The Great Avoidance: What to consider if your staff are reluctant to come back to the office
Our rush back to ‘normal’ is seeing the rise of a new phase for Australian workers: The Great Avoidance.
We’ve all heard different return to office stories. For some it’s been a welcome relief, stepping away from the blurred lines of work and home, packing a lunch, sending kids back to school, and dusting off the old suit jacket (even if it is now paired with jeans!)
Others have been more reluctant, enjoying the privacy, space, and control over scheduled interactions we became familiar with during the pandemic. Spending more time locally and less time travelling, completing chores between meetings, or being at home with an unwell child while still being able to work productively has meant that for some, while the jacket may be on top, slippers are firmly planted under the desk.
Trial and error
Organisations and leaders have been experimenting with a vast array of return-to-office strategies that suit their cultural vision. I hear stories of Collins Street consulting firms, still holding on to the imagined prestige of multi-story office towers and imposing boardroom tables, insisting on a four or five day per week office attendance policy.
Others such as Atlassian have moved to a “Team Anywhere” policy, and Telstra are embracing the change, announcing more choice for its 26,000 employees under a flexible working policy.
Alex Badenoch, Telstra’s transformation, communications, and people group executive explained their philosophy to The Australian Financial Review by saying:
“When the world gets disrupted, you have a choice to make: do you look at how you can ‘go back’ or do you start to imagine a new way forward? There’s an opportunity for employers to look forward to create a completely different vision of the workplace rather than trying to hold onto the past.”
The Great Resignation, a term which has nearly been done to death, saw 4 million Americans quit their jobs, stating their reason for doing so was to seek more flexible hours, greater work-life balance and time to pursue passion projects according to the Washington Post in June 2021.
In Australia, we are experiencing our own Great Realignment, with Employment Hero estimating that 48% of Australian workers are planning to look for a new role this year alone. If you’re not moving, chances are you know someone who is!
So here’s the thing: returning to work after the pandemic is complex.
A complex space
Organisations are trying to negotiate, with their people (new and existing) while attempting to align work practices to suit the needs of their business, their markets and the diverse group of people who make up our communities.
Individuals have realised they can more closely align their personal needs with the way they work. They have had time to live their values intimately and are now assessing their work alignment to these critically.
It’s as though our workplaces are a pack of cards which has been shuffled. And then what? What is the hand we have been dealt?
A utopian dream might be that we all find our happy place at work, we work as we want, when we want and skip off into the sunset all rainbows and lollipops. Yet, what I am observing is a hugely different story. It is slightly disconcerting to hear that all around me teams are imploding.
Wellbeing is at front of mind for many leaders; I would suggest as much if not more than it was during the 2020-21 lockdowns. Team culture and unity is fracturing, and “exhaustion” is a common state of mind for many.
The more people I talk to, the more I begin to realise that this is because in our rush back to “normal”, we have forgotten what I call “The Great Avoidance”.
Avoidance behaviours
Many of us operated in a state of triage during the pandemic. Trying desperately to steady our nerves while supporting family, friends and colleagues at the same time as running businesses, saving businesses, and closing down businesses. Our cups were overflowing.
Yet how easy was it for us to walk away from the screen? How many times did frustration well up and all you had to do was hold on until the end of the call then hit “Leave”? If that took too long you could always check your emails on your phone and simply disengage from the meeting. No-one would ever know.
How easy was it to put the call on mute and mumble under your breath when frustrated? How many times did you choose silence over speaking because you could? How simple was it to avoid the people who rub you up the wrong way?
In many ways, COVID-19 provided the perfect canvas for all shades of avoidance in the workplace. And now, as we re-enter the orbit of a shared workspace, we can’t avoid anymore. We are being challenged to tolerate and recognise the different work styles and needs of those around us, and to re-engage the muscle memory of an affiliative mindset at work.
So how do we support teams to find their return-to-office equilibrium?
Finding equilibrium
In our business, we use a range of diagnostic tools that have been instrumental in helping us get teams back to the behaviours of the constructive cultures they aspire to be part of. Paired with one-on-one strengths-based coaching, we’ve been able to help teams resolve internal conflicts and better understand interpersonal dynamics through positive psychology.
Using this blend of diagnostics and coaching with individuals and then with their teams, we explore:
Motivation: What are my energisers and how do they compare to those of the people I work with? What activities are likely to drain my energy and lead to fatigue? How can we structure the way we work to optimise energy levels for each member of the team? What can I do to create long-term workplace satisfaction for everyone?
Self-perception: How do I see myself and how does this influence the way I am showing up in the world around me? How do I feel I approach tasks, manage relationships, and contribute to my team when I am showing up at my best? What can I observe about how the people in my team are driven by their self-perceptions? How can I support them to be their most constructive?
Social perception: What does the underlying filter that determines whether I find a situation or environment comfortable look like? How do I imagine this is different from those around me? Am I correct or am I relying on assumptions? What do I need to function at my most constructive and how do I respond when my needs are not being met? Am I watchful for these behaviours in myself and others?
Mindset: What do I believe about myself and others? How does this relate to my interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions and my work alignment? How can I think differently? Why do I think and behave the way I do? What can I learn about the other people I work with to better understand their beliefs and mindset?
The Great Re-imagining
To Alex Badenoch’s point, we find ourselves in a unique moment in time. We have a choice to stick our heads in the sand of The Great Avoidance, or we can imagine a new way forward. One where we work in a different way — not just in terms of hours or geographical location.
Approaching our re-entry to shared workspaces with curiosity, courage, and a commitment to the science of culture, can ensure we create workspaces and working communities supportive of truly diverse and engaged people. People who will not perpetuate avoidant tendencies by jumping ship, but who will commit to their teams and organisations, and will be robust and energised for the future.
