Options in the Post-Pandemic Workplace
Sarah Larson
Talent Strategist, Organizational Thought Leadership, Independent Consulting
Why We Need to Offer Options in the Post-Pandemic Workplace
Employees have been through the wringer the past few years. As a result, what employees now value in work and the factors that they are prioritizing in career decisions have shifted.
And one thing has become clear: Our traditional ideology of work is quickly disintegrating.
In the past, we gave leaders the lion's share of power and organizations treated employees as workers. Managers told workers what to do and expected them to “give” their skills and effort in exchange for the “get”—pay and other workplace features and benefits. But the human crises of 2020 have proven that the management principles underlying this traditional ideology are outdated.
Over the past several years employees have started to push against this model and voice (in some cases loudly) their needs, concerns, and limits. As a result, organizations have been forced to recognize employees as people first, rather than just workers. And employees have needs that they now expect their organizations to understand and to address. A worker-centered employee value proposition (EVP) just won’t cut it anymore. We have to shift to a human-centered EVP.
The ROAD: Four big human needs
So what human needs do organizations need to address in their EVP? The research is quite conclusive on four big needs:
R.
Recognition - Employees want to be valued for their efforts and achievements. Businesses must recognize them to motivate them to engage, perform and stay.
O.
Options - To answer the workforce’s desire for autonomy, companies must offer employees options and allow them to make choices within boundaries that protect productivity and corporate goals.
A.
Affinity - Workers are feeling the loss of the office as a social hub. They need to reclaim meaningful connections. Organizations need to offer ways to connect with the company, society and the most important people in their lives.
D.
Development - With mental health issues and financial hardship on the rise, employees care about more than just developing their professional skills. They want to develop personal skills to address their whole-person needs. Organizations must invest in developing employees as people, not just professionals.
This is the ROAD: a map to creating employee value based on meeting human needs post pandemic.
In this post, we are going to examine the second need: Options. We will discuss the benefits to companies of giving employees the opportunity to choose among options—and look at practical ways to meet this need.
Behind the need for Options
Before the pandemic, the workplace was a place where leaders and managers set the agenda and goals and carefully supervised employees as they worked to achieve them. Few people questioned it. That was just how things were done. Remote work was a pipe dream for many, hindered by an idea firmly implanted in the Western psyche that equated working remotely to slacking off.
Then everyone was sent home for two years.
Suddenly, employees experienced new levels of autonomy. Outside the office, no one could closely monitor or dictate how and where they worked. And somehow, things still got done.
And while we were busy learning to cope with our “new normal,” our collective experience shattered the pre-pandemic work paradigm. On Zoom calls from our bedrooms, backyards and kitchen tables, we exposed the flaws of that construct. Collectively, we proved that the work could still be executed and productivity largely maintained without in-person supervision. The cat was out of the bag—and she wasn’t about to get back in. Increased autonomy is completely feasible in the workplace. And that taste of it fueled our desire for more.
This isn’t a new concept. People have always wanted to be in charge of their own lives. In 1985, American psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci defined autonomy as “the desire to be the causal agent of one’s own life.” They theorized that people were not primarily driven by external reward, as had been previously thought, but by autonomous motivation for their own fulfillment. To put it simply: People have strong ideas about what is best for them, and they want to be able to act on those ideas.
The way forward on the ROAD: Offer options to boost your EVP
Employees now value the ability to work flexibly above salary and other benefits. But that’s not all they want. Employees want the autonomy to make choices about where and when they work, what they do, with whom, and to what end. And if they don’t get that autonomy—they leave. A record 47.4 million people quit their jobs in 2021, the most ever in a year.
The answer is clear: Companies have to increase autonomy and provide more options to their employees to attract, retain and engage them.
The business benefits of enabling autonomy
Giving employees autonomy makes them happier. Happier employees are more productive employees. And it turns out that the more autonomy you give them to select among options, the more productive they become. Gartner’s 2021 EVP Employee Survey showed that, when companies offered radical flexibility (i.e. multiple options) to their employees, the number of high-performing employees shot up by 40%. Offering options also has other benefits, like reducing an organization’s salary premiums because employees value the ability to work flexibly and autonomously over salary and other benefits.
It’s clear that allowing employees autonomy offers unrivaled motivational benefits. Doing so requires a cultural change that companies can’t implement overnight, but it is well worth the effort.
How to increase autonomy by providing options in the post-pandemic workplace
Giving employees choices isn’t about providing unlimited autonomy. After all, we do have to coordinate and execute work productively and effectively. So we have to determine which activities, processes, practices, perks, and roles lend themselves to flexibility, and which must remain consistent and standardized. We should re-examine all facets of business in search of options that we can provide employees.
Here are a few areas to consider offering options to your employees:
Let employees set their schedules: We got used to setting our own work schedules during the pandemic, and nothing bad happened as a result. This is an easy place for companies to loosen the reins.
Let employees design their own processes: After tasks and goals are established, employees should design their own processes for success. Give them the freedom to think as creatively as they choose. You can prime employees for the task by offering training in design thinking skills.
Ask for input on organizational goals: When leaders seek employee input, the workforce will feel valued. They will feel trusted and will return that trust. So, when possible, allow employee stakeholders to participate in goal-setting. When I was vice president of talent at Atlassian, we trained them on OKR setting and SMART goals to aid in this endeavor.
Give employees freedom to choose where to work: Working from home is more viable than it has ever been. Some employees may feel more comfortable working from home and should have the option to do so if possible in their role and in your company.
Let employees choose their benefits: Benefits aren’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. So, lumping an entire workforce into the same employment plan is not always the best strategy. Letting employees choose their job benefits gives them power to make a choice that directly impacts their lives outside of work. If you go this route, it’s crucial to provide employees with all the information they need to make an informed selection.
Strategies for success
It’s not enough to merely offer options to increase autonomy. You have to implement this approach carefully. Below are two tips to get you started.
Maintain guidance and guardrails: Privilege comes with responsibility. Employees need guidance and guardrails. Indeed, the role of the manager—as guide and coach—is more important than ever. At Atlassian, we allowed teams to determine how and when to work together. We required a minimum of a four-hour synchronous work block, but teams were free to align on work practices. If members made irresponsible choices that affected the team’s results, the team would self-police, involving managers where necessary.
Upskill for autonomy: One thing I’ve seen companies do well to manage increased autonomy is to equip employees through training. If you expect employees to set their own deadlines, help them succeed. Train them on project management so they learn how to factor in lead times and dependencies in their work and set realistic deadlines. Similarly, If you expect them to set their own goals, train them on goal setting. If you expect them to manage their time, offer time management training.
The desire for autonomy is deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Humans want to retain control over their lives, both at work and away from work. Our EVPs need to reflect and accommodate this desire. By offering more options, we can meet employees’ desire to exercise autonomy. In doing so, we can increase employee satisfaction and harness the sheer power of autonomous motivation in the workplace.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE OTHER STEPS ON THE ROAD: Recognition, AFFINITY, AND DEVELOPMENT.
Learn more about the changes to the workplace and the ROAD to retention and engagement.