As Wright tells it, IBM decided to take the pandemic as a business opportunity “to
accelerate our technology use in our return to the workplace.”
Talk about spin. . .
https://qz.com/work/2115173/return-to-work-how-salesforce-ibm-and-hsbc-are-thinking-about-it-now/
By: Cassie Werber Reporter
Published: January 27, 2022
For two years, companies have been grappling with the question: When are we going back to the office?
For some leaders and staff, the answer is simple: Never.
For others, it’s not so straightforward.
Time and again, enthusiastic plans to return en masse have been tripped up by new covid variants, updated government advice, and pushback from staff.
Before long, the question evolved from, “when will we go back?” to “what will go back to?” Should all employees be asked to return simultaneously, or should re-entry be staggered? Should full-time employees go back to a five-day office-based week? If not, how many days a week in the office is ideal? Four? Fewer?
Before the pandemic over 60% of employees surveyed by Cisco for its Hybrid Work Index report said they would prefer to work in an office for three days or more. Post-pandemic, that had fallen to just 19%, with the remainder wanting to work from home the majority of the time. The pressure is on for companies to respond to the demands of a workforce that, in a tight labour market, has more opportunity to move to places which offer flexibility.
Add to this the rise of the omicron variant which has companies again pivoting on their return to office plans while trying—in the US—to navigate further guidance from the CDC—and figuring out a return to office date become even more of a puzzle.
We asked three large organizations how they’re thinking about return to work now.
IBM
When the pandemic hit, and IBM moved 95% of its workforce to fully remote, it was pleasantly surprised to discover no drop in productivity, said Joanne Wright, vice president for enterprise operations and services.
Still, they planned to return to offices, and by the summer of 2021, Wright said, it felt like things were opening up. Then things changed again: With the omicron variant raging through Europe and the US, “We’re back to not a lot of people in the offices, but when in the offices, masks are required,” she said. In Asia, by contrast, things are starting to feel more similar to before the pandemic struck, she said.
As Wright tells it, IBM decided to take the pandemic as a business opportunity “to accelerate our technology use in our return to the workplace.”
The company saw this as a way to keep employees safe, “while infusing IBM’s capabilities into how we manage our physical space,” she said. One example is how the company now uses its TRIRIGA tool to manage collaboration space and office cleaning, among other things. Another is its development of the IBM Digital Health Pass as an alternative to vaccine cards or paper vaccine certificates, which they use to make sure all the staff that come into their offices are vaccinated.
Arvind Krishna, IBM’s CEO, meanwhile came up with what he called the IBM Work From Home Pledge, which he shared on LinkedIn in May 2020.
“I do think that that was a game changer for us,” Wright said, in that it created “a very important social contract” for all IBM’s staff, no matter where they were working. The pledge included commitments to flexibility, kindness, sensitivity to family, setting boundaries, and acknowledged video fatigue. It concluded with a commitment to “be connected,” which Krishna elaborated in his post was a promise “to create social interactions virtually, with my co-workers. Whether it is a coffee break, happy hour, game night or karaoke party, or something else, I will find ways to stay connected.”
Does IBM look forward to a time when its staff are physically together again? “We do. We do,” said Wright, suggesting that the future for IBM would be a hybrid working model. “I think we’re thinking of those days where you can be very productive working at home. And then those days where you want to be with your colleagues or clients collaborating and innovating.”
“What we’re seeing is people want to come back, but they want to come back and collaborate with each other, engage with each other,” Wright said. “What we’re using our workplace for has changed quite drastically.”