

Complete isolation from work colleagues equals swinging to the other extreme. As creatures we are social, even before we are human. A sizable part of our brain is devoted to interacting with other humans. Silo working, because of this is a straight road to breakdown in unit cohesion. Even more, for businesses that run on collaborative models or brainstorming. Human energy exchange taken for granted is a direct shortcut to deteriorating overall output.

There is always some work to be done. With a work routine that involves travelling to an office and, therefore, creating physical workspace boundaries, an “it is time to stop now” alarm is created by default. If you only work from home, your office becomes where you live. The tendency then becomes to complete sundrytasks till your eyes are digitally strained and dry.

If one were to see through the employer’s looking glass, hiring potential employees in a remote working model is an incomplete process. There is that much a CV, or a voice call can do to aid assessing a cultural and skill fit. In the bargain, waiting to fill a crucial position with the “right” candidate becomes time consuming and is thoroughfare to systemic ruin in performance for understaffed teams.

Take 3 - WTF!

The newest normal now. As offices start to physically reopen, there is an obvious inertia from employees to readapt to the old and tiring way of working.

Take 4 – Slow claps. Enters with a slow yet sturdy gait: The Hybrid Hero

Hybrid is the new buzz word when it comes to the work-life bash.

Everyone is invited!

And, here’s a sneak peak of the beverages menu

Remote Rani - A potent shot of remote first chased with a juicy slice of recreational huddles

Echoing the work style, the world adapted to during the pandemic. The model that proved work can happen from anywhere with the aid of tech tools. While work from anywhere is the base on the model, huddles at a central venue every now and then allow for human energy exchange and team bonding.

Beech mein Milo - A well composed mix of remote and office that leaves an after taste of ‘office occasional’

A popular choice for those organisations with large unused office spaces and collaborative work models. Still too shy to shoot the Remote Rani. A clear preference for tasting a good blend of in person collab and solo working. Pop into office three times a week, and… if you are smart enough, design your work week in a way that you land yourself a long weekend more often than not.

Puraani Haveli - A good old fashioned muddled with‘office first – remote allowed’ bitters

The comfort zone of working like we once did and readapting to classic ways of physically working in office – five or six days a week. For those who savor the OG office routine and thirst for good in-person conversations and human connections.

While there is no ‘one size fits all’ – ever, and preferences will always differ from individual to individual it is important to pay attention to what a hangover would look, seem and feel like after consuming each of these.

What is the behaviour of individuals in leadership roles?

Are they accessible to the people of the organization?

Do they aid and empower the work force with their own life force and higher energies?

It doesn’t matter which beverage you pick off that menu, if your organization culture is rock solid, cemented with two-way confidence, empowering individuals to be energised, dexterous and flexible.

It ultimately boils down to mixing it up in a manner that suits the employee and at the same time respects reasonable organization expectations. The fix here is a well-balanced cocktail of trust, responsibility and accountability.