Work From Home – Use vs. Abuse

The memories are vivid when I was doing town-halls in different cities with my teams and I threw a challenge to them. The challenge was that the best of two buddies who claim that they knew each other well, should step forward. After short whisper a pair would step forward and I would ask them to tell me the names of the kids of the other person you claimed you knew very well OR the name of the partner of the other person OR even sometimes the marital status of the other person. And it was surprising to see them struggling. Nowhere I received a confident and the correct answer. Everyone in the hall was smiling at this activity and realized where it was going.

Today when I want to switch my bank account from one bank to another due to slightest of the issue or if the other bank offers me slightest of benefit, I don’t think twice and switch. It hardly takes me ten minutes. There is no loyalty, there is no belonging, there is no fear of missing out anything. For me it is just a new portal and a new customer ID to login. That’s what happens when employees lack belongingness and attachment to an organization and its people. Attrition is high, people work mechanically, they don’t think twice and switch to another company for slightest of matter or benefit. And who makes an organization? it’s the employees. It’s each one of us. It’s you and I.

I realized during the town-halls that the ‘Human’ part in my team was missing and they were just the ‘resources’. And one of the biggest reasons was ‘Work From Home’ (WFH) due to which they hardly came to office (laptop breakdown and submitting bills were the only reasons probably) and they barely knew each other well. People often used to connect from home because of different timezone, different shifts, balancing family needs, work life balance. At some locations traffic was a big evil and some were environment sensitive avoiding adding carbon footprints. Some also reasoned why to come to office when all the team members they were working with, were sitting in other cities/countries. The reasons were many and they were all genuine because our ways of working and customer demands have fully changed in past decade.

But then how to fix the issue of belongingness? The issue around team-spirit, spirit of oneness, the spirit of being part of the same family? Obviously you cannot take all the people of your team for an offsite every quarter for team building.

I believe many measures can be taken to fix this. Obviously regular team huddles daily or alternatively over virtual medium is one good way and it adds more value when it is over the video. People should see each other. What I also suggest is to mandate few days per week in the office where people meet each other, greet each other, ‘see’ each other, have tea/coffee together, chit- chat, gossip during lunch, go for smoke breaks. Carpools provide another great way of discussion and bonding. You get chance to discuss your issues with others in person and also get to know what’s happening around. You get an opportunity to participate in other organizational activities. This is what builds the organizationalism (for lack of an equivalent term for patriotism towards an organization). At individual level you get a disciplined life, getting ready for office, have an active regime, network with people, share your problems and thereby ease your stress levels. Remember! (wo)man is a social animal. Obviously there would be exceptions like small kids, old parents, too distant home, car pooling etc, for which the frequency could be reduced.

WFH is a necessary evil in today’s world. But it should be used as a tool to balance the life’s priorities and not abused. Working from home doesn’t mean that employee has to work only from home. Often splitting the time between office and home prove to be most productive solution. The management should take cognizance that while they are giving away this benefit to employees, there should be adequate checks and balances to help inculcate the culture of team spirit and oneness. Else it will become just another bank’s portal and people won’t hesitate to move mechanically to another one.

PS: the author isn’t claiming that this is the only way to increase reliability and retention. There are other big elements in the play like the organization’s environment, managers, compensation, opportunity, growth etc which play a vital and probably a greater role in building the team spirit and retention. One size doesn’t fit a

Vikas Madaan

Senior Director – Capgemini