Alone but not Lonely

“Yes, I’m alone but I’m not lonely”, overheard whilst eavesdropping on a conversation during a networking event late last week. Yes, these are back and they’re still the same. Attendees making the rounds, judging attire and the information on nametags, and if you’re deemed worthy, you get to experience an incredibly uncomfortable 60 sec introduction and a LinkedIn invite 120 seconds later.  Not all are like this, but it has been my experience that most are. To combat this, I usually opt for the blank nametag and add – April, KFC, Junior Accountant. It’s a great conversation piece for people interested in getting to know me.

I digress. Back to the person who is “alone but not lonely”.  A female SVP at a media company, who navigated lockdown and doesn’t want to go back into the office full-time.  She’s not a person of colour navigating associated microaggressions and bias. Nor is she a full-time working mother. She’s a senior leader, with a large team, who doesn’t want to return to office full-time and is finding it challenging to negotiate this with her employer.

“I’ve been told that the culture of the organisation doesn’t support an SLT (senior leadership team) member working from home. I’ve also been asked if I don’t feel lonely working from home. My company hasn’t accepted that the culture of the organisation has changed, whether they wanted it to or not.”

What do you when you don’t want to return to the office? How do you – as SLT– navigate those conversations?  Some tips from my network:

1.   Use data to start the conversation. In the absence of this information, suggest the organisation poll the business to find out employees’ appetite for return to work. Did productivity increase during WFH periods?

2.  Involve HR/P&C in the conversation. Many employees feel disconnected and impacted by lack of face time with senior leadership. How can HR create systems and structures that ensure employees, who do decide to WFH, don’t get left behind in performance discussions, restructure plans, etc.

3.  Utilise ERGs to communicate with employees. ERGs are the pulse to the unbiased employee opinions. Get ERG leads involved in redesigning what the workplace culture could look like and as a communication route to employees.  Remember to also compensate your ERG leads. 

4.   Prepare the business case for hybrid work. The cost of replacing an employee far outweighs the cost of keeping an employee. This is even more applicable with the recent job market statistics. Assess whether competitors are offering flexible working arrangements as proof that employees may be more inclined to quit if they feel another company is better at providing this as a benefit.  Hybrid work is becoming a competitive advantage / disadvantage in the recruitment and retention process.

5.   Stand in your power. Be confident in knowing that you are not alone, and others are thinking about the same issue. 

Have you had similar conversations in the workplace? What were the outcomes?  Tell us in the comments on IG. 

 Till next Tuesday! 

Aprileen

Junior Accountant, KFC