Should we mandate a return to the office? We think not
Here we are amid 2020, following a quarantine that completely disrupted the world, and thousands of companies worldwide are exploring options to maintain their operations. Many of these companies are managing to do so by making adaptations to their workplaces, redesigning shared spaces, implementing barriers (both physical and psychological), incorporating disinfection stations at entrances, marking the floor to maintain a minimum distance between individuals, and mandating the use of masks in enclosed spaces… All measures that just a year before would have seemed like the concoctions of a conspiracy theorist enthusiast. Could you remember such times?
The Pandemic and Its Impact on Remote Work
Millions of employees across countless companies went through a whirlwind of adaptation. What was once a perk for the lucky few – remote work – became a necessity for everyone.
The pandemic forced companies to pivot, not just with their physical spaces but their entire mindset. It was a crash course on new ways of collaborating and interacting with each other.
But here’s the twist: some companies adapted and embraced the change. They experimented, learned in the process, and built systems and work schemes that valued results over rigid schedules. Others opted for doubling down on the old ways: surveillance systems, micromanagement, and sought to keep their employees connected, without fail, from 9 to 5. It was like a prison over Zoom.
These companies are the ones stuck in the past. They refused to adapt, and far from integrating a change process, they remained stubborn and lacking in vision. They missed the chance to create a future where productivity and flexibility go hand-in-hand.
The U-turn
Months passed, vaccines arrived, and finally, the pandemic began to be brought under control. Just as we began to see the results of remote work implementation, many companies decided to make a U-turn and started promoting a return to the office.
Not only that, many adopted a more aggressive stance with strict policies on the necessity of physical presence, promoting bonuses perceived as coercive, or even subtly implying missed opportunities for promotion and development for those who chose to stay at home.
Ironically, companies known globally for their technological innovation and remote work capabilities, such as Google, Tesla, and even Zoom (wasn’t remote work an excellent self-promotion measure for them?), are among the main proponents of mandatory in-office presence.
And yet, more and more people, participating in job selection processes, prioritize the possibility of remote or at least hybrid work over other job benefits. Undoubtedly, remote work has become a “non-negotiable” for many job seekers.
What We Did at GBH
At the onset of the pandemic, we adopted remote work as a contingency measure. We had to adapt, and of course, we had to learn a lot along the way.
However, we quickly realized that this modality was enhancing the well-being of our team, who found remote work an opportunity to bring flexibility up to par with work objectives.
Not only that, but we also saw that productivity, results, and performance remained consistent. So, when the global situation began to return to the (old) normalcy, we instead decided to maintain this way of working for most of our positions, for all those for which remote work was feasible.
Thus, remote work and flexible hours became benefits that positioned themselves among the most valued by our people, becoming the core of our work style.
How Did We Achieve This?
At GBH, we have three values: Make it Count, Be Open, and Do the Right Thing, and it is through these values that our entire philosophy, policies, corporate initiatives, and even our services revolve. When we adopted remote work, we began to work on policies that allow for flexibility, adhering to health (both physical and mental) measures, but also placing people at the center, understanding their expectations and needs.
So, we began to develop strategies that would allow people to work from home while still having access to all the necessary documentation to perform their work correctly, including systems, platforms, and collaborative tools, ensuring that each employee had everything they needed to achieve their objectives.
Challenges of Virtual Work
These adjustments have a technical complexity that is relatively easy to solve by providing tools and ensuring necessary access. On the other hand, what does require a greater effort is how to maintain or even grow the interpersonal aspects, which correspond to the culture.
Our leaders and managers played a fundamental role in adopting a work environment based on flexibility rather than physical presence. Their work style, aligned with our three corporate values, created teams characterized by trust, clear expectations, a sense of responsibility, and the knowledge that they can ask for help at any time, with someone always available to support them.
This positive and trusting dynamic has made people feel more connected and committed, achieving extraordinary results. Our employees not only seek a positive and trusting relationship with their leader. Other aspects they value the most are collaboration, camaraderie, fun, integration, and coexistence. So the challenge lies in maintaining this spirit even at a distance.
One of the first measures we took was to create communication channels through our internal messaging platform to encourage peer communication. We also began organizing activities that could be carried out remotely, extending the invitation (never mandatory) to all our employees. This allowed us to continue celebrating birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Christmas greetings, graduation celebrations, recognitions, and more in a completely virtual format.
We also promoted other internal initiatives such as the Tuesday Talks forum, a space to exchange ideas and experiences on varied (or not so varied) topics like philosophy and technology. This space is one of our favorites because it promotes collaborative learning and strengthens bonds between team members by allowing people to get to know each other better.
These changes also extend to the ways of working of each team. For example, in Human Resources, we have a fully digital onboarding process, where the new employee knows what will happen during their first days even before their arrival, has content to review at their own pace, and other scheduled sessions where they will meet via video call with various people. Additionally, they participate in integration sessions from week one and have several “check-in” points to ensure everything runs smoothly. Finally, each new employee has a mentor, usually one of their peers, who helps clarify doubts and make these first days lighter and stress-free.
These and other initiatives allowed us to maintain and even grow our organizational culture, as our employees feel the company adapted to their needs and preferences, resulting in reciprocity in terms of commitment and performance.
The Benefits of Remote Work
Thanks to this flexible work scheme, today we have people who have the opportunity to spend more time with their children participating in their school activities; others have been able to continue their studies, achieving great academic milestones; some have been able to travel to different countries while working; some feel the benefits of having their pets nearby, and many others have joined the GBH team from countries as diverse as Portugal, Colombia, or the United States.
All of this has led us to have a diverse, dynamic, and highly committed team that, by combining their talent, experience, and perspectives, has forged what we know in our company as “GBH Coolture”.
In addition, most people benefited from the time saved by working from home. Living in densely populated cities, we know that commutes are measured not in miles or kilometers, but in time spent in heavy traffic, which can be extremely frustrating and exhausting. This is not just an opinion; many studies address the environmental benefits of hybrid and remote work schemes.
New Challenges
We are aware that some things can still be improved, and although we are constantly looking for new ways for our “coolture” to permeate in the same way for everyone, there are some challenges to overcome.
For example, one limitation we still face is the time zone barrier. Some people have encountered difficulties integrating into work meetings or strategic calls because these occur outside of their local working hours. Although they do so and the workflow is maintained, we know these situations can be uncomfortable, especially if they are recurring.
Therefore, an interesting approach for us is to adopt asynchronous work, enabling people to meet their work goals and tasks without necessarily having to adhere to a specific schedule or join meetings in the early morning hours.
This requires a deep analysis of the times and movements of each position, how they interact with each other, the needs they have from each other in terms of deliverables, the commitments made with clients, and the expectations we have as a team.
Remote work has been a firm commitment for GBH, and we will continue to maintain it within our policies. Now, moving towards asynchronous work is one of our new challenges. In an upcoming article, we will explore this work model and the advantages that make it appealing for many teams collaborating from different parts of the world.