How We Work, Post-Pandemic

Blog
Late night creative working at desk.
Feb 02, 2022

Hybrid work models have been generating a lot of buzz recently. The COVID-19 pandemic required an almost-overnight shift to remote work. There is now a split in the workforce — those who prefer working remote and those who prefer working in-office. Whether or not remote work is a practice your company can implement is determined by many factors and can be difficult to navigate. Keep reading for insight that may help you make your decision, along with a few helpful resources.

Building Blocks of Remote Work

Success is not achieved through the socialization and collaboration of in-office environments, nor by the flexibility and freedom of remote work. True success is the effect of good relationships, communication and occurs only when employee and company values align.

Relationships

A manager who knows their employees on an individual level – behavioral drives, what motivates them and how they communicate – has greater potential to cultivate a productive, sustainable hybrid office.

Relationships in-office are a byproduct of spending 8 hours (or more) daily with the same people. Relationships in remote models must be formed much more intentionally.

Toolbox

It takes having the right tools in order for good communication to even take place in remote models. Emails and phone calls are outdated in the fast pace of the working world today.

Here at Able&Co., we have a few tools that make remote work possible and improves the efficiency of our day-to-day flow. This includes…

  • Instant messaging
  • A task management software
  • Video conferencing
  • Calendar sharing

All this, in addition to a shared company value of commitment to each of our clients, our coworkers and our promise to do MORE.

Industry

While remote work can appear to be a solution to many issues facing our economy right now – unstable talent pools, employee desire for flexible work arrangements, rising real estate costs – sometimes it’s not the right time to implement it into your business.

Remote working is not encouraged for businesses who are in the middle of a deadline-heavy season, has a “fresh” team that needs training and supervision, has active projects that require all the focus of a 9-5 workday, or benefits from in-person collaboration – brainstorming, drawing, creative and strategy development.

The Employee Exodus

Or, more commonly known as, The Great Resignation. It refers to the ongoing trend of young and experienced professionals alike leaving their jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The motivators are varied and vast, but the trend relates to one’s preference of work models – in-office, hybrid and remote.

Able&Co. did not go unimpacted by the pandemic, nor the exodus. Upon state and national mandates being lifted, we made the decision to revert back to an in-office working environment, with some permanent modifications to our policies. This decision did not resonate with every member of our staff.

As part of the marketing and advertising industry, Able&Co. faces an innate challenge with regards to remote working. We have a staff of multi-talented creative and strategic professionals who work on several team projects throughout the day. Although each member does have solo tasks, collaboration is a big part of what we do and what makes our work great. We purposefully recruit employees who want to join this environment.

Your Work Model Determines Your Office Culture

At Able&Co., we leverage the PI Behavioral Assessment in our hiring process to compare the cognitive abilities and personality traits of a potential employee to the office culture we are stimulating. It is a small part of our larger screening process, but has many proven benefits to our team dynamic. We have used it for years and we found it to be an invaluable tool while working remotely.

The PI analyzes responses against the four sources of motivation that have the most influence on an employee’s behavior regarding work:

  • Dominance
  • Extraversion
  • Patience
  • Formality

The results provides each employee with a “cheat sheet” of how to communicate with each other and maintain a positive energy when it comes to working. It helped us navigate the shut down portion of the pandemic and we still leverage it now, while interviewing for positions that have been vacated due to the ongoing workforce shift.

Whether or not you prefer to work remotely, in-office or have the flexibility of a hybrid option, there is no doubt that each model fosters a different dynamic within a team. The current employees of Able&Co., and those we are seeking out, are the kind of employees who care about being able to come into work everyday. Who cares about in-person collaboration, criticism and construction. The tools discussed above were rapidly and readily adopted into the infrastructure of Able&Co. and now our remote-working policy is more lenient than ever before, but there is no doubt that our employees have an innate desire to come together, to create together, to progress together, succeed together.

The decision of how you run your business – in-person, remote or hybrid – was never a choice that had to be made just a couple years ago. Now, that decision is exactly what determines the framework of your company, the types of employees you attract and the culture you create.

For more resources on navigating your business’ model now and moving forward, review the links of our tools below:

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