Aussie employees ‘may quit’ if office days are mandated, finds Bastion
A new report out today shows 21% of female employees and 60% of older employees are unlikely to want to return to the office – a trend that potentially points to future offices which skew towards male workers and younger workers.
“After nearly two years of working in and out of lockdowns, employees feel liberated and empowered by the flexibility they’ve experienced, and many would now rather choose to leave their job than lose their ability to work from home when they want to,” Bastion Reputation CEO Clare Gleghorn said.
Amid much talk of the Great Resignation, The Future of Work (Adapting to the New Normal) report by Bastion Reputation and Bastion Insights found that two in five employees surveyed want more than anything to have control over where and when they work. For some, having flexibility was more important than incentives such as higher pay.
While the report found employers are generally less negative about hybrid work, there are still lingering concerns about factors such as connection to colleagues, with about one in four employers and about one in five employees believing hybrid working will have a negative impact on connection.
This suggests employers and employees need to find the right approaches to keeping the whole team engaged, valued and connected as businesses move into 2022 and beyond.
“Flexible working is being embraced particularly by female and older workers. While this is a positive trend for embracing flexibility, employers will need to be mindful that this doesn’t negatively impact on broader workplace culture and inclusion,” Gleghorn said.
As Australian employers prepare their teams and business operations for a more stable year in 2022, this acts as a clear warning to them that embracing hybrid ways of working is now an essential part of ensuring a successful business.
“While employers are keen for their operations to get back to normal in 2022, they need to avoid a blunt approach and instead use this as an opportunity to engage with their employees in a positive discussion about the future of their workplace,” Gleghorn said.
“It will be important to think before enforcing mandates about returning to the office. Anchor days are really important for creating a sense of connection but workplaces in 2022 shouldn’t just be about the office or home.
“Employers should find ways to involve employees in the conversation about what work looks like for individuals, teams and the broader business. Offering genuine and ongoing flexibility may take a leap of faith for some employers but it will go a long way towards helping attract and retain top talent and getting the best performance outcomes for business.”
Both employers and employees in Australia have been forced to adjust to a state of uncertainty. There has been a significant shift from last year’s survey, when disruptions and stressful shifts in ways to work caused employers and employees to experience challenges.
The employers surveyed in November 2021 showed increased confidence about hybrid working arrangements with:
- 21% believing it negatively impacts workplace culture (compared to 35% last year)
- 26% believing it negatively impacts teamwork and collaboration (compared to 37% last year)
- 19% believing it negatively impacts the performance management process (compared to 23% last year)
Employees’ attitudes toward remote work reflect their adaptation to a new normal. Work from home has lost a bit of that honeymoon glow, but the more flexible work arrangements still provide a strong sense of satisfaction.
Dianne Gardiner, CEO of Bastion Insights said of the report’s findings: “While there is plenty of optimism that the new year may offer more stability than we’ve experienced for the past two years, it will never be a case of life returning to the way it was before the pandemic.”
“In 2022 leaders will need to coach their managers, many of whom are still not sure how to manage confidently in remote or hybrid settings. And while much will continue to change about the way we work, some basic principles of great leadership won’t – leaders should keep talking to their teams, listen genuinely, offer flexibility where they can and communicate clearly and regularly,” Gardiner said.
More than half of employers have not even considered how to manage teams within a hybrid model, with many still not sure how it should be done.
“We know that poor performance management is a problem long-term. It can be a real culture-killer to see under-performing colleagues ‘get away with it’. And even high performers will disengage over time, if they are not receiving regular feedback and guidance from their manager,” Gleghorn said.
“This tension between empowerment, productivity and oversight still needs to be resolved if hybrid models are to be effective. There is much work to be done to shift our mindsets and adapt our ways of managing teams, to allow autonomy and trusted working relationships to thrive”.
The Future of Work (Adapting to the New Normal) report draws on results from two surveys conducted in late 2021, comprising a nationally representative sample of 1200 Australians including 600 employees and 500 employers from all states and territories and a wide range of industries.
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topics
Adapting to the New Normal
Bastion
Bastion Insights
Bastion Reputation
Clare Gleghorn
Dianne Gardiner
Great Resignation
hybrid work
Office
report
study
survey
The Future of Work
the great resignation
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