Rolling out Return-to-Office Plans?

Things have gotten a lot better since the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic, so it’s not surprising that many organizations are now thinking about asking their employees to return to the office. According to recent research by Microsoft, 50 percent of corporate leaders say their company already requires, or plans to require, full-time in-person work in the coming year.

But such a requirement is likely to result in the loss of valuable employees. Research by my organization, The Myers-Briggs Company, shows that forcing workers to be in the office more often than they want to be significantly increases the chance that they will leave their jobs. A successful strategy for retaining good employees and keeping them engaged and motivated needs to take account of their personality types and preferences.

Until recently, most employees worked in an office or other communal workplace, although a minority were able to work from home some or all the time. The Covid-19 pandemic changed all this, and by October 2020, 71 percent of those whose jobs could be done from home had become remote workers.

Remote, Hybrid, or In-person?

Now, about two and a half years after the beginning of the pandemic, many organizations are planning a return to the office. Some, particularly in the financial services sector, have been relatively aggressive in pushing for staff to return. However, the world of work has changed since 2020. Having realized that they can successfully work from home, many employees are questioning why they should now give up their remote- or hybrid-work lifestyle.

In our research, 84 percent of employees who are entirely office-based would prefer to work remotely at least some of the time, and only 3 percent of people said that their ideal is to be entirely office-based. The commute, office-based distractions and interruptions, and inflexible or inconvenient working hours are seen as particular disadvantages of the traditional working pattern.

Of course, many organizations may be less concerned about how their employees feel and more interested in the bottom line. The assumption seems to be that forcing workers to return to the office will increase their productivity. Our results suggest that this is not the case. We found that office-based workers are more likely to be looking for a new job than remote or hybrid workers, and that workers who are forced to spend more time in the office than they want to are especially likely to leave their jobs. They also find it difficult to concentrate on work, see their job as stressful, feel their health and well-being are affected by that stress, and are less likely to enjoy their job or to feel included or supported by their manager or co-workers.

If an organization mandates that all employees must return to the office, the result could be the loss of some valuable employees and reduced engagement from others.

Transitioning Back to the Office

A flexible approach to employees’ work location will pay dividends, but that is not the end of the story. Our research showed that there are many other actions organizations can take to smooth the transition to a new normal of mixed remote, hybrid, and in-office work. For example:

• More than a quarter of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they find video meetings boring, difficult, or frustrating.  Over a third agreed or strongly agreed that if they join meetings by video, but others are physically in the room, it is difficult to make themselves heard. The frequency and setup of video meetings could be greatly improved, as could etiquette during meetings.
• Concerns about Covid have not come to an end, and organizations struggling to persuade staff to return to the office need to address these.
• Managers have a key role to play.  Workers who feel more supported by their manager also feel more positive, are less stressed, and are less likely to be looking for a new job.

Understanding Differences Is Key 

Beyond these considerations, it is important to recognize that people are individuals; one size does not fit all. Taking a moment to consider an individual’s personality type and interaction preferences can avoid many problems.

For example, consider extroversion and introversion. People with a personality tendency toward extroversion focus their attention on, and get energized by, contact with the external world, including co-workers. Those who are more introverted tend to thrive when they can spend more time within their inner world of thoughts, reflections, and feelings.

In our research, we asked how much people agree with the statement “I feel I am forced to socialize with my co-workers.” Only 6 percent of extroverts agreed or strongly agreed, but 29 percent—more than a quarter—of introverts did. Conversely, 68 percent of extroverts agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I enjoy working somewhere where there are lots of people,” while only 20 percent of introverts did.

An extroverted manager who has not considered that staff may have different personality types from their own may unwittingly be pressuring introverted employees to take actions they are not comfortable with. If managers are aware of their own personality preferences, this is less likely to happen.

Returning to the office does not mean returning to the working conditions of the pre-Covid world; employees have moved on. Those organizations that accept and leverage the new reality will prosper at the expense of those who cling to older, less inclusive approaches.

John Hackston is a chartered psychologist and head of thought leadership at The Myers-Briggs Company, where he leads the organization’s Oxford-based research team. He is a frequent commentator on the effects of personality type on work and life, and he has authored numerous studies, published papers in peer-reviewed journals, and presented at conferences for organizations such as The British Association for Psychological Type. 

From: BenefitsPRO