This chapter per the author describes many of the specific challenges faced by workers as a result of the hybrid environment created by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Leaders of organizations are also struggling with many of the same personal challenges and the requirement to meet organizational goals regardless of the environmental factors affecting their employees. This chapter discusses practical management strategies to help leaders at all levels strike a balance between life and work from home so they can lead with authenticity, empathy for the human experience, and a mindset of productive compassion. Employees want to feel valued and significant. How leaders approach the challenges of the hybrid workforce determines whether or not an employee feels empowered, included, and ultimately significant.
TopUnderstanding The Dynamics For Employees
Prior to the global pandemic, the concept of work-life balance was straightforward. There was a clear delineation between time one spent physically at work and time at home. The pandemic, lockdowns, travel restrictions and on-going protocols have created a hybrid environment where workers now have great flexibility on how and where they do their work, but that comes at a cost. Working from home can be a benefit, provided some conditions prove to be true. These include, but are not limited to: the worker is a disciplined self-starter who requires minimal supervision; they are not dependent on the social aspect of a physical work environment with regular inter-personal interaction; and they have the appropriate tools and space at home to separates work-life from home-life. In the case of the last condition, there are many people who simply do not have adequate space to create a separate work environment. Rather, they are working from the dining room table, a spare bedroom, or worse…their own bedroom. Unfortunately, this last condition can be a challenge for many, as can the need for a social component.
Employees are used to break rooms, water cooler conversations, walking down the hall to get a question answered and interacting with associates in a ‘live’ environment. Today, however, many meetings and working groups take place as talking heads on an on-line platform. While information can be conveyed in this setting, there are more constraints. Much can be missed without body language and the unique energy and visual cues of a live environment. Additionally, people are less likely to have the side / water cooler interactions that they would in a traditional live environment. These unscheduled interactions are important because they help with relationship building, trust, and ideation.
As such, the new life-work amalgamation requires more from employees than ever before. Time-management is also critical. Work and home-life now need to be scheduled to maintain balance, focus and productivity. In a hybrid environment someone could be completing a project at home one minute, and then working from a cell phone and laptop the next while waiting in the car for a child to finish soccer practice.