Work-from-home is no longer just a Covid-19 hangover; there has been a seismic shift in attitudes towards where employees can (and should) perform their daily tasks.
Should I let staff be fully remote? Is productivity higher in the office? What about culture and team-building? These concerning questions illustrate how working from home has become a controversial topic that’s difficult for companies to navigate. Getting it wrong can lead to high staff turnover and a disconnect between candidates and the companies they are applying for jobs with. LinkedIn research suggests that nearly half of employees would start looking for another job if their employer enforced a more in-office presence:
At Synnovate, we’ve put together an analysis of the different approaches companies are taking, how to design the right work-from-home (or office) policy for your business, plus how to integrate this into your recruitment strategy for a seamless hiring process.
A confusing spectrum of work-from-home policies
On questioning our Synnovate clients, we’ve realised that puzzling out problems around remote and on-site working has led to widely different approaches from companies. Big players in finance, Barclays and JP Morgan and Chase, believe their employees are much more productive in the office. Both companies are returning to pre-Covid times by requiring staff who are currently on hybrid schedules to return to the office 4-5 days per week.
Not all companies are following suit; Monzo and Starling Bank have completely closed their central offices and proudly reduced their carbon footprint. Whereas Zopa, Wise and Revolut have introduced distributed work-from-anywhere models, keeping their offices open but leading to decreased utilisation of them.
The varied approaches of companies, even from within the same sector, makes it seem unlikely that we’ll reach some sort of cultural norm when it comes to where we work from. This might seem like bad news for companies who are looking to the giants in their industry to lead the way. This flexibility actually forms a great opportunity for you to design a policy that is fully tailored to maximise your business.
How to design your work-from-home (or office) policy
Many companies have voiced concerns about remote workers’ productivity. A comprehensive report from Stamford University, encompassing multiple studies, uncovered an interesting disconnect in perceptions: workers think productivity is 7% higher when they work from home, whereas their managers believe it to be 3.5% lower. Who is right? The Stamford report reflected a 10% reduction in productivity when staff work from home. This seems like a pretty cut-and-dried case – bring everyone back into the office! But it isn’t as simple as that.
As a society, we’ve gotten used to hybrid working and constructed our lives accordingly. Flexibility allows us to get domestic tasks out of the way on our lunch breaks, cut down on commute time and share childcare responsibilities with our partners. How many times have you been introduced to small children and pets on a Zoom call? For many, a move back into the office full-time means evenings and weekends spent doing laundry and housework instead of relaxing or catching up on emails. It means deciding between paying for childcare or one partner quitting their job.
However, rising living costs and stagnant wages means that real household disposable income has fallen in recent years, most significantly by 2.2% in the 2022-2023 financial year. As a result, many people may simply not be able to afford essentials, like rent and mortgage repayments, if they have to shoulder the burden of the extra costs associated with a return to the office full-time. Our research at Synnovate reflects this, with most workers favouring a hybrid model and just 4% wanting to work in the office full-time:
These numbers may look bleak to companies who want their employees back in the office full-time. Remember, there is a wide range of people with different lifestyles and needs out there. Viv, a Software Implementation Consultant at Slimstock, has specific needs because of her neurodivergency:
“I have ADHD – for me, that presents in my struggle with self-motivation, time management, and routine. Working in the office provides me with the structure I need to be able to maintain a consistent routine, and the atmosphere helps keep me motivated throughout the day. It may sound strange, but what keeps me most focused is a regular stream of small distractions, which are perfectly provided by colleagues stopping by for a chat, or offering to fetch a cuppa.”
There are many more people out there who prefer an office environment for the productivity, social and career-advancement opportunities they believe it affords. How do you find these people, or manage necessary flexibility whilst still maintaining a work-from-office policy? The answer: by implementing it in your recruitment strategy.
How to implement your work-from-home (or office) policy into your recruitment strategy
Our research suggests that companies aren’t building their work-from-home (or office) policies into their recruitment strategies. It’s more of an add-on – a bit of text at the bottom of the job advert, or something that gets mentioned during the offer stage. If expectations are unclear or misaligned, the result can be friction with staff, or even early quitting.
We encourage companies to provide a clear and upfront description of their policy on the job advert. Doing so will encourage candidates with the right mindset to apply and weed out those who aren’t happy with your policy. Build a discussion around your policy early into the interview process so you have time to resolve any issues before getting to the offer stage with a potentially unsuitable candidate.
This should be a two-way discussion, with candidates being able to voice their needs and concerns as well as listening to yours. It offers you the chance to be flexible; you don’t want to miss out on a great candidate for something that can easily be resolved. For example, a worker might need to leave an hour early to pick their child up from school, but can also start an hour early, because their partner does the school drop-off. You might want to consider this type of flexibility if it won’t impact their performance or duties. After all, it will put you ahead of your competition when it comes to snagging top talent!
For companies that aren’t able to offer personalised flexibility, there may be other ways that you can incentivise great candidates to join your company. One option is to design compensation packages that enable your workers to better afford the high costs associated with childcare and commuting. Another is to build perks into being at the office and to create an environment that people enjoy being in. We polled people on LinkedIn about whether they would be willing to take a pay cut in order to keep working remotely. As we expected, most people believed this shouldn’t be a choice, but a surprising 40% were willing to do so:
If incorporating your work-from-home (or office) policy into your recruitment strategy sounds like an insurmountable task, feel free to get in touch for support. At Synnovate, we can help you integrate these policies into your recruitment strategy to create a seamless hiring experience and staff who want to stay long-term.
