Balancing the Demands of a Post Covid Workforce
Two years down the line, many workers have since transitioned from purely home working and returned to the office at least a day or two each week. So as people are physically returning to their offices and resuming their pre-Covid routines, are their pre-Covid attitudes to work returning too?
Advocates of the office environment claim that returning to the office is important for face-to-face interaction with colleagues but a study into open office spaces by Harvard Business school found that ‘face-to-face interactions dropped by roughly 70% after the firms transitioned to open offices, while electronic interactions increased to compensate’. So, not that different from workers interacting from their own homes then.
There is already a growing divide between employers and their employees around the subsequent return to the office. Employees who have now tasted the benefits of working from home on a long term basis are now hesitant to return to their old way of life and all the costs (financial, social, mental) it encompasses.
The Art of Attraction
So how are employers responding to not only the new demands of existing employees, but also attracting new employees and applicants to join their business over the competition? As a leading global law firm with a long-standing reputation of being a top employer, Pinsent Masons has faced the same challenges for talent retention and attraction as others in the legal industry. Director for HR and Learning for Pinsent Masons, Jonathan Bond expressed the initial challenges faced by our law firm when the pandemic first hit: “During lockdown a classic challenge for our people was to work from home whilst caring for children or other relatives. This was a particular challenge when schools were closed. We showed as much flexibility as possible and we introduced a carers’ policy, enabling extra paid leave to be taken. It is always a challenge to achieve the balance of supporting carers whilst avoiding disproportionately disadvantaging non-carers”.
This human and compassionate approach taken by Pinsent Masons is to try and combat the ‘great resignation’ of working professionals around the globe. Other large businesses, including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, have tried (many of which have already failed) using a more hard-lined approach demanding their staff return full-time to their offices on a permanent basis. The result of such draconian measures is that top talent vote with their feet and march straight to a competitor in a very applicant-biased job market. Jonathan discusses how Pinsent Masons is dealing with employee retention in current circumstances: “Post-pandemic, it is clear across every sector that the “great resignation” is happening – in other words, attrition is greater as people reconsider their life choices after such a seismic event. Our answer to this is to ensure that we make our organisation a highly attractive place to work. This means being true to our values and Purpose, offering a comprehensive learning & development programme; involvement in cutting edge work; the opportunity to work with and learn from market leading experts; an enlightened approach to agile working; and a focus on wellbeing and inclusion – as well as a competitive benefits package”.
"An ongoing challenge for our age is to create an inclusive environment where all people feel valued and can be themselves."
What’s Important to Me?
As full time employees have questioned their own purpose and approach to work, many have changed tact. Some have changed employers, some have decided to retire early, some have changed industry and some have decided to freelance. Speaking with Geraldine Kelm, Partner at Pinsent Masons Vario and responsible for Vario Flexible Services, she comments; “There is no doubt the pandemic has been a catalyst for many lawyers to consider an alternative career path, and this is evident from the increasing number of quality lawyers at all levels applying to join our bench. This might be to help achieve a better balance between law and other passions or interests, for more flexibility around the ‘when’ and ‘where’ of work, or perhaps to experience a broader variety of roles in other sectors. The drivers may vary but the common factor is a desire for change, and to work a bit differently”.
Clearly, professionals across all fields and experience levels are embracing and in many cases, demanding greater flexibility than in their pre-Covid lifestyles. Hybrid working is now typically expected rather than requested. Employers are being forced to acquiesce to these requests and ensuring that employees are satisfied with their new working terms .”Another post-pandemic challenge is to consider what type of hybrid working to adopt. Unlike many competitors who have mandated a certain number of days per week, we are trusting individuals and teams to work this out for themselves, considering the needs of the firm, their teams and themselves. As a co-founder of the Mindful Business Charter, we encourage good habits such as protecting times like lunch periods in diaries and avoiding sending unnecessary evening emails” Jonathan notes of Pinsent Masons’ employer stance.
Instead of trading blow-for-blow with other competing corporate employers offering fully-remote terms, Pinsent Masons has looked at its internal culture and how this can be more attractive and unique for employees in comparison to other firms. “An ongoing challenge for our age is to create an inclusive environment where all people feel valued and can be themselves. We have made much progress with an enlightened D&I programme involving a market leading LGBT programme, Sun and Sky, but there is always more to do. Our recent launch of the Global Family Leave policy is an example of innovation as we look to create a level playing field of opportunity for all” Jonathan explains. It’s not just Pinsent Masons who have taken a look at their own culture and looked to make improvements from within; ‘Chief Happiness Officer’ has been a job title growing in popularity across many industries since Covid, it’s a role with the main responsibility of ensuring staff happiness and thus hopefully attraction and retention.
Adapt or Die
The desire from the entire professional workforce to improve their work life balance either through hybrid working, fully-remote working or simply more control over their working conditions isn’t diminishing in line with the decreasing of Covid numbers. It seems as though we have entered into a new era of work and many of us won’t be turning back to the days of yore. Employers and firms must ensure that they embrace the new expectations of the modern professional or face a dwindling pool of talent. The infamous Charles Darwin quote has never been more apt in our ever-changing times; ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”.