Shocking Truth: You’ve Been Making a HUGE Mistake with Hybrids – Find Out How!

Hello and welcome to Working It. I am bravely (or foolishly) working through the disease 🤢. In my defense, we all do. Remote work has made it easier to move on, rather than rest and recuperate, which would be more sensible. Even so, UK sick leave is at a new record – we’re off the ground 185.6 million days due to illness and injury in 2022. It’s a perplexing puzzle. All ideas are very welcome.

Read on to learn more about why your organization’s hybrid work policy needs an executive to execute it, and in this week’s office therapy column I try to reassure a reader feeling overwhelmed by a colleague’s perfume. .

Move Over, Outdated Hybrid Work Practices

Many of us (including me) have been talking about “hybrid work” and “flex work” as if they already have a fixed definition. And that may well mean, in traditional organizations, a mandate to be in the office three or four days a week. Or, if you work for Goldman Sachs or for Martha Stewarta mandate to be in the office every day.

However, hardline mandates don’t get the best of workers unless they’ve been told why they need to be in the office (targeted meetings, collaboration, in-person training, and mentoring can be some good reasons. Just like a team lunch.) There is already a persistent gap between how many days workers are told to be on the job and how much time they actually spend there.

The latest numbers from the WFH expert nick flower, a Stanford economics professor, show that staff want to work from home three days a week and employers only offer 2.5 days. While that’s not a huge gap to close, many employers, it seems, are still very focused on more office time. Google is been reportedhas announced a three-day office term and will track office attendance and link it to performance reviews.

McKinsey, the consultancy, has just released a survey and report highlighting what he believes makes flexible and hybrid working effective and “true,” noting tartly that “long-held perceptions, including the notion that more days in the office is the measure of success, can hinder a significant change.”

The “true” hybrid of the future isn’t just about how much time people spend in workplaces (although that does play a role). It’s also about getting the most out of teams in terms of connection, productivity, technology usage, and your time. Allows you to work when it suits your staff (“asynchronous” work) instead of doing work during office hours at the same time as everyone else (“synchronous” work). than most feared by time sucksthe meeting, is the most notorious example of a synchronous work task that got out of hand for decades and is now being rethought.

True hybrid, as McKinsey details, is also about getting the best out of the physical workplace. I’m bombarded with emails from people creating sleek, forward-looking offices – the usual story is that employers will rent less space in the future, but it will be better equipped and more attractive to staff, so it’s worth going to work. the inconvenience of the trip and the cost of the trip.

But what about most employers who can’t afford to move or do a major remodel? My post-pandemic office experiences, ours and many others, consist of extra meeting tables, cafeteria-style co-working areas, and those Zoom cubicles that are meant to be soundproof (but aren’t).

One of the best suggestions from the McKinsey report is to follow the lead of startups and remote companies, and appoint a senior leader in charge of innovating and overseeing hybrid work policies. “Multinational and traditional companies, largely office-based, may struggle to build these capabilities, but they are increasingly crucial in defining and communicating a company’s workplace experience philosophy and practice.”

That’s a bit of jargon, but we know what it means, even if “philosophy” in this context is an exaggeration. I look forward to the next era of Head of Hybrid.

Do you have a Head of Hybrid or Remote? What does true flexibility mean in your organization? Are there cost-effective ways to modernize an existing office? Email me your ideas at isabel.berwick@ft.com. We’ll get back to the future of hybrid work in the coming weeks (there’s a lot to say).

This week on the Working It podcast

The Undercover Economist, Tim Harford, is one of the FT’s busiest and most productive columnists, so I asked him to join me on this week’s episode from the Working It podcast to share some of the secrets to his efficiency. Tim has previously written for the FT on how to stay productive in the face of ‘harassment’ in our email inboxes. (“The seven types of email you should never send” It is one of my favorites).

In the podcast he talks about the link between our personal productivity and stagnant national productivity levels. The fact that we now have to take on many tasks in the workplace that we’re not very good at, like creating PowerPoint presentations and doing our own expenses, might have something to do with it. The next time you’re stuck being your own PA, he reflects on how you might personally be bringing down the national production 😟.

office therapy

The problem: A new woman has joined my small office. She wears a lot of perfume. Can I tell her to calm down? The smell is driving me crazy.

