Company chiefs must respect that all employees have different needs for business to thrive, says Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment’s Ian Brooks
In The Times newspaper a few weeks ago the lead article was a claim from Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, that the right to work from home boosts productivity, and that Labour intends to end the “culture of presenteeism”.
Directly below this article, as a piece of juxtaposition, was an article stating that Amazon staff must return to the office five days a week, from the beginning of next year.
Amazon is not a travel business but as such a high-profile business brand it is sending a clear message.
We work with many clients at Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment who recently have pivoted from two days in the office to three days, and there are some that are now pushing for four days. It’s a minority but we do have some clients who like Amazon are now insisting on five full days back in the office.
The debate continues as to what is optimum. If you work in front of house in hospitality or a travel agency or airline then you don’t have a WFH option. And that’s an argument that some organisations use as a reason to try to achieve equitable working.
There’s no doubt that from a recruiter’s perspective, five days in the office hugely reduces the pool of candidates, but there are some candidates who prefer to be in an office the majority of the time. I do believe that the pendulum will swing back towards being in the office more, but disallowing any flexibility can say a lot about your “employer brand”.
I totally understand the benefits of being in an office together, including the ability to build a collective culture. However, if you’re smart and make a real effort, you can also achieve it through digital collaboration tools coupled with a strong focus on employee engagement.
For five years now at Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment we have been office free. Our team work different hours, and are based across the length of the country, plus two of the team operating from South America and Singapore. We only all get together once or twice a year, but its special when it happens. In the meantime, the chat, banter, encouragement and mutual support takes place on WhatsApp.
As one of our team said recently, they are finding that the employers who offer remote or extra flexible working for traditionally office-based jobs are gaining the upper hand in terms of quality and choice. So often we find that opening up on flexibility (for example offering four days WFH rather than three) enables us to source a really star candidate that the employer would otherwise be inaccessible.
Ultimately, I believe it comes down to good management. Finding the optimum solutions and respecting that we all have different needs. Some need to be in an office the majority of the time, but others who may have a disability or simply live too far away, need added flexibility.