How has coronavirus affected workplace culture?

New research from CIPD shows that 67 per cent of companies anticipate that employees will work two or three days in the office and the remainder at home. With people in and out of the office — or working completely remotely — what can be done to make sure people are managed effectively and company culture maintained?

The impact of Covid on company culture

Covid’s impact on the workplace and workplace culture has been transformational and fundamentally challenged how we perceive work and the workplace, says Bríd Graham, senior vice-president, Europe and APAC, Presidio. “It has been a catalyst of change in how we interact with each other. It has challenged workplace practices, and has demanded organisations reconsider how we work and how we support our people.

“It has prompted a mindset change for organisations with the realisation that people do not need to be in the office to do their best work.”

Graham says she saw first-hand people embrace the new working world with great creativity, determined attitudes and problem-solving mindsets. “In many respects, we saw our people raise to the next level of their abilities as they pivoted and adjusted to the new working world. This has been tremendous to witness but the change to remote and hybrid working has also highlighted the importance of team culture and checking in with those working remotely to ensure they are not becoming depleted as the lines between home and work life become blurred. It has really highlighted the importance of reaffirming and strengthening our teams, and the culture of supporting each other as we navigate the challenges of the new working world.”

Reconfiguring the work-life balance

Catherine O’Flynn, partner and head of employment and benefits team, William Fry, says the profound events of the last two years have caused introspection and many employees to contemplate a recalibration of their work-life balance. Work must now be more than just ‘a job’ — it must accord with employees’ sense of individual purpose. “This presents an opportunity for employers to help employees find and foster their sense of purpose. Employers successful in doing so can reap the rewards of increased workplace motivation, satisfaction, productivity and retention.

“The overwhelming employee preference for hybrid work has been shown to be even stronger among employees with caring responsibilities and those from traditionally marginalised groups. For employers conscientious of the benefits of effective diversity and inclusion strategies, this represents another cultural dividend from the hybrid work model.”

Managing remotely

“I think the way most companies have adjusted and are now operating does not have a negative impact on the effectiveness of leadership,” says Henry Daly, head of marketing, Glandore. “If anything, it has brought good leaders to the fore as they have managed to keep teams connected and working productively whilst managing teams that may be split up between the office and remote working set-ups.”

Daly believes hybrid working can be hugely effective as leaders can ensure that their teams are all in the office on the same days for important meetings and collaboration and then their staff also have the opportunity to have a couple of days of remote working for administrative work and catch up on important project work.

Derek Kehoe, chief executive and head of country for BNP Paribas in Ireland, thinks similarly. “I feel positive management is much more in evidence now than pre-pandemic. Regular open and transparent communication is the norm. The positive impact on workplace culture is immediate.

“I believe that trust is now an accepted part of workplace culture much more so than pre-pandemic. We trusted our team to do the job remotely for almost two years and they performed outstandingly. They didn’t need to `clock in’ to do their job. They just got on with it. If there was a small percentage that abused the remote working opportunity then that is the same HR issue that existed within the office pre-pandemic.”

Shaping the workplace of the future

Hybrid working provides an unprecedented opportunity to reshape workplace culture, says O’Flynn. “Remote onboarding new employees and getting them adjusted to a company’s cultural values is of particular and growing concern. In-person learning sessions and paperwork should be moved to online video discussions and interactive sessions with leaders and teammates to ensure that all employees have a consistent understanding of the culture.

“However, effectively maintaining a culture requires translating stated values down to the level of day-to-day behaviours for individual employees, making it imperative that employers showcase cultural values in a tangible and visible way.”

She outlines that companies must create physical spaces where their employees want to be. “They should be places optimised to learn, collaborate, socialise and focus in comfort. They must implement new technologies to bridge the differences between in-office and remote workers.”

Kehoe agrees. “I genuinely believe we are only at the beginning of the new ways of working revolution. In the future progressive attitudes to remote working, work-life balance, condensed working weeks and much more will be a key part of attracting and retaining talent.

“The spurious link between hours clocked and productivity has finally been broken. We all need to now be practical and accept that the office is the place where our corporate identity is forged and our culture exists.”

Rick Kelley, head of Meta Ireland, believes that community and connection are key to developing company culture, and will continue to be the way forward for years to come. “At Meta we want to be a place where everyone can do the best work of their careers, no matter where they work. In order for this to happen we need to create the most connected, collaborative, equitable and productive experience for a company at our scale.”

He says that the company has spent years investing in the future of work, creating technologies that break down barriers and deeply investing in remote presence, video technology, enterprise software and hardware. “We’re well prepared for how we work today, and we’re excited about what work will look like in five, 10 and 15 years’ time.”