Has adapting to a distributed workforce really been such a big change for organisations? Martin Schwarzburg finds out, with a recruiter’s viewpoint provided by Tim Green.

With the pictures of camouflaged men storming the US Capitol fresh on our minds, crowd management has become a hotly debated topic around the world. While the phrase will make many instinctively think of street riots first, a barely concealed battle on how to manage a distributed office crowd rages in an increasing number of organisations – and not only since covid-19 forced companies to adopt a WFH culture.

Now, without a crystal ball but judging by signals in a number of industries, it is fair to assume that we’ll see at least partial WFH policies in a wide range of organisations in future. But is a distributed workforce really such a big change for organisations to adapt to?

Looking at regionally or globally distributed companies, WFH is rather similar to what we’ve seen across multinational corporations in the past. Matrix reporting setups where, let’s say, a local finance director based somewhere in mainland China reports into the regional Asia-Pacific chief financial officer based in Singapore, with another dotted line to a global headquarters in London, are not that unusual. (Partial) WFH just takes these relationships to a new level, but with very similar characteristics.

I talked to recruiter Tim Green to get a recruitment perspective on the WFT trend.

MS: Tim, as a recruiter you’re talking to both sides of the aisle, companies and candidates. What are you hearing?

TG: When the UK went into lockdown last March, businesses had virtually no time to prepare for what has essentially become the largest WFH experiment in history. But due to technological advances, it can, and has, largely worked for those whose job functions allow them to WFH. Enforced lockdown when schools have been closed has proved one of the largest challenges for people, as they struggle to work and home-school their children. Work and home lives have merged into one. I think it’s important to differentiate between enforced WFH (lockdown) and what the future might look like (hybrid working).

From conversations I’m having, it is clear that we are heading towards a hybrid working environment. And post pandemic, businesses and their people will have to decide what that looks like for them. Larger organisations may find this easier than smaller, privately or owner-managed businesses. Most businesses and leaders have passed the ‘sceptical of people WFH’ stage and are willing to embrace change. And the reality is that in order to retain and attract top talent, they may well not have a choice. People wanting flexibility is here to stay, and this could be very good news for businesses. New talent pools are emerging as a result. Women who have left their careers to raise children have often struggled to find roles that allow them the flexibility they need. Not any more. Attracting top talent may not mean fishing in the local talent pool any more. Why not attract the best global talent you can? Well-run businesses with strong leadership and management will be clear on the challenges and opportunities that hybrid working is bringing, and they are working hard to make sure that they are the leaders of tomorrow. They are determined and willing to raise their game.

There is a lot of focus on businesses and leaders adapting to change, and it is worth mentioning that individual team members also need to step up to the mark. With more freedom, flexibility and trust being shown comes responsibility and accountability. Managers are telling me that the WFH environment of the past year has certainly helped them to identify the individuals within their teams who are going the extra mile, and those that are doing the bare minimum. Finance professionals, for example, work towards more tangible outcomes (year end, HMRC deadlines etc.) than some other functions. Their output is largely just as easy to monitor whether they are in an office or WFH.

Younger professionals early on in their careers are missing the office environment more than those at mid-senior level. Under lockdown they are missing opportunities to learn from more senior colleagues and, as has been well documented, may not be living in homes that offer a dedicated workspace free from interruptions. They learn so much ‘on the floor” and often their social life involves office peers. In a hybrid work environment, it wouldn’t surprise me to see many younger professionals wanting to work in the office more than home.

MS: What are the managers you are speaking to focusing on to give them every chance of adapting successfully and motivating their people remotely?

TG: There are of course new challenges in managing people remotely. In an office environment it’s pretty obvious who is struggling and who is thriving. When people are working remotely, it can be more difficult to gauge how people are really coping.

The more experienced and accomplished managers I speak to all seem to share the same attributes when I ask them what they are focusing on in this new working environment. They have a genuine desire to get the best out of people. They are consistent in their behaviour. They are clear, purposeful and deliberate in their communication. They trust their people. And most of them agree that managing people remotely hasn’t changed their leadership style. I spoke with a selection of clients and asked them the above question. Here are some of the answers:

“In our morning team meetings, we give each team member an opportunity to clearly state what they did yesterday, what they are working on today and where they might need help. Everyone knows what everyone is doing, and I make sure we all leave the meeting with clear goals. We are tracking accountability and I know where help is required.”

