Management Counsel

MANAGEMENT COUNSEL: LAW PRACTICE 101 By: Jennifer Grace

Director, Employment Law Tennessee Valley Authority

MANAGING A HYBRID WORKFORCE

Two years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed how many of us work. Offices closed, employees were sent home, and wide-scale remote work was suddenly the norm. Now, as the pandemic eases and employers are looking to find their new normal, and offices are reopening, the reality of a hybrid environment is here to stay. Recent studies show that the majority of employees desire flexibility in the form of remote or hybrid work,1 and employers must offer some flexibility to remain competitive.

But the hybrid work environment comes with its own set of unique challenges, and understanding how to manage in a hybrid work environment is critical.

Communication is key

Make sure to establish multiple levels of communication with your employees. When your employees are rarely or never in the same place together, it’s important to have communication methods that account for the variety of schedules and ways that employees prefer to receive information. Email announcements, newsletters, intranet websites, and written policies are all standard forms of communication and remain relevant and necessary. But consider daily or weekly update meetings to communicate crucial, time-sensitive information. Instant messaging, chat programs, and text messaging work well for other less important, but still time-sensitive communications. And picking up the phone and making a call is still often the most effective way to ensure a message gets delivered.

Establish clear expectations

Are there certain times when employees are expected to be in the office? Are there core hours during the workday when everyone must be available, or certain types of meetings where being on video is a must? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it’s critical to clearly set these expectations for your employees.

Don’t assume that your employees know what you expect of them. A former manager of mine once told me it wasn’t necessary to give employees certain explicit instruction because “those employees just know based on how I treat them.” In fact, the exact opposite is true. Employees cannot read your mind. It’s easy to confuse less-than-clear signals in your everyday interactions, and that’s even more true if the majority of your interactions are over the phone or in virtual settings rather than in person. Instead, set clear and concise expectations, in writing, for your employees in those areas where specific expectations exist. If employees are required to attend staff meetings in person, or to be in the office at certain times, put that in writing and explain those circumstances that would justify virtual attendance instead. Providing your employees transparency about your expectations makes it more likely that they will meet them.

Consider creating a “Hybrid Work” policy that sets forth what you expect from your employees: when employees are expected to be in the office; whether there are any core hours during the day when employees must be available (if you allow flexible schedules); when employees are required to be on video in virtual meetings; any connectivity or technology requirements for remote employees (such as internet access or bandwidth speeds); and any limits on where employees can work

based on the need for confidentiality (i.e., no work in public cafes) or cybersecurity concerns (i.e., no using public wifi).

Be intentional in your interactions

Impromptu interactions like the proverbial water cooler chat are less likely, if not impossible to have in a hybrid environment, and thus it is imperative that you intentionally make time to interact with your employees. Take time to schedule regular one-on-ones with your direct reports, and your skip level employees. Set aside time every week or two to catch up with your team, not only about work-related matters, but also on a personal level. A good practice is to schedule the first 10-15 minutes of your meeting for personal catch-up, the next 10-15 for any matters the employee wants to discuss with you, and the last 10-15 for any matters you’d like to follow-up and discuss. Give your employees discretion over the scheduling, so meetings fit within their schedule and don’t feel like a burden. Also, encourage your employees to set up one-on-ones with their peers, not just their bosses or direct reports, to help them stay engaged with one another.

Get together when it matters

There will always be occasions when it makes sense to bring employees together in person. Identify where in-person attendance will truly create value, and where it won’t. Mentoring and career development, innovation and collaboration, all benefit from employees being together in the same room and able to communicate freely and spontaneously. Consider centering any in-person requirements around these types of activities, rather than arbitrarily selecting certain times for employees to gather without any defined purpose. Requiring all employees to be in the office every Monday doesn’t promote teamwork or collaboration if all of those employees are simply sitting at their desks attending virtual meetings that just as easily could have been attended from home, and may actually create resentment and disengagement. Instead, consider asking employees to come into the office on days when staff meetings are scheduled, or to attend an all-hands meeting or a workshop. These environments make the most of in-person communication and add value to the workplace. Also, ask your employees what types of interactions they think benefit most from being in-person – you might be surprised at how those differ from your own experiences, and consider tailoring your expectations to each employee’s style of engagement.

Productivity over facetime

In the past, employees who spent the most time in the office were often viewed as the most productive or valuable – even if that wasn’t actually true. In a hybrid environment, facetime is no longer a measure of an employee’s dedication. Instead, your employees’ productivity and performance should be your focus. Are employees meeting expectations and performing well? Is the work getting done? Are your clients satisfied with the work product and interactions? These are better measures of an employee’s value than how many hours they spend in their cubicle. Also, ask yourself whether a meeting is truly required in order to accomplish a task. Sometimes, it really is true that a meeting could have been an email. Identify those tasks that can be more efficiently accomplished through continued on page 26

About this column: “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” This old expression refers to the fact that a busy cobbler will be so busy making shoes for his customers that he has no time to make some for his own children. This syndrome can also apply to lawyers who are so busy providing good service to their clients that they neglect management issues in their own offices. The goal of this column is to provide timely information on management issues. If you have an idea for a future column, please contact Caitlyn Elam at 546-4646.