Page 19 - ADNews magazine March-April 2022

sleeves rolled up, building a head of steam, seeing that they sweat when doing the job, rather than measuring success or otherwise?
Virginia Scully at Hatched: “It’s old school trust issues and, yes, control. But the controllers need to be the people doing the work. We need to give them clear measures of success and let them go – do it on their own terms.
“Hours in the office are great for connection and fun but trying to enforce behaviours that don’t work personally will lead to disempower- ment, disengagement, bitterness and with that comes a much greater risk than working away from the office.”
Claire Gallagher at Principals: “Any disconnect is a result of a break- down of communication. Successful organisations have leaders who understand this is personal, appreciate employees have tensions between home and work, they work harder to connect and elevate others, check-in, share feelings, listen, make people feel heard, valued, included. Leaders respect the life-work balance of their people.”
Pauly Grant at Publicis: “I think a lot of it is intergenerational. Many of our senior leaders have spent all of their careers in an office, so it is what they are used to and what they enjoy.
“At Publicis, our flexible approach means individuals, teams and agen- cies can work in different ways – working hours, days that suit them and their lives. It’s important to recognise that we are all individuals with different rhythms, and life requirements.”
On keeping staff, Grant says: “We need to keep the fun and social connec- tion with each other, but if companies are still just relying on free lunches and table tennis to create a culture, then they will inevitably lose their people.
“More and more we need to consider people’s ‘Life Experience’, with a recent Gartner Future of Work Reinvented report revealing 82% of staff want their employer to see them as a person, not just an employee.
“Taking a holistic approach to employees’ wellbeing and envisioning a shared purpose creates a deeper, more meaningful connection between an organisation and its people.”
Thomas Tearle at VMLY&R: “In all honesty, we’ve definitely felt the mismatch but as we looked a little closer, we actually began to wonder if this is less about seniority and more about the sum of a number of fac- tors... The person’s specific craft, their role, tenure (onboarding takes so much longer at home), the need for them to positively influence or impact others, the comfort and ability to focus more or less at home or indeed in the office, as well as their family situation. It all feeds into people’s preference and not specifically about leadership cadence.
“It’s so easy to look at it and diagnose it as senior management wanting control but I honestly believe it’s more about leaders wanting to ensure that there’s enough collaboration, peer to peer learning, that the work is of the right quality and that people are happy.
“The trick is working out how, when and where we do that and being ok with the fact that we don’t have the perfect answers yet.”
Initiative’s Erin Jakubans: “Far from control, it’s about providing growth opportunities that simply don’t exist in a remote virtual world. Whilst flexibility is an absolute priority, especially at an individual level, we also need to push for a hybrid return to office solution.
“While some staff have expressed a desire to stay 100% remote, the sweet spot is around two to three days in the office, with equal time being spent working from home on an annualised basis. With so much of our industry being the intangibles, the ‘vibe’ of the office or the osmosis learning you can only get in a room with others is critical, particularly for those starting out in the industry.”
Kristy Camarillo at The Royals: “It’s no longer about control (it may have been a few years back), it’s now about the quality of output.
“People coming together at the right times can be a powerful thing. It can harness the wonderful power the collective can create, enhance a sense of connection and belonging and help us find common meaning in our work.
“As far as any mismatch in expectations of how often we should be in the office, we are all searching for just the right balance as we navigate our way through the old way of working to the new.”
Free lunch and table tennis. Is it all about
the benefits?
Virginia Scully at Hatched: “Not at all. It’s more about psychologi- cal safety, trust, flexibil-
ity, clear roles designed to strengths with opportuni- ties to stretch and grow and upskill to stay ahead, having opinions heard at every level and a genuine care factor. These are far
more beneficial than perks.” Kristy Camarillo at The Royals: “It’s always about the benefits, but what people value and place a pre- mium on has completely changed. “New benefits need to reflect what’s most important to people. The stuff that matters today includes things like redesigned work hours and new leave schemes, training and clear career development plans, wellbeing programs, and additional insurance options. These are the types of benefits – not a free lunch or table tennis – that will drive a more agile, loyal, motivated and productive workforce (although the
odd free panini sure tastes good).” Thomas Tearle at VMLY&R: “Of course benefits help but they must be real tangible benefits rather
than tokenistic things.
“The things that made our office
spaces fun are obviously less impor- tant now, although we wouldn’t be getting rid of them. We must invest heavily in our team’s lives and careers to grow together.”
Claire Gallagher at Principals: “Organisations scramble to define their Employee Value Proposition (EVP) in competitive talent mar- kets. The latest claim will move, like a Mexican wave, from organisation to organisation – we do diversity, we will develop you, we are inclu- sive or your wellbeing matters. “In reality, the one thing that will make a real difference is leadership. The role of leaders is to set the course, unite and align people behind shared goals, enable the team and unlock their potential, create envi- ronments where individuals, teams and your organisation can thrive. While benefits are nice (believe me, I’d love a paid gym membership and am regularly available for lunch!) but they don’t drive discre- tionary effort.
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