“Spending more time showing how the work of the team has value, how it makes a difference and can help each team member enhance their skills and career.”

“Giving more autonomy. Stepping back. Showing that I trust the team. Letting people show me what they can achieve with results.”

“Encouraging my people to invest in themselves. Giving them time to invest in online courses to grow their skills.”

“Getting better attuned to my team’s mental health. I’m more observant to people who may be experiencing heightened emotions, worry, stress and tension.”

“We are being clear on what we expect from our people in the role they fulfil. We are essentially saying to them: mould your life around your job. If you want to come into the office five days a week, that’s fine. If you want to come in two days a week, that’s also fine. As long as you are performing well, it works for us.”

“I was asked a week ago by a longstanding team member whether she could work from New Zealand for three months. We trust her, and after some deliberations have agreed on the understanding that if it doesn’t work, she comes straight back to London. We want her in the business and we hope this two-way trust will work. We are confident it will.”

MS: Reading this I cannot help noticing that quite a few of these points would also apply in a pure office context. Do you think they were latently present before and are just being magnified during the WFH period or are senior folks having their ‘Oprah moment’?

TG: Both. I think the WFH period has definitely helped to expose the weaker leaders and managers. But that always happens in a crisis, be it a recession or a pandemic. Those that don’t add value are easily spotted and get found out. The stronger leaders will look at this as an opportunity to re-evaluate, accept that change is here, and look to provide positive outcomes for their businesses and the people within them. They will be carefully evaluating their options, to make sure they have a clear strategy moving forward. And there may be excellent senior leaders, reasonably close to retirement, who may not have the appetite to go through this. They will have weathered recessions and choppy waters before, and early retirement might be looking very attractive! But then again, spending so much time at home recently might make the office look very enticing indeed… Who knows?

My own experience of having made a similar transition when moving from local into regional and later global roles is that apart from the obvious like a reliable technical setup, digitalised documentations and regular face-to-face meetings, probably the most important ingredients are: setting and communicating clear and transparent expectations, goals and milestones, individual empowerment and, most importantly, trust. In order to avoid surprises, that last element is probably best applied using a Russian proverb adopted by Ronald Reagan during the INF negotiations in the 1980s: Trust but verify.

Now, having talked about the soft factors, let’s touch on a few elements related to cold hard cash. As previously discussed during my proptech article series, the property industry is ripe for disruption.

The technical dimension of the WFH discussion can be summarised in a relatively simple distinction: remote motivation or surveillance.

While Tim’s feedback above reflects on the motivational elements, the surveillance option entails a broad range of digital tools. Broadly these can be categorised in time-tracking, workstream management and communication/ collaboration tools.

Time-tracking applications are essentially virtual timecards with significant enhancements such as automatic project cost allocation and productivity tracking. Workstream management tools put a greater emphasis on monitoring project progress through various stages thus creating transparency. Communication (Zoom/Teams/Meet/Skype etc.) and collaboration tools (MS Project, Slack etc.) are geared towards seamless interaction, information flow and sharing.

In practice, the use of workstream management and communication/collaboration tools has been widespread in a number of industries well before covid-19 made them a necessity. Time-tracking, on the other hand, tends to be a tad more controversial, as is the requirement in some organisations to keep the webcam operating at all times. While the latter adds an open-plan office feel to cyberspace, it is mostly considered intrusive given the WFH surroundings. Time management on the other hand makes sense in organisations that measure efficiency in key performance indicators for certain process steps or caseloads. However, with physical lines between work and home being blurred in a WFH environment, time-tracking tools can also be used to ensure an appropriate work-life balance and the well-being of employees.

It will be interesting to see how the battle to keep the water cooler alive evolves as the world is getting vaccinated and ready to populate offices again, bringing one of the largest field experiments of modern history to an end – or not.