What Does a 'Return to Normal' Look Like?

Even as the omicron variant continues to shape "return to normal" conversations, many employers are pressing forth, using the lessons learned over the last year to craft new workplace models. In the meantime, they may need to answer the question: How should they approach a vaccination policy?

Hybrid as the Future of Work

A survey of more than 31,000 workers in 31 countries found that 73 percent want to see remote work options continue after the pandemic. The survey, conducted in January 2021 by independent research firm Edelman Data x Intelligence for Microsoft’s “2021 Work Trend Index” annual report, concluded that “flexible work is here to stay.”

Flexibility is exactly why REI Systems, an advisory services and IT solutions consulting firm, has decided to become a hybrid workplace. The Virginia-based company, which works primarily with the government sector, launched a pilot project recently to figure out what the hybrid workplace may look like.

“I think the return to normal for us is attempting to achieve the benefits of both the full work-from-home dynamic, as well as the pre-COVID ‘normal’ setup—when it comes to teamwork, innovation, culture, camaraderie—and create a bridge between those two realities to the extent possible,” says vice president Wagish Bhartiya.

Earlier this year, the company began contemplating how to resume normal operations around September. An employee survey showed that about 70 percent wanted the hybrid option—working in the office a few days a week and remotely the rest.

“One of the things we wanted to learn from the pilot is the most appropriate governing framework,” Bhartiya says. “Should the hybrid model be a structured, prescriptive model, or an unstructured, ‘free for all’ dynamic? How do we manage spaces, schedules and behaviors—and how much of that should be the company’s responsibility vs. the employees’?”

Maintaining Flexibility

Bhartiya doesn’t anticipate that the change will result in office space downsizing. But it will provide flexibility to reconfigure the existing space to fit the new model.

“It’s more about moving to hoteling type dynamics—flexible, open spaces—as opposed to offices, cubicles and dedicated locations,” he says.

Office space redesign is among the hybrid workplace trends identified in Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, with 66 percent of business decision makers considering an office redesign to accommodate hybrid work environments.

When we had to work remotely during the pandemic, we closed many of the communication silos we had before, and we collaborate better now and are a lot more productive.

— David Gorodetski, co-founder and chief operating officer, Sage Communications

One of the leaders contemplating this question is Tim Metzner, co-founder of Coterie. When the insurtech company launched almost three years ago, it adopted a “remote-first” model. While its workforce is distributed around the country, Coterie regularly brought employees to its Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters, whether for new hire onboarding, leadership team meetings or team building. During the pandemic, Coterie had to rapidly learn how to communicate and onboard completely virtually, even as it grew from around two dozen employees to more than 100.

“We recently had to ask the question, should we even keep our office and our view was yes, but we needed to reconsider what our office space should look like now,” Metzner says. “So we adapted it to have more flex and breakout space, huddle rooms and things like that.”

He notes that flexibility gives individual employees and teams “more control over what works best for them.”

“It’s an opportunity for them to build the working environment in which they can be the most productive,” he says.

Smaller Footprint

For Sage Communications, the move to the hybrid workplace could mean a smaller footprint. The company, headquartered in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, provides strategic marketing, communications and public relations services.

“We considered going back to what it used to be, going completely virtual or finding some sort of hybrid in between,” says David Gorodetski, co-founder and chief operating officer.

Since the company’s 10-year lease expires in early 2022, Gorodetski wants to reduce the office footprint by a third to a half after that. He doesn’t know yet how the hybrid model will shape up, but one idea is to divide employees into groups who would come into the office on designated days.

“When we had to work remotely during the pandemic, we closed many of the communication silos we had before, and we collaborate better now and are a lot more productive,” Gorodetski says. “I truly believe that the new model will allow me to provide more benefits and flexibility to the team, and better quality of service to the clients.”

Vaccination Policies

One of the biggest questions that has been lingering on employers’ minds is: Should they mandate vaccination? Some businesses have made their decisions by summer while others were still on the fence.

“We’ll be asking employees who have not been vaccinated to protect their colleagues and continue working from home to avoid having contact at the office,” says Gorodetski, whose company hadn’t made a final decision on whether to require vaccinations. “I know the team and the culture, and I believe that people will honor that.”

Kelly Duford Williams, an employment attorney with San Diego, California-based Slate Law Group, says mandatory vaccinations are “a sticky area,” although the federal law doesn’t preclude it, and neither do many of the state laws.

“But there’s also a cultural issue to consider,” she says.

She notes that the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission is allowing employers to require vaccinations but includes exemptions on medical or religious grounds. Whatever employers decide, she said it’s crucial to update the employee handbook with a vaccine and other COVID-related sections. This policy should also specify whether employees can take paid sick leave, since each dose could cause people to feel ill for a day or two. 

“My way of encouraging the vaccine is to provide employees with a certain amount of 'free' time off to get vaccinated and recover—for example, suggesting they get vaccinated around midday on Friday, then take the rest of the day off without using up sick leave or paid time off,” she says. 

The vaccination policy, she adds, is one of the most important things employers can do to protect their business as it embraces a new normal.

Of course, all of this may soon change. In September, President Biden announced that the U.S. Department of Labor was working on an emergency mandate for private companies with 100 or more employees to require either vaccination or weekly proof of negative COVID-19 testing. However, several states and advocacy groups threatened to take action against that requirement, and the situation remained fluid.

Measuring Employee Sentiment

The 2021 Eagle Hill Consulting COVID-19 Vaccines and the Workplace Survey by Eagle Hill, a boutique consultancy whose services include change management and talent delivery across multiple industries, and conducted by global market research firm Ipsos, found an even split among employees regarding their attitudes toward vaccination requirements. Of the 1,010 U.S. employees surveyed in August 2021:

• 50 percent agreed that employers should require vaccinations before the return to the workplace and 50 percent disagreed
• 60 percent believed employers should offer incentives to vaccinated employees (up from 53 percent from a similar survey in April)
• 40 percent felt nonvaccinated employees should not work with in person with co-workers (up from 35 percent in April)
  

Carrie Miceli, who heads Eagle Hill’s Technology, Media and Entertainment practice from the company's Seattle office, says the main takeaway is that employees feel strongly about employers being involved in health and safety protocols.

“As we go back into the workplace, employers should really be thinking about the impact of their policies and planning for the work of the future—because we all know it’s not going to all go back to the way it was,” she says.

Creating an individualized plan around vaccinations requires more than simply answering one question, Miceli notes. Start by listening to employees and understanding their views, and listen to reactions when you announce the plan, she recommends.

“Think about the impact on your overall culture, because culture could make or break a company,” Miceli says. “If there’s a widespread dissatisfaction with policies, both employees and customers can leave, which will hit the bottom line and impact the brand of the company.”

Photo: Getty Images