Section 2: Polarising Subcultures

Further Insights:

Business leaders must look to mental health and wellbeing at work to ensure future success

Section 2: Polarising Views

Over the past 18 months, HR has had a monumental role in safeguarding employee well-being and the protection of a healthy work/life balance. To do this they have had to reconcile the needs of managers and workers; deliver policies which support a divided workforce split into those in favour of a return to the office and those who don’t and supporting employees affected by mental instability or further domestic problems.

MANAGING THE IMPOSSIBLE

Perhaps the biggest challenge faced has been managing employee well-being. Work/life balance has been at the top of every HR agenda. Where once the confines of an office acted as the boundary to HRs remit, the pandemic has blended the personal and professional.

MISALIGNED POWER

Despite the complexity and diversity of these challenges, all of the HR leads we spoke with shared that on the whole employees and businesses were uncollaborative when it came to making decisions. Often, they felt that crucial final decisions were resting solely on their shoulders.

At the same time, working from home has conferred more power to employees, who felt entitled to assert their thoughts and preferences.

One roundtable participant put it “not everybody wants to be at work every day, they've found benefits in being at home. And often find they can be really productive in that environment.”

The typical power dynamics of the workforce have been disrupted. Where once, decisions on how employees worked were dictated from above, they are now being demanded from below and in both situations, HR is sat firmly at the crossroads.

Further Insights:

Recognising the fatigue caused by remote working

AVOIDING BURNOUT

There are two issues sitting at the heart of this polarised view, the first is physical safety and the second is the fear of burnout.

Elizabeth East from WJEC stressed: “If you're focused on results only and have your people working from home, but then you find 30% of the workforce are logging on at 10 -11 p.m.

Is there an issue there? How do you prevent burnout? There’s a fine line, and I think businesses need to ensure they offer flexibility. And to do so effectively, they need to think about having policies and processes in place to ensure that people are looking after their wellbeing”.

It is the role of flexibility and the need to set up practices and policies around it which our HR leads felt was most likely to ensure success for both groups; those who want to stay at home and those who want to stay in the office.