Are they being served?

On our minds

Lately, we’ve had dancing flatware on the brain. Our mind’s eye replays a rousing musical number from a certain hit animated film from the 90’s. While we love a trip down memory lane as much as anyone else, this isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about what the song asks of the listener: “Be Our Guest”

A lot of organizations are now coming to the unsettling realization that the workplace experience of yesteryear just won’t satisfy anymore. They need to offer more than just a flat desk with access to some nice amenities. We’ve sorta been saying this for years—but that’s spilt milk at this point. Trust us on this: employees are not jazzed to commute 45 minutes each way just for a free beer fridge. Free kombucha—maybe. But probably still no. If the workplace experience doesn’t make them feel special, they’re not coming back.

Many people whose jobs allowed them to work from outside the office have now been doing it for over a year. They may have a lot of the kinks worked out and have arranged their lives around a more flexible approach to location and time. They might really like having lunch with their kids or being able to use their very own toilet. Their home office might be customized to their exact specifications. But wait! There’s more!

Now that many people can work from anywhere, workplace isn’t just competing against the comforts of home and flexibility of coworking. It’s also competing against “bleisure” (yes, that’s a real word). The hospitality industry is actively courting the kind of traveler who wants to be able to do their work from a beautiful environment chock full of luxurious amenities, stunning scenery and enchanting experiences. So just as travel restrictions are being lifted, people are discovering that they can do their jobs just fine from a beach thousands of miles away.

Aside from cases in which people require special equipment or are working face-to-face with customers, there’s really only one experience that people can’t easily recreate on their own: each other. Community is unique to the organization, the people who work there and the culture they co-create.

We wrote about the intersection of community management and workplace way back in 2014, so the idea that organizations might need to implement these techniques is not new. What has changed is the urgency. Companies functioned during the prolonged telework of the pandemic by relying on the relationships people already had before the lockdowns. But that will only work for so long.

What is being done to continue to create and strengthen social bonds? Who’s nurturing the next generation employees and helping them to build the networks they need to sustain your organization? Unless your company is actively supporting community building, it probably isn’t happening. Eventually, this could be detrimental to the culture of a company. That need not be the case, of course. Each organization has the tools of policy, culture, and choice at its disposal, and those can be powerful—if used thoughtfully.

One way to think of this emergent opportunity is that of imagining: “onsite” is the new “offsite”. Many organizations used to take their staff on lavish retreats to resorts. Or, at a smaller scale, they might host culture- and team-building events at local restaurants or bars. Now, the office itself can become a destination, provided the right investments are made in cultivating a space and experience that make people want to be there.

From the archives

A year ago we released our first version of our workplace reentry roadmap. The tremendous response convinced us to start our ongoing webinar series guiding people through the challenges and opportunities of workplace reentry. (Check out this webinar recording of our Roadmap 2.0 for a preview of what's next.)

Back in 2019, we spoke at DisruptHR about the need to create a workplace experience that welcomes and embraces the broadest possible range of occupants. Whether through long term telework, coworking or other flexible arrangements, the ability of employees to choose their work environment is even more vital than it was then.

And that’s all for this month. Drop us a line to let us know how you imagine your workplace providing service with a smile. Or hum a few bars of whatever song is on your mind. If you need some inspiration, check out this Tiny Desk by Lianne LaHavas.