Elizabeth’s advice: Excessive odor in a workplace is a nightmare for anyone nearby. In my grim experience of this, no one on our team could tell the scent sprayer to stop it. Instead we all politely waited for him to leave (it took a while, but he eventually went to another employer). I realize it’s a very British “wait” scenario.

A better option is to let yourself be visibly overcome by sniffing, sneezing, etc. when you are around this coworker. I think there is no need to pretend: you will sneeze with rage. Once it is clear that she is causing a physical disturbance, escalate the problem to her manager. Let them take care of it. A colleague reminded me of this old but good adage: “If you can smell your own perfume, it’s too strong.” Give the manager that as a topic of conversation.

You could even attack her directly, pleading for physical distress (“It’s me, not you”), or set up a defensive shield in passing: a spray or candle to remove pet odor or nicotine from your desk (health and fitness notwithstanding). security) 🕯️ .

Do you have a question, problem or dilemma for Office Therapy? Do you think you have better advice for our readers? Send it to me: isabel.berwick@ft.com. We anonymize everything. His boss, colleague or his subordinates will never know.

Five outstanding stories from the world of work

1. How Crispin Odey evaded sexual assault accusations for decades. This FT investigation is worth reading in its entirety for a forensic report of alleged harassment by the ultra-rich and powerful financier. It has led to a great deal of soul-searching and change, particularly within Odey’s own company, but the story also serves as a case study of how fearful colleagues are unable or unwilling to report a boss’s wrongdoing. powerful.

2. How the digital nomad went corporate. The idea of ​​working from anywhere (preferably a beach) became incredibly popular during the pandemic, but the FT’s Sarah O’Connor brings us back down to earth with a column on the new realities of working from anywhere: tax issues and a limit of stays. . Even so, it remains an attractive prospect.

3. French business schools dominate Master of Finance rankings. FT’s expert business training team has broken down the numbers and found that France dominates: ESCP, HEC and ESSEC are first, followed by fellow Frenchman Skema.

4. Fake Recruiters Targeting Job Seekers. Postings on job sites can lead to graduates being asked to pay in advance for training courses and tasked with finding new candidates. “Pure pyramid scheme”, as one put it. The FT’s Emma Jacobs reports that the number of fraudulent recruitment firms is likely to increase as AI becomes more widespread.

5. Companies are rethinking consultants as they worry about the economic outlook. Many clients are cutting projects and squeezing consultancy fees, the FT reports. There have already been job losses at consulting firms and more are likely to follow, with job openings down 80 percent year-over-year in the Big Four.

One more thing . . .

someone somewhere (HBO/Sky) is a series about families: those we are born into and those that queer and marginalized people create for themselves. It also includes shitty workplaces, love, friendship, pain, religion and more. Bridget Everett stars as Sam, who has returned to her small-town Kansas home at age 40. In real life, Everett is a star who spills over into the New York City limits. cabaret scenebut this vaguely autobiographical show is low-key, funny, and a bittersweet joy after a grueling day at work thinking about our own career failures and the paths we didn’t take.

When I wrote an FT Weekend article about make a custom suit — and the therapeutic effect it had — got a lot of thoughtful responses, from FT readers and on LinkedIn. Thanks to all who contributed.

A reader reminded me of the principle of “involved cognition”. Essentially, the way we behave and think can be affected by the meaning of the clothes we wear and also by the act of wearing them. Clothes have a powerful effect on us. Better clothes might even mean better performance. (Cautions apply.)

We covered this last year on the Working It podcast with Columbia University business school professor Adam Galinsky, who came up with the phrase “enveloped cognition.” Hear here again To discover more.

🙋🏽 Calling all consultants!

If you’re a consultant, take part in FT’s global survey: what’s your working life like? Are you working more hours than ever? Or have things been slow? We want to get as much accurate information as possible and we respect your privacy. Click here to read more and participate. The survey closes on Friday, June 16.