Pre-COVID, for the better half of my adult life, I sacrificed (almost) everything.  I tirelessly worked day-in-and-day-out, making sure I was available to my colleagues and clients whilst building trust and credibility in addition to delivering excellent work.  And I excelled!  I was high-performing and on the verge of a breakdown, but I was reliable, and I was visible! Rishad Tobaccowala so aptly describes this as habits that “kept us moving our meat-cased brains in carbon-burning, time-wasting, stress-inducing rituals of going back and forth to work like some hamsters on a wheel”.  A rite of passage on one’s professional journey in the advertising industry.

QUEUE 2020…

THE GREAT RESET

The catastrophic nature of the COVID-19 pandemic destabilized every aspect of society, fundamentally challenging “the traditional context for decision-making” both in business and in life, leaving the future uncertain.  Cannes Lions described it as a creative revolution: “The Blank Canvas, Clean-slate moment in the resetting scenario, lends a perfect platform for creativity to contribute in the business recovery…A strategic opportunity to rise up to the occasion”.  And as we look to define our collective recovery, The World Economic Forum challenges us to “build a new social contract”, one that reimagines how we do things by asking why! 

WHAT IS OUR INTENTION?

Most leaders are busy deliberating the future of work with little understanding around what the employee values thus putting their businesses at risk.  Why the compelling case to return to the office? We know that ‘The Great Resignation’, a term coined by organizational psychologist Anthony Klots, is upon us.  Yet our focus seems to be on how quickly we can return ‘back to normal’, rather than take the time to interrogate the underlying causes of attrition.  Klots reveals in an interview with Business Insider that he knew the existential crisis of business (resulting from the pandemic), was bound to lead to an existential crisis for workers.  Because what we do is an extension of who we are.  Mckinsey’s recent research into ‘the great attrition’ highlights that employees “crave investment in the human aspects of work…they want social and interpersonal connection with their colleagues and managers”.  “They want meaningful – though not necessarily in-person – interactions, not just transactions”.  How then do we as employers (and employees) authentically respond to meet these new demands, that contradict everything we know about traditional ways of working, and interacting?

THE RELUCTANCE TO RETURN TO THE OFFICE

In Mckinsey’s article entitled ‘Reimagining the office and work life after COVID-19’, they pose the question that maybe the satisfaction people experience working from home is the ‘product of the social capital built up through countless hours of water-cooler conversations, meetings, and social engagements before the onset of the crisis’

Whilst the concept of social capital is multidimensional, the aspect that stands out most in this context is the social connectedness that occurs between people and how it facilitates productive outcomes.  So what will happen over time when we are starved of unplanned physical collaboration and seemingly meaningless banter?  Unless our perception of social connectedness changes altogether.  After all, congregating around the barista on the 5^th floor isn’t a vibe if we can’t congregate (social-distancing.)  Or worse, there’s no barista!

PREPARE FOR RE-ENTRY: THE TALE OF A NEW NARRATIVE

“It’s time to do away with the workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men episode” Barack Obama once said in reference to gender inequality in modern America.  Similarly, nostalgia and resistance around pre-COVID ‘workplace policies’ that once enslaved us (both men and women) through a false sense of meaning and lackluster ‘culture’ has left people feeling unfulfilled in the ‘modern workplace - An ode to the ‘hey day’ and to the detriment of their people. 

Yes work/life balance and emotional and mental wellness matters.  But more so, is an organization that values and nurtures its people, in-person or not! The sense of belonging that comes in an organization with an inclusive culture, in which everyone has the opportunity to grow; is one that flourishes. 

In the words of Joseph Brodsky “it’s the echo that counts”.  We give life to those memories that define us the more we reminisce over them.  Let’s spend time reimagining our narrative and the way in which we interact so that we can echo something worth remembering. 

Submitted by:

Carla Worth

Managing Director 

Liquorice.