Water Cooler Moments: A dated metaphor?

Water Cooler Moments: A dated metaphor?

Should the office be the default location for employees?

At the beginning of May 2023, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt stipulated that the default should be that employees work in the office, unless there is a good reason to not be there. However, many argue that this one size fits all approach does more harm than good and does not take into consideration the benefits of home working.

With the above in mind, we wanted to explore the pros and cons of working from home since the majority of the country embraced this way of working during covid, and whether the Chancellor was right in saying working from home results in a loss of creativity by not having those “water cooler moments”, where employees bounce ideas off each other.

Official figures suggest that the majority of people- 63.9% never work from home, while 21.4% work on a hybrid basis, and only 7.8% work at home permanently. This suggests that in the main, creativity exists on a much greater scale than suggested as many employees work from the office in some capacity each week.

There is no doubt, a move towards flexible working has benefitted the working population in numerous ways. Companies embracing working from home has not only helped parents with childcare, but also those with mobility issues, and employees wanting to strike a better work life balance. A survey carried out by Deloitte found that 77% of Gen Zs and 71% of millennials would look for another job if their employer asked them to go into the workplace full-time, and The Recruitment and Employment Confederation said there were 1.1m job postings in April 2023 that included the words “hybrid”, “flexible” or “remote”. Working from home therefore allows employers to attract, retain and motivate the best talent in the market, if they encourage and recognise their employees desire for support and choice when it comes to whether they work from the office or home. Furthermore, it results in higher employee morale, a more positive company culture and less turnover.

Working from home allows employees to spend less time commuting each week, and research has found that this increases productivity and performance as employees are less distracted and give more time to work each day as they don’t need to spend time travelling into the office. There is also a greater ability to stay connected now, with the use of video conferences such as MS Teams and Zoom, alongside the more usual methods of contact such as email and telephone. This means employees spend less time in unnecessary meetings, as video meetings are usually shorter, to the point, minimises idle chatter and allows for fewer interruptions.

On a more practical basis, working from home results in less need for sick days and allows employees to save money. By removing the need to travel into the office you can prevent the spreading of germs and avoid illnesses being passed around the office. With a cost-of-living crisis, inflation at an all-time high, and employees having less disposable income, surely any ability to save money is beneficial?!

While it seems that hybrid working arrangements have a lot of benefits there are reports of cons too.

Deloitte and PwC reported that their younger recruits have suffered from disrupted education during lockdowns. They have found that their younger recruits had weaker teamwork and communication skills than their previous cohorts and this was compounded by hybrid working as the younger recruits were less likely to be able to observe more experienced colleagues. It was reported that they lacked confidence in their presentation skills and participating in meetings. While this is an issue for newer recruits, Deloitte and PwC are combatting this by offering more training and placing the need on employers to provide training on basic professional and working skills to their younger workforce.

Now that working and studying remotely has become more normal there is going to be an adjustment period for companies on learning how to train their newer recruits through different platforms to continue worker growth and engagement while balancing flexible working.  

Hybrid working has been hailed as the best of both worlds and the future of the working environment. However, some workers report Hybrid working as jarring. The one day in, one day out routine can be emotionally draining. An employee engagement study conducted on the platform Tinypulse reported that more than 80% of leaders said the hybrid set-up was exhausting for employees. Some workers remoted that the Hybrid model was more emotionally draining than fully remote or even full time in the office. Despite this, the majority of candidates that we speak with still prefer hybrid working arrangements.   

Another reported concern in relation to hybrid or remote working is social isolation. Research evidence suggests this can be an issue but that is can also be linked to personality. A London Business School conducted a survey and reported of their 3,000 participants 46% mentioned they missed the social interactions of the workplace. Another study found that workers in the office felt socially isolated if they didn’t see their remote working colleagues when they expected to. Experts report office time helps build deeper social connections and trust. Some companies are combatting this by making their work from office days the same for all workers, meaning everyone is in the office on the same days and can promote that social connection. 

Emma Jacobs reports in the Financial Times that employers should be aware that as hybrid working becomes the norm there is less attachment to the workplace and the employer’s organisation and therefore worker loyalty is diminished. This is primarily due to less time with colleagues and means their social ties are weakened and therefore so is their attachment to the employer. As the hybrid working model becomes the norm, companies will have to vary their tactics to encourage worker loyalty. Paraphrasing Rohini Sachitanand, APAC HR Leader at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, workers will embrace employers who afford flexibility and resources with a focus on inclusivity and productivity. So, is worker loyalty really attached to coming into the office or to employers who offer flexibility and resources?

It is widely considered that there are more benefits to hybrid working than not and it is by far the current preferred working model for workers. It is assumed that the hybrid work model will continue to be preferred moving forward. There are continued reports of companies pressing for further presence in the office and to eventually be in the office full time. This could lead to losing out on top talent and reducing the companies’ options for recruitment as workers are more likely to look for roles that offer the flexibility.

Done well, hybrid working offers workers flexibility and offers companies the ability to see their workers in the office. For many companies, working from home is still in its infancy, with many only offering it to all employees during covid. Therefore, it would be good to review the impact of working from home on the UK workforce in two years’ time. 

Cassandra Keogh is a Consultant on the In-House team at LAW Absolute ckeogh@lawabsolute.com