Hi Reader,
Many senior executives have been talking to me about the return to office (RTO) debate.
It's an emotive subject – and understandably so.
Only recently, UK retail veteran Stuart Rose (ex-CEO for Marks & Spencer, Ocado and Asda) added fuel to the fire over working from home when he said the practice is creating a generation “not doing proper work”. He went on to say he believes “productivity is less good if you work from home”
The financial services sector has pushed for staff to be back in the office for several years, and just recently, JP Morgan called time on working from home.
Amazon and the advertising group WPP are other high-profile employers with an RTO mandate. By contrast, Spotify, has heavily pushed its 'Work from Anywhere' programme, arguing work isn't somewhere you go; it's something you do.
JP Morgan and WPP's CEOs state, respectively, that "We do our best work when we are together in person" and that "Being together greatly enhances mentoring, learning, brainstorming, and getting things done."
It seems rational enough to think that building a high-performance culture is more likely through significant face-to-face interaction.
But removing flexibility, which is seen as a perk, is a big call on the part of employers. Large organisations must be confident that the backlash from employees will be outweighed by productivity improvements. There is also presumably a belief that they can still attract the same calibre of people had they retained hybrid working practices.
Interestingly, there may be less impact on the younger generations who have greater aspirations to be office-based for social as well as professional reasons. The significant impact could be on more senior managers and leaders.
But are many of these RTO decisions qualitative assessments or CEO preferences rather than based on hard data?
◾️ Office-based working was hard-wired in most companies before the pandemic turned working practices on their head overnight.
◾️ Working remotely for most of the week has become engrained in expectations post-pandemic. I didn't expect it to come full circle.
In the context of executive search, my questions and observations are:
💡Is hiring a more qualified candidate who works remotely a better outcome than hiring someone less capable who is in the office four or five days a week?
💡 Are we looking for a different profile of leader within companies with a strong RTO mandate that can create the environment to bring people back to the office?
💡 Companies will always strive to hire the best candidate, but how much does remote working impact leadership effectiveness—hence, performance?
💡 What are the consequences for companies' attrition rates by enforcing RTO mandates? There must surely be an acceptance by larger employers of short-term pain for longer-term gain.
💡 Larger companies with strong employer brands will fare better than small companies that historically struggle to attract people.
💡 With wellbeing such a prominent part of employer brands today, how will companies approach the spectre of regular, long commuting times?
Hybrid working models, without question, open a larger leadership talent pool. Most leadership roles can function effectively this way. I accept there are inevitably exceptions, but the majority of smaller to mid-sized companies will be worse off adopting an RTO policy as it will make hiring considerably harder than it may already be.
There isn't a clear answer to this. We all value flexibility, and as Spotify and JP Morgan demonstrate, companies are at both ends of the spectrum.
To your success,
Guy Day
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