Iress : The Great Reflection

Of the people I have spoken to in the last 18 months the resounding majority now want some form of return to the office, with the biggest pull factors relating to culture, fulfillment and camaraderie. It's hard to find fulfillment in your role when you are stuck on Zoom for 8hrs in your spare bedroom, it's difficult to motivate yourself to work till late on an RFP when the only person you are sharing the late night pizza with is yourself and it's hard to feel like one of the team when you have never met any of them in person.

An opportunity to be more human

There is evidence that could be used to contradict this, during lockdown it seems most have worked as long if not longer hours, but scratching below the hours worked it seems that the additional hours have often been motivated by anxiety of assumed absenteeism rather than a determination to excel in the role and I feel this is an important point to reflect on because businesses should be reflecting on how to create an environment where employees want to give as much as they can, rather than an environment where the business can get as much out of its employees as possible.

It's a subtle difference maybe, but an important one particularly for financial services. There are regularly stories in the press about overworked graduates and burned out employees, and whilst its true that we all need to take care of ourselves and our colleagues it shouldn't be overlooked that one of the reasons the city has been so phenomenally successful over the last few decades is people's willingness to go the extra mile, and i don't just mean the top tier financiers. I've experienced teams working late to complete a large RFP within a short timeframe, operational teams working through the night to fix issues after the markets have closed, and tech teams working 24hrs to roll out a crucial fix or upgrade.Whilst recognition for these acts can come by way of remuneration the biggest motivators has been culture, fulfillment and camaraderie and as a result the great reflection should be about how we create a hybrid culture that embraces some of the new flexibility whilst holding on to the willingness to go the extra mile.

The current thinking seems to be to set the ratio of days in the office vs days at home, but this seems too clumsy as a long term approach, sure it gives employers and employees some predictability to help them manage time outside of work but does little to shape how we can all use time together effectively to embrace culture, build camaraderie and achieve role fulfillment. The most effective way will surely be an extended period of reflection where we try an approach, gather feedback from business units as well as employees, adjust, and try again. James. A. Garfield stated 'in the minds of most men, the kingdom of opinion is divided into three territories, the territory of yes, the territory of no, and a broad, unexplored middle ground of doubt'. Let's commit to exploring the middle ground and over time we will remove the doubt because, as Mr Garfield also said, 'the truth will set you free.'