Opinion: managers need to actively trust their employees in the new post-pandemic work environment blending office and home settings
There has been a lot of discussion around just how many employees will want to work from home as we move to the post-pandemic phase of life. Some surveys indicate that around one third will want to work remotely every day, while around one third will want to go back to the office full-time. This leaves the other one third interested in working in a hybrid blend of office and home. Another survey has indicated that the most popular choice will be hybrid working, with employees working two or three days from home each week.
Even 10 years ago, we would not have been able to have this conversation. From the time of the industrial revolution, we all went to the place where work was undertaken, as that is where the machines were so labour had to be in the same place. When computers were first introduced, we still had to go to a primary location where the computers were housed in order to complete our work as they were too large and too expensive to be in a home setting.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, how do workers who are back at their office desk feel - and have local businesses seen an increase in trade?
Technology evolved in size and price to allow us to have home computers or laptops, meaning we no longer need to go into the office to undertake our work. Thanks to the accessibility of both the internet and mobile phone technology, many of us can work by just accessing our mobile phones.
But regardless of the number of days a person works in an office or at at home, there is a fundamental issue here in terms of how successful this new approach of hybrid working will be. And that issue is trust, he perceived levels of trust between the manger and the employee and between the employee and the manager.
Trust has always been an important facet of managing employee performance and has been one of the vital elements in a successful employee-manager working relationship. But what has been implicit in that relationship is that the manager can actually see the employee working during the day, whenever they want to. This has been heightened by the move to open plan offices, where monitors are set to face into the middle of the room, making it even easier to see the employee productively at work. Managers can be comforted by this aspect of their management role. If the employee is sitting at their desk, they are viewed as working.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's News At One, Cian McCormack reports on the challenge for many of a move to blended working
But if the manager can no longer see the employee 'at work’, how will this impact on their levels of trust? This new way of working will require managers to demonstrate that they trust their employees when they cannot see them working. This level of trust needed is one that we have no history of so we have to build new mental models of how will operate.
How will managers conduct regular performance reviews in this new world of work? Will they trust that their direct reports have been productive from 9am to 5pm each day, even when they cannot see then? We know trust is a vital component in developing employee engagement and high levels of engagement lead to high levels of organisational performance. Trust is seen as a foundation for team success. Research tells us that trust improves productively and engagement and to underline this important relationship disengagement is said to cost US companies around $500 billion each year.
Trust has been effectively taken for granted in the traditional office. But in the new post-pandemic working environment, mangers need to actively trust their employees and they do not currently have the tools needed to do this. It is incumbent on organisations to recognise this fact and ensure mangers have the appropriately knowledge and skills around how to build and maintain trust in this new world of work, if it is succeed for the benefit of all.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
